This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
RBC Heritage
Course: Harbour Town Golf Links (7,213 yards, par 71)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $3,600,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
The RBC Heritage has traditionally been a place to exhale after a stressful Masters week in beautiful Hilton Head Island. That will not really be the case this week after the Heritage was awarded designated event status for this season. The $20 million purse is even bigger than the record-setting $18 million purse for The Masters last week. The current agreement amongst the Top 20 in the PIP at the end of 2022 was that they would all have to play in the designated events in 2023 with just one skip. We'll have to monitor the withdraws over the coming days leading up to the tournament to see if any more big names elect to rest this week, especially those that contended at The Masters.
That leads us of course to Jon Rahm who just looked unbeatable on Sunday and would win The Masters by four shots and notch his second major title at age 28. Rahm has now won four PGA Tour events coming into the RBC Heritage, something Scottie Scheffler did last season as well. Rahm did overtake Scheffler for the No. 1 spot in the OWGR again with his 100 points earned via a major win. Scheffler can still return to the top spot with a strong showing at the Heritage, an event he has never played before. Jordan Spieth will be defending his title at the RBC Heritage after charging to a T4 finish at The Masters with a closing six-under 66. Spieth got the victory last year in a playoff over Patrick Cantlay.
This is undoubtedly the best field in the history of the Heritage, which is awesome to see considering how different it is then traditional PGA Tour courses. We'll get to see the best players try to navigate through narrow corridors and try to attack the second smallest greens on the PGA Tour. The equipment issues that are a hot button topic in the world of golf don't really mean a whole lot around Harbour Town Golf Links. Webb Simpson's 22-under-par total in 2020 is the best 72-hole score in event history, but that was during summer as the second event back from the COVID-19 break. Only one player in the traditional spring date has finished 72 holes around this place at 20-under-par and that was Brian Gay in 2009 when he won by a whopping 10 shots.
After a crazy weather week in Augusta, it will be a little better in Hilton Head. Temperatures in all four rounds will be in the mid-70s and wind doesn't appear like it will be much of a factor. That being said, there is a pretty solid chance that we see some thunderstorms move through the area at some point in the week, with the most likely chance being on Friday. A delay is certainly possibly, but it shouldn't be anything like what the players had to endure at The Masters. Harbour Town typically plays pretty soft anyways, so some precipitation shouldn't affect the actual golf being played when players are on the course this week.
Recent Champions
2022 - Jordan Spieth (-13)
2021 - Stewart Cink (-19)
2020 - Webb Simpson (-22)
2019 - C.T. Pan (-12)
2018 - Satoshi Kodaira (-12)
2017 - Wesley Bryan (-13)
2016 - Branden Grace (-9)
2015 - Jim Furyk (-18)
2014 - Matt Kuchar (-11)
2013 - Graeme McDowell (-9)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- GIR Percentage
- Driving Accuracy
- SG: Around-the-Green
Champion's Profile
When players think of courses on the PGA Tour where short hitters can still compete, Harbour Town Golf Links comes to the top of the list. There won't be many drivers hit this week by most of the players, as everything here is about positioning. If you start getting way off line at Harbour Town, you're going to be in all types of trees, pine straw, and sandy areas, none of which will make for an easy par. If you do find the middle of the fairway, there is still quite a bit of precision that is required to attack the second smallest greens on the PGA Tour. Most of them are fairly flat, so if you hit greens in regulation you're going to have a reasonable birdie putt. Any course that we talk about having small greens, however, that also means that a fair amount will missed and thus give increased opportunities for players with strong short games to take advantage of. Augusta National has pretty sticky course history, and Harbour Town is right up that alley as well. Players with a lot of success in the past here typically continue to play well and I would favor those guys over some of these top players coming into this designated event who don't have a lot of experience around this place.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Patrick Cantlay ($11,500)
He might an extremely deliberate player, but you can't argue with his success in a short period of time around Harbour Town. Cantlay owns a trio of top-3 finishes and a T7 in five career starts in this event. It makes sense considering that he has been an accurate driver with a great iron and short game over the course of his career. This season Cantlay ranks second in SG: Off-the-Tee, seventh in SG: Tee-to-Green, 17th in driving accuracy, fourth in GIR percentage and second in birdie average. He didn't finish outside the top 20 in his last five starts.
