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Brendon Todd, seeking to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win three straight events on the PGA Tour, stayed in the hunt, four strokes behind halfway leader Tyler Duncan at the RSM Classic at Sea Island in Georgia.

American Todd, playing on the Plantation course, carded a six-under-par 66 after shooting the same score on the par-70 Seaside course on Thursday.

At 10-under 132, he goes into the weekend equal seventh behind American leader Duncan, who dismantled the Seaside course with a 61 that included an eagle from 105 yards at the par-four eighth.

Duncan leads a group of three players including Australia's Rhein Gibson by two shots.

The 34-year-old Todd was ranked 525th in the world until he won the Bermuda Championship three weeks ago for his first tour triumph, and he proved himself to be no flash in the pan by following up with victory at the Mayakoba Classic on Monday.

Not since Woods in 2006 has anyone won three successive PGA Tour events, though Dustin Johnson (2017) and Rory McIlroy (2014) have since won three starts in a row, and Woods won five consecutive starts from late 2007 through early 2008.

However, Todd is starting to run on empty as the mental exertion of the past few weeks manifests itself.

"It's been a little bit difficult this week," he told Golf Channel. "I felt really good the last two (tournaments). I'm just trying to get some sleep this week and come out ready to fire."

Despite his sudden burst of form, Todd was evidently not considered by Woods when the latter this week named Rickie Fowler to replace the injured Brooks Koepka on the American team for next month's Presidents Cup.

"He (Woods) never contacted me and I don't blame him," Todd said, acknowledging that his body of work over the course of the year was not enough to merit consideration.

Sei Young Kim hit her best shot on the final hole, leaving her a tap-in birdie for a five-under 67 that kept her lead at two shots in the Tour Championship and moved her one step closer to the richest prize in women's golf.

As Kim held her advantage, Su Oh kept herself in contention as the best of four Australians in the field.

Oh carded seven birdies in a round of 67 to follow up her 69 to put herself four shots from the leader.

Katherine Kirk is five shots behind Oh after shooting 69 while Minjee Lee dropped out of contention with a disastrous four-over par 74.

Lee is one-over for the tournament while Hannah Green is at three-over.

Caroline Masson of Germany holed a 40-foot birdie putt from off the 18th green for a 66 to get within one shot until Kim answered with a birdie.

Kim was at 12-under 132.

Nelly Korda battled Kim all day for the lead until she missed a two-foot par putt on the 16th hole, and then lost a chance for an easy birdie on the par-5 17th with a hooked tee shot that finished under a tree.

The winner gets $US1.5 million ($A2.2 million).

Ladies Professional Golf Association commissioner Mike Whan will ask players on the Ladies European Tour to approve a merger between the two organisations next week.

Whan will put the case for a "50-50 joint venture" to players at their annual membership meeting in Spain on November 26.

The LPGA and LET have been working together since September's Solheim Cup at Gleneagles to agree a deal which will offer LET members more playing opportunities on the far more lucrative American tour.

"The LET, no different from the LPGA, is run by its players," Whan said in quotes reported by the Golf Channel.

"So the players will get the final vote on that.

"It's literally a 50-50 joint venture that we're proposing. Six members of a board from our side and six members of a board from their side. And all proceeds stay in Europe."

Whan is proposing a way to help players make their way from the LET to the LPGA, initially via the final stage of the LPGA's tour school.

That could evolve into direct access to the LPGA for the European Tour's top money winners.

The current financial gulf between the LET and LPGA is enormous.

Tournaments on this season's LPGA had a total prize fund of approximately STG 55million ($A104 million) compared to around STG 12million on the LET, the majority of which came from two majors and the Ladies Scottish Open in the space of three weeks.

France's Mike Lorenzo-Vera carded a three-under-par 69 to grab a three-shot lead at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship on Friday, while Race to Dubai contenders Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm remain in the hunt heading into the weekend.

