PGA DFS Picks
Handpick the information you need from this article to elevate your fantasy golf picks for the RBC Heritage, and check out our PGA Optimizer to make more informed player selections for your DFS lineups. Best of luck this week!
The RBC Heritage
Recap from last week: It kind of hurt to wake up on Monday morning knowing that we won’t have The Masters back for another year, but man, what a great tournament we got to witness last week. Huge congrats to the Japanese sensation, Hideki Matsuyama, for becoming the first Japanese player to ever win The Masters – sure didn’t see that coming from him, but I’m very happy for him and his country who absolutely love their hero and the game of golf! It was tough to see Xander Schauffele put one into the drink on hole 16 on Sunday and then make a mess of the hole to triple bogey it – a playoff would have been amazing to see but nerves run high on Sunday afternoons at The Masters on an annual basis, so it’s not a huge surprise. It was a thrilling week for so many reasons, and it’s safe to say that golf enthusiasts are already pumped for the 2022 edition of The Masters, next Spring.
Preview for the RBC Heritage: This South Carolina-based event dates back to 1969 when Arnold Palmer won the very first tournament – named the Heritage Golf Classic. This event has always been hosted at Harbour Town Golf Links at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, and this year will certainly be no different. Local resident, David Love III, has won this event a record five times, Stewart Cink has been victorious twice, as has Jim Furyk, and others have also claimed two wins at this event as well over the 52 years of its existence. Webb Simpson won here last year with a score of -22 to set the all-time record and was surprisingly only one stroke better than Abraham Ancer. The past five winners of this event include the aforementioned Webb Simpson in 2020, Pan Cheng-Tsung in 2019, Satoshi Kodaira in 2018, Wesley Bryan in 2017, and Branden Grace in 2016.
Finish higher and win more of your PGA DFS contests: Increase the likelihood for better finishes in your DFS golf contests by leveraging insightful data tools and analytics.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this year’s event is set at $7.1M, the winner receives $1.278M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Harbour Town Golf Links measures out to 7,099 yards, is a par 71, and the greens are Bermuda. The winning score over the past ten years at this event ranges from -9 to -22, so it can play tough or relatively easy depending on weather conditions and how organizers decide to set it up. Some of the key stats to dive into this week are driving accuracy, driving distance, strokes gained: putting, birdie or better percentage, strokes gained: total, and strokes gained: tee-to-green.
The field: We will see 136 players in action this week, and the top 65 golfers plus ties will move forward into the weekend to play rounds 3 and 4. The field is fairly strong this year as per usual thanks to RBC sponsoring this event and many of the PGA Tour’s players, so they are obligated to play in these events. We will see defending champ, Webb Simpson, world number one ranked player Dustin Johnson, and many other elites including Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, and several other big names, as well. Usually, after a major tournament, we see a down week in terms of field quality, but not this week, which is just great. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a B+.
Lineup construction strategy this week: Over 50% of the field will make the cut this week, so you can get away with being a bit more aggressive than you maybe would in full 156-player fields. You have the ability to do stars and scrub configurations – I personally like hybrid builds the most for cut-based events, because you can take your favorite players from each salary range and come away with some solid-looking lineups that still have good win equity from three or even four players. Be sure to leave some money on the table, and look at ownership come Wednesday if having unique lineups matters to you and your ability to win GPP’s outright.
All the best in your journey to win some contests this week – here are my 15 DFS golf picks which feature my top 3 players from each tier on DraftKings (DK) in no particular order, plus I include player salaries for DK, as well. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performance at this event over the last 5 years, and add in some helpful pieces of information and stats, as well.
The $10K+ Range
Webb Simpson (Salary: DraftKings – $10.7K) – Outside of round 2 last week where he had a 76, Simpson had a solid Masters finishing T12 thanks to three rounds of 70. Now he heads back to the tournament that he holds the record for and has had a fantastic record at over the past four years. I’m expecting a top 10 this week from Webb, for his fifth one on the campaign, and wouldn’t be surprised at all if he defends his title come Sunday. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – Won, 2019 – T16, 2018 – T5, 2017 – T11, and 2016 – T66.
Collin Morikawa (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – It’s tough for me to not include Dustin Johnson here, he hasn’t been very good lately but I think he should do well this week, just not well enough to pay off his top salary number. Morikawa finished T18 last week at the Masters, he won the last WGC stroke-play event, and his stats indicate that he can win on any given week. He’s making his second start at the RBC Heritage this week, and I see a huge improvement coming after last year’s maiden voyage. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T64.
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $10.9K) – Cantlay missed his second straight cut at a stroke-play event after blowing his brains out in round 1 last week shooting a 7 over par, but he shot one over in round 2, so he somewhat found some form on Friday. He does have a win this season though, has four top 10’s in 11 starts, and I’m expecting a nice bounce-back week this week for him. He now comes to a venue where he has three straight top 7’s with two of them being T3’s, and I’m expecting something similar out of him this week. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2019 – T3, 2018 – T7, and 2017 – T3.