Collin Morikawa ($11,300)
Morikawa is the ideal course fit. This season he ranks second in driving accuracy, second in SG: Approach, fourth in SG: Tee-to-Green and eighth in GIR percentage on the PGA Tour. It's actually quite surprising that Morikawa doesn't have a better record here than T64-T7-T26. I would certainly expect him to contend this week and potentially pick up his first PGA Tour win since the 2021 Open Championship, which is hard to believe. Morikawa's T10 at Augusta last week was his fifth top-15 finish so far in 2023.
Xander Schauffele ($10,900)
Schauffele's finishes this season would be just about what you'd expect. Throw out a WD at Kapalua and he has made the cut in each of his 10 starts with seven top-20 finishes. Schauffele has been excellent with his iron play ranking ninth in SG: Approach and first in approaches from 150-175 yards, which is a sneaky important proximity range around Harbour Town. Schauffele has also done well around the greens in recent tournaments and has never missed a cut at the Heritage.
Matt Kuchar ($10,000)
Kuchar just has a handful of courses where regardless of form he is going to contend, and Harbour Town is definitely one of them. The veteran's form has been excellent this year, however, already having racked up four top-10 finishes in 2023, including a T9 at the WGC-Match Play and T3 at the Texas Open. Kuchar has gone an incredible 18-for-19 at the Heritage with seven top-10s and 12 top-25s. That includes a win in 2014 and a third last year. Kuchar will lean on really strong approach and short game play this time around.
Longer Shots with Value
Corey Conners ($9,800)
I was big on Conners last week at Augusta given his recent form and history there, but that backfired big time with a missed cut. I'm going to go back to the well because he is such a perfect course fit for Harbour Town and maybe his ownership takes a dip after a weekend off. Conners ranks top-30 this season in SG: Approach, GIR percentage, approaches from 150-175 yards and birdie average. The Canadian missed the cut in his first three tries at this place, but since has gone T21-T4-T12.
Adam Hadwin ($8,800)
Hadwin will be among the freshest players in the field having not played since the WGC-Match Play. He's had a really consistent season going 11-for-13 with five top-20 finishes. Hadwin's numbers across the board are all very solid ranking top-50 in driving accuracy, SG: Approach, GIR percentage, scrambling and SG: Putting. Those will all serve him well around Harbour Town where he has made five of his last six cuts with a trio of top-30s.
Wyndham Clark ($8,700)
Clark is a player who I think presents a tremendous amount of value this week, not only because of his price but also because I think his ownership will be lower than normal. Most people think of Clark as a bomber and putter, but his approach game has taken a significant leap this season. This was a player who was routinely near the bottom of the membership in SG: Approach and now ranks 36th in that department. Clark has made 12 straight cuts and his most recent finishes were both top-6 results.
Ben Martin ($8,500)
Martin has been another train I've been riding and there's no reason to get off it this week. He has racked up four top-15 finishes over his last six starts and now we go to a course that should really fit his game. Martin is top-20 on Tour in SG: Approach and GIR percentage. He also has routinely been top-50 in driving accuracy throughout his career. Martin has gone 6-for-8 at Harbour Town, including a third-place finish in 2014.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
I'll be fading the two best players in the world this week. It's just hard to expect a lot from Jon Rahm coming off such a high at The Masters and Harbour Town isn't the easiest course to pick up on your first try so I'd prefer to sit Scottie Scheffler and save some salary for players who have more attempts at the Heritage. I think because this is such a unique course in which many of the top players haven't played a bunch, it presents quite a lot of options on roster construction. With this being a positioning course, I believe the No. 1 focus has to be on the approach play and then driving accuracy and scrambling numbers a close second. Some other long shots not mentioned above I could see having a good week are Sam Stevens ($8,500), Matt Wallace ($8,500), Emiliano Grillo ($7,900), and Tyler Duncan ($7,800).
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