Lorenzo-Vera, who shook off the effects of a lung infection to open up a one-shot advantage on Thursday, dropped two shots in the final four holes of the second round but still managed to set a clubhouse target at 12-under at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

England's Fleetwood, who won the Nedbank Golf Challenge last weekend to step up his pursuit of the season-ending European No.1 one crown, sank seven birdies in a round of 68 to claim a share of the second spot.

Australia's Jason Scrivener lies in a share of 20th place as he backed up his first-round 71 with an even par 72 to be positioned at one under, but compatriot Scott Hend is seven over after posting a 75.

Rahm is also one of the five players who can finish at the top of the European Tour's money list on Sunday and the Spaniard signed for a 69 to sit alongside Fleetwood on the leaderboard.

Austria's Bernd Wiesberger, the current leader of the Race to Dubai standings, was tied for 13th and nine shots off the lead.

World No.2 Rory McIlroy failed to build on a stellar opening round display as he dropped to a share of fifth at six-under after making just two birdies in the second round.

The Northern Irishman started with a double bogey at the par-three sixth and, after carding a brilliant eagle on the 18th on Thursday, hit the tee shot into the water on Friday to settle for a par on the last.

McIlroy, a three-times Race to Dubai champion, finished with a 74, 10 shots worse than his opener.

Australian international golfer Lucas Herbert may miss out on the Australian Open because of injury.

Herbert suffered a hand injury while playing golf with his friends, and has been unable to play golf since.

The 23-year-old thought he'd be out of action for a week, but has now been sidelined for almost a month.

"Unfortunately, I took out a fescue bush my first week playing with the boys back home," Herbert told RSN.

"I've hurt my hand enough so that I haven't played since.

"It's been a bit frustrating. It has not settled down as quickly as I would have liked.

"We're trying to rehab it as quick as I can so I can play these Aussie events. But it's not responding as quickly as I would have liked.

"So it's been a bit frustrating."

Herbert plans to spend a lot of time with a physio next week, and says he hasn't suffered any structural damage.

The world No.194 says it is now too painful to hit a shot, and is weighing up whether to let the injury heal or have a cortisone injection in order to play in the tournament.

"The Australian Golf Club is an unbelievable course and I've enjoyed playing there any time we've had an event there," he continued.

"The last Australian Open we had there, I fared quite well.

"It would have been a great year to give it a run."

It has been a frustrating year for Herbert, who picked up just three top-10 finishes on the European Tour this season.

Australia's Rhein Gibson has started well in the PGA Tour event in Georgia and is in a tie for second, one shot behind leader Webb Simpson.

Simpson started slowly but birdied six of his last nine holes of the RSM Classic opening round on Thursday to finish with a seven-under-par 65.

It was the other way round for Gibson who birdied five of his first nine holes on his way to be six under par for the day.

Gibson is locked in a three-way tie for second with American Cameron Tringale and South Korean Kyoung-hoon Lee.

The 33-year-old Gibson is yet to finish in the top-10 of a PGA Tour event, having played predominantly on the second-tier Web.com Tour and other events around the world.

Nine players are a shot back from Gibson and share fifth. Matt Jones is the next-best placed Australia at two-under, and in a tie for 43rd.

Simpson, who lost the event in a playoff in 2011 before winning the US Open the following year, said the key to overcoming his slow start was focusing on his own game.

"Playing with guys who are making birdies, it's hard to stay patient. But I was able to do that," he said.

Simpson, 34, is coming off his longest break from the game since he turned pro. The last event he competed in was in Las Vegas in early October.

The world No.12 will look to sharpen his game ahead of two tournaments in December: the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia.

Sei Young Kim made a 12-foot eagle putt on the 17th hole to pull away from the pack with a seven-under 65 for a two-shot lead after the opening round of the season-ending Tour Championship.

At stake is the richest prize ever in women's golf, with $US1.5 million going to the winner, regardless of her position in the Race to CME Globe standings.

Su Oh is leading a contingent of four Australian players.

She fired a three-under par 69 to be two shots ahead of compatriot Minjee Lee.

