Sami Välimäki finally got his PGA TOUR moment, and he picked the most dramatic possible Sunday to do it. The 27-year-old closed with a steady 4-under 66 to win The RSM Classic by one shot, becoming the first Finnish player ever to claim a TOUR title and sealing the season-ending event with a cool finish while everything around him caught fire.
Välimäki didn’t need a closing birdie barrage; he needed control.
READ MORE: RSM Classic Round 1 Recap: Doug Ghim Nearly Shoots 59 as Low Scores Dominate Leaderboard
With wind shifting late, he leaned on touch as much as nerve, using a putter from below the green on 16, then pouring in an 18-foot par save to keep the lead intact. After two runner-up finishes the last two seasons and another near-miss two weeks ago in Mexico, the win gives him a two-year TOUR exemption and a launchpad into 2026.
“It has been a long road, of course,” Välimäki said. “I feel like it’s a really tough year… and then to keep pushing and find some good grooves in the last few tournaments, it feels amazing.”
Behind him, the RSM turned into a FedExCup Fall pressure cooker.
With fully exempt cards now going only to the top 100 (down from 125), the bubble was brutally tight. Ricky Castillo looked like the story of the week after detonating a front-nine 28 and signing for a 62. For a while, it projected him from No. 135 safely inside the top 100.
Then Max McGreevy happened.
McGreevy buried a 30-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to post 63 and leap into solo second at 22-under, one back of Välimäki. That single putt shoved Castillo to No. 102 in the standings, outside the fully exempt line by fewer than 10 points.
Moments later, Lee Hodges’ 10-foot birdie try slid by on 18, leaving him No. 101, just a couple points shy of safety. The razor’s edge stayed intact for the players who entered the week 95-100; none of them moved, which tells you how thin the margins were.
McGreevy’s runner-up was plenty meaningful even without the trophy. Already secure on status, he jumped to No. 60 in FedExCup Fall and grabbed spots in the first two $20-million Signature Events of 2026, bumping Jordan Spieth out of that window and into sponsor-exemption territory for Pebble Beach and Riviera.
“I never felt that nervous,” McGreevy said. “I felt like I was playing to win. Luckily, my best golf came out at the end of the year.”
Elsewhere, Nico Echavarria’s closing 65 locked him into the 51-60 Signature Event bracket, and Sam Stevens added an exclamation point with a hole-in-one en route to 63, continuing his push to stay top-50 in the world for a Masters berth.
So the season ends with a milestone winner, a new country on the TOUR map, and a FedExCup Fall finish that was equal parts champagne and heartbreak. Välimäki walked off Sea Island with history; the rest of the field walked off knowing one putt can change an entire year.
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