Jon Rahm captures the first major championship of the year outdueling Brooks Koepka down the stretch. With that win, he has now won two of the four majors in his quest to complete his career Grand Slam. The LIV Players had a pretty decent week headlined by Phil Mickelson finishing T2. In terms of betting, we had a good week hitting three of our four placement bets.
We now head to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage. Unlike most weeks following a major, this tournament has a loaded field since it’s an elevated event. Let’s get into the RBC Heritage and see if we can find a winner.
Tournament Information:
- Dates: April 13th, 2023 – April 16th, 2023
- Location: Hilton Head, South Carolina, United States
- Course: Harbour Town Golf Links
- Course Type: South Carolina/ Southeast
- Par: 71 (4x 3’s / 11x 4’s / 3x 5’s)
- Length: 7,191 yards
- Format: 72-hole stroke play
- Greens: Poa Trivialis overseed .115” (all grass areas are on Bermuda base)
- Fairways: Perennial ryegrass overseed .375”
- Rough: Perennial ryegrass overseed 2.5”
- Bunkers: 54
- Water Hazard(s): – (In-Play on 18 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 3,700 sq. ft.
- Stimpmeter: 11 – 11.5 ft.
- Purse/ Winner: $20,000,000/$3,600,000
- FedEx Cup Points: 500
- Field/ Cut: 144 Pros | Top 65 and Ties – 36 Holes
- Historic Cut Line:
- 2022: E
- 2021: -2
- 2020: -4
- Course Scoring Average:
- 2022: 70.74 (-0.26), Rank 19 of 50
- 2021: 70.33 (-0.67), Rank 26 of 51
- 2020: 69.14 (-1.86), Rank 37 of 41
Course Architect:
- Course Architect: Pete Dye (1969)
- Renovations: Scot Sherman (2020)
Comparable Courses & Greens:
- Comparable Courses:
- TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course) – THE PLAYERS Championship
- TPC River Highlands – Travelers Championship
- Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) – The RSM Classic
- Designer Link (Pete Dye):
- PGA WEST (Pete Dye Stadium Course) – The American Express
- Austin Country Club – WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
- TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course) – THE PLAYERS
- TPC Louisiana – Zurich Classic
- TPC River Highlands – Travelers Championship
- Comparable Location (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina):
- Congaree Golf Club – Ridgeland, South Carolina – THE CJ CUP in South Carolina
- Comparable Yardage (7,191 Yards):
- PGA WEST (Nicklaus Tournament Course) – 7,147 Yards – The American Express
- PGA WEST (Pete Dye Stadium Course) – 7,158 Yards – The American Express
- Colonial Country Club – 7,209 Yards – Charles Schwab Challenge
- Comparable Greens (Poa Trivialis overseed .115”):
- Austin CC – TifEagle bermuda o/s w/ Poa Trivialis .100” – WGC- Dell Tech. Match Play
- TPC San Antonio – TifEagle bermuda o/s w/ Poa Trivialis .110” – Valero Texas Open
- Innisbrook – TifEagle bermuda o/s w/ Poa Trivialis .120” – Valspar Championship
- Comparable Average Green Size (3,700 sq. ft.):
- Pebble Beach Golf Links – 3,500 sq. ft. – AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
- PGA WEST (La Quinta Country Club) – 4,000 sq. ft. – The American Express
TV Information:
- Round 1: Thursday, April 13th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
- Round 2: Friday, April 14th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
- Round 3: Saturday, April 15th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
- CBS – 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
- Round 4: Sunday, April 16th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
- CBS – 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET
- Thursday: Rain 73 F, 13 mp/h ESE, 79% Humidity, 81% Chance of Rain
- Friday: Partly Cloudy 75 F, 9 mp/h SSW, 82% Humidity, 24% Chance of Rain
- Saturday: Mostly Sunny 79 F, 8 mp/h WSW, 71% Humidity, 7% Chance of Rain
- Sunday: Cloudy 76 F, 11 mp/h SW, 75% Humidity, 24% Chance of Rain
Course/ Tournament History:
The RBC Heritage, first debuted on the PGA Tour 53 years ago, in 1969. The venue for this tournament has remained constant since that date.
