The first major is in the books, and you probably think the field in the next tournament will be weak. That is not the case for the RBC Heritage. This is another “elevated event”, so that means the purse is $20M and the top golfers are required to play. Most of the PGA Tour stars that played the Masters last week will be teeing it up Thursday in Hilton Head, South Carolina for the RBC Heritage.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
The course this week is short for the tour professionals. It is 7,100-yards; par 71, with only three par 5’s which are reachable in two shots for every golfer in the field. What make this course difficult are the trees which line the fairways and the smallest greens on tour. The golfers will have to be accurate off the tee to setup easier approaches to the pins. Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy with the irons is what we are looking for this week.
Iron play will be important this week. Most golfers will use irons off the tees and need to have a good wedge game since their second shot is likely to be under 160 yards. Accuracy is the name of the game in this tournament.
Click here to see the course: Harbour Town Golf Links
Click here to see the golfer’s course history and recent form: Fantasy Racing Tips
KEY STATS FOR RBC HERITAGE
– Stroke Gained Approach (150-yards – 175-yards)
– Strokes Gained Putting (Bermuda)
– Ball Striking
– Birdie or Better %
TOP 30 GOLFER RANKINGS
RBC HERITAGE STRATEGY
This tournament is going to come down to which golfers can hit fairways off the tee and greens in regulation. The golfers who rank highly in these categories always finish at the top of the leaderboard. This is not a bombers course. Most golfers will club down off the tee and they need to be accurate with their approaches into the greens because there is a lot of trouble if they miss.
Lineup construction for Cash Contests needs to be built around golfers from the mid-$9K to mid-$7K ranges this week. A balanced lineup should score well, and I will be using it in some Tournament Contests as well (I should have used the Cash Contest at the Masters, instead of paying up for Rory McIlroy.)
Lineup construction for Tournament Contests is tricky this week. Most of my lineups for Tournament Contests will be the same as my Cash Contest lineups. I want as many shares of the golfers from the $9K and $8K price range as possible, so I will be building a lot of “balanced lineups” for Tournament Contests, but I also want some exposure to Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa.
CORE GOLFERS FOR RBC HERITAGE
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
CAMERON YOUNG ($9,600): I picked Young to get his first win this week, so I will play him as my top golfer in my Cash Contest lineup. Harbour Town is a short course, so you are probably wondering why I am all in with one of the longest hitters in the game. Young is a complete golfer. He does everything well. Young finished 3rd in his first trip to the RBC Heritage last year and he is coming off a 7th-place finish at the Masters and 2nd-place finish in the WGC Match Play. His form, course history and key stats are all great. I will roll with Young this week.
SUNGJAE IM ($8,600): I want golfers who are accurate off the tee and can hit these small greens. Sungjae checks both boxes. He ranks 8th in the field in Driving Accuracy and 5th in Shots Gained Approach. Sungjae finished 16th at the Masters last week and he has finished in the top-21 in his last two trips to the RBC Heritage. Sungae is a safe golfer for your Cash Contest lineups this week.
TOM KIM ($7,700): I had Kim penciled in for this tournament the entire year. Everything a golfer needs to do well at Harbour Town is exactly what Kim does well. He is one of the most accurate golfers in the game and the small greens should reduce his putting problems, because Kim should not be too far away from the hole. I bet him to win and I will have Kim in my Cash Contest lineup too.
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK ($8,400): I thought about selecting Shane Lowery or Terrell Hatton for this pick, but I trust Fitzpatrick a bit more. Fitz enters the RBC Heritage after a top-10 finish at the Masters. He was one of only two golfers who shot par or better in every round last week. Fitzpatrick finished 4th in the RBC Heritage in 2021 and he has played this tournament seven consecutive seasons. He knows this course well and I expect Fitzpatrick to play well this week in Hilton Head, S.C.
MATT KUCHAR ($7,700): Kuchar is your “Free Square” in your Cash Contest lineups. His stats at the RBC Heritage are outstanding. He won this tournament in 2014, finished 2nd in 2019 and 3rd last year. His average score in his 16 trips to Harbour Town is a ridiculous 68.31. Even if he plays poorly, Kuchar will be so highly owned that it will not hurt you. There is no reason to fade Kuchar in Cash Contests this week.
