The RBC Heritage
Preview for the RBC Heritage: It’s hard to say goodbye to the Masters Tournament until next April, but the RBC Heritage is still a good quality event on the PGA Tour – this year more than ever thanks to the big $20M prize pool. This tournament started back in 1969 and was won by none other than Arnold Palmer who won with a score of just -1 – three strokes clear of two other competitors. The record at this event is held by Webb Simpson who shot a -22 just three years ago to beat Abraham Ancer by a single stroke. Winners of the RBC Heritage over the past five years include Jordan Spieth in 2022, Stewart Cink in 2021, Webb Simpson in 2020, Pan Cheng-Tsung in 2019, and Satoshi Kodaira in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $20M, the winner collects $3.6M, and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Harbour Town Golf Links is 7,191 yards in length, is a par 71, and the small greens are poa. The winning score at the RBC Heritage over the past decade ranges from -9 to -22, so the track can be challenging for the players depending on the wind and course setup. Some core key stats to focus on this week, in order, include strokes gained: approach, driving accuracy percentage, strokes gained: tee to green, strokes gained: putting, and strokes gained: around the green.
The RBC Heritage 2023 field: We will see 132 golfers in action this week, and the top 65 players plus ties will have the opportunity of playing rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend. The field includes players such as Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, and another elite talent. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a B+.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the RBC Heritage. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the RBC Heritage this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes on approach over their last 24 rounds? Strong approach play is critical for success on this track. The top 10 best players recently include Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, and Gary Woodland.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Matt Kuchar, Jon Rahm, Max Homa, Tom Hoge, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Sungjae Im, and Justin Thomas.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 8 rounds) at this event since 2018? Patrick Cantlay (14 rounds), JT Poston (14 rounds), Shane Lowry (14 rounds), Cameron Davis (8 rounds), Erik van Rooyen (8 rounds), Matt Kuchar (20 rounds), Webb Simpson (20 rounds), Justin Thomas (8 rounds), Tommy Fleetwood (10 rounds), and Matt Fitzpatrick (18 rounds).
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $11.1K) – What a Masters victory last week, a massive congrats to Rahm for pulling it off in the final round against Brooks Koepka and others chasing him. Will he have his A-game this week again though? I certainly wouldn’t want to bet against him given he can go on big winning streaks and has all of the talent in the world. He gained an insane 12.33 strokes ball-striking at Augusta, 4.99 with his short game, and 16.20 total. Earlier this year, he won in back-to-back starts at the Tournament of Champions and The American Express, so he has what it takes to dominate any time he wants to. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T33
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $11.0K) – The only thing off last week for Scheffler was his putter as he lost 3.96 strokes putting, but gained 11.50 strokes ball-striking to finish T10. He pretty much finishes top 10 every time he plays now and has two wins over his last six starts. He doesn’t have experience here per se, but with his remarkable ball-striking and sound around the green play, his game travels no matter where he goes. Once his flat sticks warms up again then he will win some more events. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: none.
Jordan Spieth (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – Spieth always seems to bring it at the Masters and last week was no exception as he finished T4 thanks to gaining strokes across the board. He has three top 4’s over his last five starts, and four top 6’s over his last seven events played. All parts of his game are in fine shape right now, and he could certainly defend his title here this week, especially considering he lost 2.55 strokes putting last year and still pulled it off. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won, 2020 – T68, and 2019 – T54.
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $10.3K) – He has been outstanding at this tournament since 2017 with four top 7’s in five starts including his solo 2nd last year where he gained 11.06 strokes ball-striking – 8.66 of those were on approach which is big for success here. Cantlay has three top 9’s over his last five starts and has finished no worse than T19 during that stretch on the back of solid ball-striking and around-the-green play. Much the same as Scottie above, Patrick just needs his putter to warm up to get back into the winner’s circle. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – 2nd, 2021 – cut, 2019 – T3, and 2018 – T7.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $9.8K) – Hovland made some noise last week with a T7 at the Masters and has three top 10’s over his last four starts including a T3 at THE PLAYERS Championship. His putting is typically below average, but he has gained strokes putting in three out of his last four events played – none better than last week’s 2.75 gain on the greens at Augusta. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T21.
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $9.6K) – He has all of the talent in the world and it’s just a matter of time before he starts winning with regularity on the PGA Tour. He has three top 10’s over his last four starts including a 2nd at the WGC Dell Match Play and a T7 last week at the Masters. As a rookie here a year ago, he had a T3 with sound stats across the board except for a 0.89 stroke loss putting. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – Im is such a consistent player and just finds ways to get good results even if one part of his game is slightly off. He has four straight top 21’s including a T6 at THE PLAYERS Championship and has fared quite well over the last two years here – expect a top 20 with upside. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21, 2021 – T13, 2020 – cut, and 2019 – cut.
Shane Lowry (Salary: DraftKings – $8.3K) – He has been one of the top golfers here since 2019 with two T3’s and a T9, he just needs to put a complete tournament together to hoist the trophy. Lowry is coming off a T16 last week, had a T5 five starts ago, and a T14 six starts ago. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3, 2021 – T9, 2020 – cut, and 2019 – T3.
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – I was a bit surprised that Conners missed the cut last week at the Masters given he was coming off the win at the Valero Texas Open and had three consecutive Masters’ top 10’s, but the game of golf does have lots of variance. I expect the Canadian to be fully ready to rebound this week, and it’s a soft landing place for him given he has three straight top 21’s here including a T4 two years ago when all parts of his game were flowing. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T12, 2021 – T4, 2020 – T21, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – cut.
Matt Kuchar (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – Kuch has a long storied history at this tournament with a win in 2014, and six top 11’s over the last nine years including a T3 last year. The stars may be aligned for Matt to do some more damage again this week as he has two straight top 9’s including a T3 two weeks ago at the Valero Texas Open, and three top 9’s over his last five appearances. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3, 2021 – T18, 2020 – T41, 2019 – 2nd, and 2018 – T23.
Wyndham Clark (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – The bomber is trending right now with back-to-back top 6’s, he has four top 10’s over his last nine starts, and has made 12 straight-cut lines. He has made the cut here every time he has teed it up since 2019, and his best finish came just last year when he finished T35. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T35, 2021 – T64, 2020 – T64, 2019 – T54.
JT Poston (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – Past course history here is fairly sticky, and here’s another golfer who has really played well at this venue with three top 8’s over the last four years and none better than last year’s T3 thanks to gaining strokes in all major stat categories. Poston has been quite good as of late as well with two top 10’s over his last three starts and he also finished T34 last week. He’s a solid play for a low $7K price tag. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3, 2021 – cut, 2020 – T8, and 2019 – T6.
Matt Wallace (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – Wallace won two starts ago, has two top 7’s over his last three starts, and has finished no worse than T28 over his last three. He looked good here last year also with a T18, so he’s a pretty good option for your stars and scrubs and hybrid lineups this week. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T18, 2020 – T64, and 2019 – cut.
Sam Stevens (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – Stevens could have won at the Valero Texas Open as he gained 10.58 strokes ball-striking and 5.91 putting, but unfortunately for him, he lost 2.47 around the green, and that cost him his first victory on the PGA Tour. Nonetheless, he still has back-to-back top 3’s, and three top 15’s over his last four starts. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: none.
Lucas Glover (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – Glover is one of those players who likely won’t finish super high anymore, but he has gone T51-T36-45th over his last three starts, and has held up fairly well at this event going 7/8 since 2015 and six of those went for top 33’s. If you’re looking for a half-decent scrub this week, Lucas isn’t a terrible option to consider. RBC Heritage finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T48, 2021 – T33, 2020 – T21, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – T32.