It is one of the newly elevated PGA Tour events that limit the field. Along with the small field, the tournament can be more selective as to which golfers qualify for this event. Also, invitational events do not offer Monday qualifying events so the field is set unless any withdraws.
- Most Tournament Wins:
- 5, Davis Love III (1987, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2003)
- 72-Hole Record:
- 262, Webb Simpson (2020)
- 18-Hole Record:
- 61, David Frost (2nd round, 1994), Troy Merritt (2nd round, 2015)
Course Guide/ Scorecard:
Harbour Town Golf Links is one of the tougher courses on Tour ranking 19/50 in terms of scoring average last season. Over the past two editions, the scoring average has been just below par both times. In 2022, only seven holes played under par which included the three par 5’s.
In terms of length, Harbour Town is one of the shortest courses on Tour measuring 7,191 yards. It ranks 17th out of 46 courses in length. The fairways are on the narrower side, ranking 16th of 46, with the average fairway width being 33.1 yards. The average green size is roughly 3,700 square feet which is on the smaller side when compared to the other courses on the PGA Tour. Bunkers really aren’t a factor here as there are only 54 which ranks as the 8th fewest of 46 courses.
The four Par 3’s range between 192 yards and 217 yards. All four are challenging as they all had more bogeys than birdies recorded on each of them in the 2022 tournament.
Most of the eleven Par 4’s range between 400-450 yards. No. 9 is the shortest listed at 332 yards with the longest being No. 8, playing 473 yards.
The three Par 5’s are No. 2, No. 5, No. 13, and No. 15. All of these par 5’s are under 590 yards.
Featured/ Signature Hole(s): 18
For a hole-by-hole overview of the course, you can click the following link.
Key Statistics:
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green
- Par 4 Scoring: 400 – 450 Yards
- Proximity: 175 – 200 Yards
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermuda)
- Comparable Courses and Event History
The Field/ Odds:
There will be 144 players in the field at this year’s RBC Heritage including nine of the world’s top ten. Here are the current favorites in this week’s event:
- Scottie Scheffler (+850)
- Jon Rahm (+1000)
- Patrick Cantlay (+1400)
- Collin Morikawa (+1800)
- Cameron Young (+2200)
- Previous Winners in the Field:
- Jordan Spieth (’22), Stewart Cink (’21, ’04, ’00), Webb Simpson (’20), CT Pan (’19), Satoshi Kodaira (’18), Wesley Bryan (’17), Jim Furyk (’15, ’10), and Matt Kuchar (’14)
- Notable Withdraws:
- Rory McIlroy (WD), Will Zalatoris (Season-Ending Back Surgery), Jason Day (WD), Alex Noren (WD)
To see the most up-to-date odds, you can click the following link.
To see the full field for this event, you can click the following link.
Previous Winners Scores & Prices:
- 2022: Jordan Spieth (-13)
- Price: 33-1
- 2021: Stewart Cink (-19)
- Price: 150-1
- 2020: Webb Simpson (-22)
- Price: 30-1
- 2019: C.T. Pan (-12)
- Price: 160-1
- 2018: Satoshi Kodaira (-12)
- Price: 250-1
Picks (Outrights):
- Jordan Spieth (+2200) – DraftKings
- Risk 0.37 to win 8.14 Units
- Viktor Hovland (+2200) – DraftKings
- Risk 0.37 to win 8.14 Units
- Tom Kim (+4000) – Caesars
- Risk 0.20 to win 8.00 Units
- Sahith Theegala (+6000) – DraftKings
- Risk 0.14 to win 8.40 Units
Total Risk on Outrights: 1.08 Units
Picks (Top 20):
- Justin Thomas (+130) – DraftKings
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.30 Units
- Matthew Fitzpatrick (+140) – FanDuel
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.40 Units
Total Risk on Top 20s: 2.00 Units
Picks (Top 40):
- J.T. Poston (+115) – FanDuel
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.10 Units
- Ben Martin (+150) – DraftKings
- Risk 1.00 to win 1.50 Units
Total Risk on Top 40s: 2.00 Units
Total Risk on the RBC Heritage: 5.08 Units
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting. Any feedback whether positive or negative is always encouraged.
