With the dust having settled following the thrills and spills of the Masters, the PGA Tour heads to Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina for the RBC Heritage.
2021/2022 US PGA Tour
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links, South Carolina
14th-17th April
Scheffler underlines world numebr 1 status
You have to feel for my chief pick for last week’s Masters: Cameron Smith. There were echoes of Francesco Molinari in last Sunday’s meltdown, as his hopes for a maiden Major were absolutely demolished by a disastrous triple-bogey 6 at the par 3 12th.
It’s debatable whether he would have been able to reel in the stoically precise Scottie Scheffler. But that errant, water-bound tee-shot essentially took all the excitement out of Sunday’s final round.
I was quite dismissive about Scheffler’s chances leading into the week. But I couldn’t have been more wrong as the newly minted World Number One underlined his ranking coup with a brilliantly assured victory.
From Georgia to South Carolina
The tour stays in the deep south this week, moving from Georgia to South Carolina for the much less pressurized atmosphere of the RBC Heritage. The RBC Heritage was first played in 1969 and it is played on the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island.
I always find interesting just how sharply this traditional post-Masters party contrasts with the Augusta test. Gone are the wide, inviting fairways and intimidating length that characterize the year’s first Major.
Distance of Augusta gives way to tight fairways of Harbour Town
This Pete Dye design is far more claustrophobic, with tight fairways and positively tiny green complexes. This coastal links is obviously at the mercy of any prevailing wind conditions.
This is one of the shortest courses on the entire PGA Tour, allowing the surgical operators to really come into their own. It’s little surprise that Webb Simson is in regular contention around Harbour Town Golf Links.
For goodness’ sake, Luke Donald finished runner-up at this event on four occasions. That tells you everything you need to know. Players need to be accurate from the tee, often needing to find specific parts of the fairways to have an unobstructed path to the pin.
Players will need to hone their iron play as they approach these tiny greens. One area of similarity to Augusta is the slickness of the greens. A hot putter is key to success around Harbour Town.
Strong field to contest this week
This year’s RBC Heritage has actually managed to assemble a pretty stellar post-Masters field. Cameron Smith will have the opportunity to bounce back from last Sunday’s disappointment.
Collin Morikawa hung in strong at Augusta, picking up yet another top 5 Major finish. His renowned iron superiority should come in handy on this layout. The trio of DJ, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay will want to bounce back after their respective Augusta disappointments.
This is also the week where you can have a wager on precision merchants such as Corey Conners and Kevin Kisner. This weekend offers a picturesque, mellow antidote to the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the Masters.
Past Winners
2021: Stewart Cink (-19)
2020: Webb Simpson (-22)
2019: CT Pan (-12)
2018: Satoshi Kodaira (-12) *playoff
2017: Wesley Bryan (-13)
2016: Branden Grace (-9)
To Win Outright:
Collin Morikawa 14/1 | Justin Thomas 14/1 | Cameron Smith 16/1 | Patrick Cantlay 20/1 | Dustin Johnson 20/1
Value Bets
Tyrell Hatton- To Win 45/1 | To Place 19/2
Tyrell Hatton is a player who comes into this event with pretty impressive stats for the season. He has three worldwide top 6 finishes this year. That includes a T2 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (he finished alongside Hovland and Horschel, just one shot behind current World Number One Scottie Scheffler). He also had a decent T13 at another Pete Dye design: TPC Sawgrass. Hatton also has course credentials, securing a T3 finish in 2020. He just suits this course. Players will need to make plenty of putts on these slick, small greens. The 30-year-old actually enters this year’s RBC Heritage ranked 1st in Strokes Gained: Putting.
Kevin Na- To Win 55/1 | To Place 12/1
Kevin Na is just the epitome of the sort of player who should thrive around this course. And Na certainly has some excellent form around Hilton Head. He has five top 10 finishes in 15 career starts at this venue. Na went into the Masters off the back of two consecutive missed cuts. But he struck the ball beautifully at Augusta, ultimately settling for a T14 finish. That would have been a lot higher if his putter had been more cooperative. Na is a streaky player who can snap into form off the back of one solid result. Just look at his brilliant showing at last year’s Tour Championship (where he tied for the lowest 72-hole score). He had two runner-up finishes in the period leading up to the season-ending championships. I think he could build on his strong Augusta showing on this far more favourable layout.
The Man to Beat- Patrick Cantlay- To Win 20/1 | To Place 44/10
It’s hard to reconcile the fact that current FedEx Cup champ Patrick Cantlay is sitting at 20/1 this week. He has cooled off dramatically since his thrilling end to last season (he hasn’t finished better than T33 in his last three outings). But he isn’t too far away from his best form. He was in contention in the early stages at Augusta before a shocking 3rd round 79 put pay to any faint chance of success. But I think you are getting a brilliant player at a real bargain this year. Furthermore, Cantlay has real form in this very event. He had three successive top 10 finishes at Harbour Town Golf Links between 2017 and 2019. He is far too good to not compete again soon.
