The tour moves swiftly to the traditional post-Masters event: the RBC Heritage. Damien Kayat shares all of his throughts and betting picks for what promises to be a fascinating week of golf.
2024 US PGA Tour
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links
18th-21st April
This is Scottie Scheffler’s world and we are merely living in it. The affable American reasserted his status as the world’s preeminent golfer with a majestic performance at Augusta National. He ultimately won his second Green Jacket at a canter, pummeling the field into submission with his relentless tee-to-green game.
His current dominance of the game is reminiscent of prime Tiger and I don’t say that lightly. Ludvig Aberg captured the hearts of the Augusta ‘patrons’, ultimately settling for an eye-catching runner-up finish (not bad for a guy playing in his first Major championship).
It was also a bit of a dud for LIV Golf last week, with only Bryson really flirting with contention at any point. In fact, Greg Norman was forced to pay for his own ticket in a cheeky- if somewhat classless- snub by tournament organisers.
Hey, it’s not as if the Great White Shark can’t afford it. Destabilising the entire golfing pyramid was invariably going to have some consequences.
RBC Heritage
The PGA Tour moves swiftly to the traditional post-Masters event: the RBC Heritage. The tournament was elevated in status last season and it has retained that honour (though now it is referred to as a ‘Signature Event’). This means there isn’t much space for any post-Masters decompression this week.
This will be a limited-field affair with less than 70 of the leading tour professionals in attendance. Arnold Palmer won the inaugural staging of this event back in 1969 and this will be the 56th edition of the tournament.
Harbour Town Golf Links
This is one of those rare events that has been hosted at one venue since its inception: Harbour Town Golf Links. And this little gem of a course couldn’t be more different from Augusta National if it tired.
Harbour Town is the brainchild of famed Sawgrass architect Pete Dye. Dye worked in conjunction with ‘Golden Bear’ Jack Nicklaus to create this masterpiece. It is a far more claustrophobic experience than Augusta.
The tree-lined fairways aren’t psychotically tight but they do require you to be in the right portion in order to attack these greens. This has always been an event where the more surgical operators thrive. And it proved to be the case once again last season, with the deadly accurate Matthew Fitzpatrick emerging victorious.
The key ingredient to success this week will be approach play. These Bermuda greens are fiendishly small and require true accuracy from the fairways. This is a coastal links course that is at the mercy of prevailing wind conditions.
That means that solid links players tend to thrive at Harbour Town. One area that is similar to Augusta is the slickness of the greens. These greens are lightning quick and I actually think that puts more of an onus on accurate approach play.
The Contenders
Scottie Scheffler is provisionally lined up to play this week but there is every chance he may skip the event to be with his pregnant wife. His withdrawal would have a profound impact on the markets and it is something to look out for.
I can’t quite wrap my head around Rory at 9/1. He has been struggling with his irons and I don’t see him just igniting around this pernickety layout. Xander Schauffele has arguably been the second-most consistent player this season and he has to be respected this week.
Ludvig Aberg won’t be able to overpower this course but it will be interesting to see how he fares after the emotional roller-coaster of Augusta. Matt Fitzpatrick beat former champ Jordan Spieth in last year’s playoff and I wouldn’t be too surprised if those two feature prominently again this week.
Past Winners
2023: Matt Fitpatrick (-17) *playoff
2022: Jordan Spieth (-13) *playoff
2021: Stewart Cink (-19)
2020: Webb Simpson (-22)
2019: C.T Pan (-12)
To Win Outright:
Scottie Scheffler 4/1 | Rory McIlroy 9/1 | Xander Schauffele 10/1 | Ludvig Aberg 11/1 | Matthew Fitzpatrick 20/1
Value Bets
Tommy Fleetwood- To Win 25/1 | To Place 11/2
Can Tommy Fleetwood finally break his hoodoo and win on American soil? I think that Harbour Town should suit him perfectly. Fleetwood isn’t one of the most explosive players out there and he relies on accuracy and precision. He has three top-25 finishes in four trips to Harbour Town (with a best finish of T10 coming in 2022). And just look at how he surged up the leaderboard on Sunday at Augusta. Fleetwood ultimately finished in a tie for third (his career-best finish at the Masters). But take a gander at his stats for the week. Fleetwood ranked eighth in Strokes Gained: Approach and 10th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. It just feels like it could be his time to finally win Stateside.
Adam Hadwin- To Win 80/1 | To Place 17/1
Adam Hadwin has been low-key excellent this season. The Canadian has finished inside the top six in three of his last nine starts, including a T4 at Rivera and a T5 at Copperhead. Form at Copperhead correlates quite well to success here and Hadwin actually won his maiden title at the Valspar. His form at this course has been solid- if unremarkable. He has made the cut five times in eight visits and I just think his current form puts him in a decent position to possibly place this week.
The Man to Beat- Patrick Cantlay- To Win 22/1 | To Place 48/10
This is really a classic ‘horses for courses’ pick. Patrick Cantlay has had a pretty underwhelming season up to this point, bringing form figures of 35-68-22 into this week’s event. But I’m willing to overlook that given his outstanding record in this event. Cantlay has five top 10s here since 2017, finishing on the podium in 2019, 2022 and 2023. He is a Pete Dye specialist who tends to perform well on specific courses. And his 22nd at Augusta would have been much better were it not for a disastrous double bogey- bogey-bogey finish. He also finished 10th on Approach last week and I just love him at this price.