BEN MARTIN ($7,100): Martin looks like one of the best value picks in the field when you compare his key stats to his price. Martin ranks No. 1 in the field in Driving Accuracy and that is the name of the game this week. He has also made six consecutive cuts on tour, including back-to-back top-10 finishes in his last two tournaments. I will take the discount with Martin so I can pay up for Cam Young.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
COLLIN MORIKAWA ($10,000): Morikawa is the best ball-striker in the game when his game is in top form. He ranks 5th in Shots Gained Off-the-Tee and 3rd in Shots Gained Approach. He finished in the top-10 last week at the Masters and he finished 7th in the RBC Heritage in 2021. Morikawa could run away with this tournament if his putter gets hot this week.
VOCTOR HOVLAND ($9,800): I haven’t heard anyone talking about Hovland this week. That is probably because he does not have much course history at Harbour Town and he is not the first golfer that comes to mind when people think of a ball-strikers course. I am playing Hovland simply on his recent form. He finished 10th at the Arnold Palmer, 3rd at THE PLAYERS and 7th at the Masters. The only two golfers who have been better than Hovland are Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler. The difference is that we get Hovland at a cheaper price and a lot less ownership.
SHANE LOWERY ($8,300): If you want a horse for the course, Lowery is your golfer. He finished 3rd in 2019, 9th in 2021 and 3rd last year. Lowery is in decent form after his 16th-place finish last week at the Masters. Lowery ranks 8th in the key stats and I love his course history. He will likely have more ownership than I would like, but there is enough talent in this field to spread out the ownership this week.
COREY CONNERS ($7,800): Conners burned a lot of people last week (including me) with his missed cut at the Masters. He just won two weeks ago at the Valero Texas Open, so it is not like his form is awful. Hitting fairways and greens is the name of the game this week and it is hard to find a golfer better than Conners. I am sure some people will be afraid to go back to him, so I will play a lower owned Conners this week.
J.T. POSTON ($7,300): Harbour Town is the home course for Poston and it shows in his course history. Poston finished 6th in 2019, 8th in 2020 and 3rd last year at the RBC Heritage. He has made his last two cuts, including a 10th-place finished two weeks ago at the Valspar Championship. His stats in this tournament are just too good to pass up this week.
TYLER DUNCAN ($6,800): Duncan is in the Tournament Contest lineup for one reason…. his stats. Duncan 5th in the field in Driving Accuracy and 2nd in the field in Greens in Regulation. He is going to score well if he simply drives it into the fairway and hits more greens then the rest of the field. Duncan finished 12th at the RBC Heritage last year. He could be our winning ticket if he can finish top-12 again this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (FantasyRacingTipsLineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the fifth tournament of Segment 3. There are 11 tournaments in this segment, including the PGA Championship. We need to pick and choose our golfers wisely, so we have some of the top golfers in the second major of the season.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: SUNGJAE IM (RBC HERITAGE)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Jordan Spieth (4th), Si Woo Kim (39th), Tyrrell Hatton (60th), Adam Hadwin (MC), Rory McIlroy (MC), Will Zalatoris (53rd), Matt Kuchar (MC), Tony Finau (20), Xander Schauffele (10th), Seamus Power (15th), Max Homa (1st), Brian Harman (MC), and Corey Conners (12th)
SEASON LONG ONE & DONE PICK: TOM KIM (RBC HERITAGE)
Players Used This Season in One & Done: Brooks Koepka (2nd), Matt Kuchar (3rd), Wyndham Clark (6th), Adam Hadwin (MC), Rory McIlroy (MC), Will Zallatoris (53rd), Sungjae Im (42nd), Max Homa (2), Xander Schauffele (10th), Jordan Spieth (63rd), Jon Rahm (7th), Taylor Montgomery (5th), Russell Henley (32nd), Seamus Power (25th), Brian Harman (2nd), Maverick McNealy (27th), Emiliano Grillo (42nd), Nick Hardy (28th), Terrell Hatton (13TH) Christian Bezuidenhout (29th), Cameron Davis (37th), Denny McCarthy (39th), Brendon Steele (CUT)
BEST BETS FOR RBC HERITAGE
PATRICK CANTLAY (12-1)
CAMERON YOUNG (20-1)
SUNGJAE IM (25-1)
TOM KIM (40-1)
SI WOO KIM (60-1)
LONG SHOT SPECIAL: BEN MARTIN (130-1) and KURT KITAYAMA (150-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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