Katherine Kirk finished at even par while Hannah Green had two double bogeys in a four-over round of 76.

Kim, already a two-time winner on the LPGA this year, was bogey-free on a pleasant, breezy Tiburon Golf Club.

Nelly Korda ran off three straight birdies on the front nine and really poured it on late, playing her final three holes in four under.

That put Korda, at No. 3 the highest-ranked American in women's golf, at 67 with So Yeon Ryu and Georgia Hall.

Jon Rahm made the best start of the five players still in the running for the Race to Dubai title, shooting a six-under 66 to be three strokes off the first-round lead at the European Tour's season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai on Thursday.

But Australia's Jason Scrivener has plenty of work to do in order to bring himself back into the chasing pack after carding a one-under 71 to join a group of 10 players tied for 21st place on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera leads the tournament after a nine-under 63, holing four straight birdies to complete the back nine as he matched his lowest ever score to par on the European Tour.

He sits one clear of Northern Ireland's world No.2 Rory McIlroy, who made eagle on the 18th in his round of 64 after hitting a smart three wood approach from 260 metres.

Rahm was alone in third place after a bogey-free round during which he made four birdies in five holes early in his back nine.

Scrivener's fellow Australian Scott Hend lies in 49th place at the tournament after an opening four-over 76.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, another player in with a chance of ending the season as European No. 1, was a stroke behind on five under after starting his round by holing out from 153 yards for eagle on the first.

Of the other Race to Dubai contenders, Bernd Wiesberger shot 70 and was tied for 14th place, Matt Fitzpatrick shot 71 and Shane Lowry shot 73.

Wiesberger leads the standings and will lift the trophy if he wins in Dubai or finishes alone in second place.

Fleetwood, second in the standings, knows a win coupled with Wiesberger finishing lower than outright second will see him capture the title for the second time in three years.

The same scenario faces third-place Rahm, who won the World Tour Championship in 2017 and placed fourth last year.

Australian golfer Jake McLeod has beaten the odds to regain his European Tour card via the qualifying school.

McLeod finished 15th in the 153-man field at the six-round final stage in Tarragona, Spain.

The 25-year-old Queenslander earned a spot on tour in 2019 by topping the 2018 Australasian PGA Tour money list.

But his maiden season proved tough as he ended 150th on the Race to Dubai standings from his 24 tournaments.

Undeterred he produced scores of 70-69-68-70-67-70 at the Q-school to finish at 14-under and claim one of 28 cards for next season.

Denmark's Benjamin Poke shot a closing 64 to win the tournament by six shots at 25-under.

Aussies Jarryd Felton (-11), Dimi Papadatos (-4), Deyen Lawson (-1), Blake Windred (-1), Brett Rumford (+2), Jordan Zuni (+3), Nick Flanagan (+3), Zach Murray (+4), Ben Ferguson (+4), David Miceluzzi (+7) and Simon Hawkes (+7) all missed out.

World number one Brooks Koepka has withdrawn from the United States' Presidents Cup team with a knee injury.

Koepka re-injured his left knee during the CJ Cup in South Korea in October and has been unable to regain fitness in time for the biennial contest at Royal Melbourne from December 12-15.

US captain Tiger Woods has selected Rickie Fowler to replace him in his 12-man team.

"I notified captain Tiger Woods that despite constant medical care and rehab, I am not able to play golf at this time," Koepka said in a statement issued Wednesday.

"I consider it to be a high honour to be part of the 2019 team and I regret not being able to compete.

"Since my injury in Korea I have been in constant contact with Tiger and assured him that I was making every effort to be 100 per cent in time for the Presidents Cup in Australia. However I need more time to heal."

Woods previously said overlooking Fowler for a wild card was his toughest call, the 15-time major winner picking himself, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland.

"These team events have been some of the most memorable weeks of my career," Fowler said.

"To be picked by Tiger to compete with him and the rest of the team is very special.

"It is impossible to replace the world's number one but I can assure my teammates and American golf fans that I will be prepared and ready to do my part to bring home the Presidents Cup."