The $9K Range
Will Zalatoris (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – Wow, just wow! Zalatoris dazzled last week in his first Masters appearance where only Hideki Matsuyama beat him out of all of the world’s best golfers. He just keeps putting together solid finish after solid finish, and I also like that he had a top 10 right after his T6 at the U.S. Open last year – I fully believe he will do the same this week and can see him winning soon this season, so why not this week?! RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: None.
Matthew Fitzpatrick (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – Fitzpatrick wasn’t at his best by any means last week at The Masters, but he still finished T34. Prior to last week, he had four straight top 11’s in big events, and I see another similar result coming up this week. He also has a decent track record over the past three years here too, so he’s quite attractive at his DK salary number. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T14, 2019 – T39, 2018 – T14, 2017 – Cut, and 2016 – Cut.
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – Over his past four stroke-play events, Conners has gone T3, T7, T14, and was T8 last week at The Masters – his second straight top 10 at Augusta. He gained more than 9 strokes with his approach last week, over 11 strokes with his ball-striking, and in excess of 8 strokes tee-to-green. Expect an improvement on last year’s T21 here, and I can see him winning this season the way he’s continually gaining strokes in multiple key stat categories. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T21, 2019 – Cut, and 2018 – Cut.
The $8K Range
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – Harman just keeps playing great golf with three straight top 12’s between The Masters, the WGC match-play event, and at the Players he was T3. He has only missed one cut in 15 starts too this season, so he has both high-end finish potential and solid cut-making skill. Four years ago he had a T9 here, and I can see something comparable this week for him, as well. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T28, 2019 – Cut, 2018 – T23, 2017 – T9, and 2016 – Cut.
Abraham Ancer (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – Ancer hasn’t had a top 10 since January, but over his past five events, he has finishes ranging from T18 to T26, the latter result came last week at The Masters. I also like that he was runner-up here last year, so he knows his way around this track and knows what it takes to be successful here, and could see his first PGA Tour win this week. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – 2nd and 2019 – Cut.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – English is starting to show life again after last week’s T21 at The Masters, he was T26 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and has five top 10’s this season in 13 starts. His results have steadily improved here too over the last three years, so he’s trending towards a top 10 or 15 this week if that trend continues. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T17, 2019 – T25, 2018 – T32, 2017 – Cut, and 2016 – Cut.
The $7K Range
Charley Hoffman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – Hoffman is playing some sound golf – two straight months worth now where he has three top 10’s in his last six starts, and is coming off his best finish of the season – a runner-up at the Texas Open. He doesn’t have a stellar track record at this event, but he’s playing so well right now that I can easily see another top 20 for him this week, with upside. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T45, 2018 – T23, 2017 – Cut, and 2016 – T14.
Chris Kirk (Salary: DraftKings – $7.5K) – Kirk has been playing some excellent golf this season with only one missed cut in his last 12 starts, three top 8’s during that stretch, four other top 25’s, and he’s coming off a T6 in his most recent start at the Texas Open. He makes for a fairly decent mid-tier pick-up right now to help firm-up lineups with consistently good results who pops off here and there. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2018 – T55, 2017 – Cut, and 2016 – T23.
Michael Thompson (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – Thompson has back-to-back top 10 finishes over the past two years here, and on three tough courses at The Masters, The Honda Classic, and The PLAYERS Championship, he finished anywhere from T19 to T48. He only has one top 10 finish this season to date but has four top 25’s, and I’m counting on another one this week with the potential to have three straight top 10’s. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T8, 2019 – T10, 2018 – T42, and 2017 – Cut.
The $6K Range
Doug Ghim (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – We saw Ghim in contention at The PLAYERS Championship a month or so ago, only to shoot a 78 in round 4 and fall to T29, but the skill and potential are there. Almost half of his finishes this season are top 30’s and he has made 75% of his cuts which is a positive working for him. There aren’t many players in the $6K range who could go off this week, but Ghim is one of them who absolutely could. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: None.
Chase Seiffert (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – Seiffert has only missed one cut in his last seven events and has four top 18’s during this period including a T3 at The Honda Classic under a month ago. I think you can count on Chase to make the cut here this week, and he does have the potential to nab you a top 20 in the process. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: None.
Patton Kizzire (Salary: DraftKings – $6.5K) – I think that Kizzire is under-priced by at least $500 this week, as he’s made the cut in 13 of his last 14 starts, and is coming off a top 10 result at the Texas Open in his most recent start. If you are looking for a low-cost anchor for your lineups this week, look to Patton to be that player. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T45, 2018 – Cut, 2017 – T32, and 2016 – T14.
Results of the 15 players I picked for last week’s Masters Tournament
The 10K+ Range
- Jon Rahm – T5
- Justin Thomas – T21
- Dustin Johnson – Cut
The $9K Range
- Jordan Spieth – T3
- Patrick Reed – T8
- Patrick Cantlay – Cut
The $8K Range
- Cameron Smith – T10
- Daniel Berger – Cut
- Sungjae Im – Cut
The $7K Range
- Paul Casey – T26
- Abraham Ancer – T26
- Will Zalatoris – 2nd
The $6K Range
- Jason Kokrak – 49th
- Brian Harman – T12
- Corey Conners – T8
