RBC Heritage Preview and DFS Picks for Each Price Range
Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, SC, designed by Pete Dye, is the host of the RBC Heritage tournament. Known for narrow fairways, strategic bunkers, and small greens, it demands precision play. Professional and amateur golfers alike are drawn to its challenging layout and coastal beauty. With the event being elevated to a signature event in the PGA tour, we only see 69 golfers. With the exception of Viktor Hovland and Hideki Matsuyama, every golfer still on the PGA tour in the top 20 of the OWGR will be at the event this week.
- Field: 69 Players
- Cut: No Cut Event
- First Tee: Thursday, April 18
- Defending Champion: Matt Fitzpatrick
As mentioned above, Harbour Town Golf Links is a course where driving accuracy becomes a bit more important than distance. As always, approach is a key stat here, with most second shots coming from less than 175 yards. The course will play as a Par 71 at 7213 total yards. The greens are smaller than the average PGA course and are relatively easy to navigate, especially after what golfers experienced at Augusta last weekend.
- Narrow tree-lined fairways: Require accurate tee shots to avoid hazards. A wayward shot on average results in 0.5 strokes lost to the field.
- Doglegs: Demand precise positioning off the tee for optimal approach angles. Some dogleg holes even require a shot to be wide at the turn, if not, golfers may be behind the multitude of trees that line the fairways.
- Punishing rough and bunkers: Reward accuracy off the tee and penalize wayward drives.
After all the intrigue around last week and the Masters, we get another stacked field for this week’s RBC Heritage. Being at a coastal course in South Carolina, weather will always be a factor. Currently, there is only a slight chance of rain over the weekend with minimal winds. I strongly recommend checking weather and tee times closer to contest lock time for the best optimization. Another week, another article that won’t mention Scottie as the recommended player in the high range. Again, hear me out, if you need me to tell you to play Scottie, then you must be watching LIV Golf and not the PGA Tour. However, this week I am approaching with caution and will probably play less of him than the field average. He is coming off a long week at the Masters plus his wife could go into labor at any point and he has already stated he will WD from any tournament if he gets that call. So without further ado, below are my best plays from each pricing range on DraftKings as well as why I like them.
$10K and Up: $10.2K – Patrick Cantlay (Proj. Ownership: 14%)
This is not a pretty pick and it won’t be an exciting one if he ends up winning in the end. Cantlay plays slow, relatively boring golf which can annoy average fans. This can also drive down his ownership, as his early ownership projections are less than 15% (the lowest of this range). I get it, you don’t want to watch him but his results here are unreal. In 6 career starts at Harbour Town he has one missed cut, but outside of that, his lowest finish is T7(!!) with 4 other top-3 finishes. For some reason, he plays well at this course and there is no reason to believe that will change this week. Last week he showed positive signs of returning to the Cantlay we all know, gaining strokes on approach and around the green. His overall skill profile of being above average in approach, accuracy off the tee, and putting fits the course well. I will gladly back Cantlay heading into a tournament that seems like the perfect get-right spot.
$9K Range: $9.8K – Tommy Fleetwood (Proj. Ownership: 18%)
This one feels kind of gross to put out on the internet. Fleetwood is a great golfer overseas, but in the US, he just seems to be above average. For anyone that doesn’t know, Fleetwood turned Pro in 2010 and has played plenty of events in the US but still has yet to find a win. Coming back to the course fit narrative I talked about with Cantlay, Harbour Town seems to fit Tommy Fleetwood’s game perfectly. He tends to be extremely accurate off the tee that is followed by an excellent approach game. With average results in 4 career appearances (T25-Cut-T10-T15), this event feels like it could be where Fleetwood breaks through. Coming off his best finish at the Masters (T3) and a T7 at Valero, I actually really like Fleetwood this week. Unfortunately, the high finish at the Masters drove his ownership up as he currently sits in a tie for the highest owned in the $9K range. Finding pivot plays in your DFS roster would make him a strong option for anyone’s lineup this week.
$8K Range: $8.5K – Shane Lowry (Proj. Ownership: 15%)
If you read my Masters article, you are probably rolling your eyes when you see Lowry here again. I get it, I was disappointed and embarrassed after how he played last week but I love how Shane Lowry is playing right now. His approach game continues to be one of the best in the game and he is an accurate driver. If you look back at his Masters stats, you’ll see that Lowry simply played like he tends to do. He was hitting greens with ease but couldn’t hit a putt to save his life. Over the tournament, he lost roughly 1.8 strokes putting to the field, his second-worst putting performance over his last 25 starts. I will give him some slack for last week though as the greens at Augusta played unlike they have played in recent memory. Lowry’s weakness should be minimalized on a course with small and relatively flat greens. With two T3 finishes and a T9, he has shown he can play well at this event. With lower ownership and a reasonable price tag, I am happy to go back to Lowry this week.
$7K Range: $7.0K – Tom Hoge (Proj. Ownership: 8%)
Tom Hoge was one of the first names off the list for the Masters so he was able to take time away from golf and should enter this week refreshed. I won’t lie, course history for Hoge at this course is not pretty. His best finish here is a T25 accompanied by 4 missed cuts. The best news for Hoge might be the fact this event is now a no-cut event. His game appears to set up well for this course, he is accurate off the tee and has an amazing approach game. A poor around the green game might limit his upside most weeks, at a course where getting up and down around the green is easier, he should be able to find his way to another T25 or better. Playing some of the best golf of his professional career, this seems like a great opportunity to back Hoge. At $7K flat, he offers some salary relief and makes it easier to fit some of the guys at the top into your lineups.
$6K Range: $6.3K – Lee Hodges (Proj. Ownership: 5%)
At 5% owned, Hodges ranks as the 4th most-owned golfer in the $6K range. If you feel like this makes Hodges chalky, then I understand pivoting off of him to another golfer in this range. I’m not worried about him coming off a missed cut at the Masters, he played well in round 1 but it seems like the weather got the best of him in round 2. Again, he is another player that seems to fit this course really well and with only one start here (T41 in 2023) we can’t say one way or another. A player that is above average in driving accuracy and approach, Hodges profiles as a golfer that can get himself into position on the putting greens. Like Hoge above, one major flaw in his game is his poor around the green game. If he can continue to drive the ball accurately and hit greens in regulation, this course should help elevate the rest of his game. I will gladly back Hodges this week and at only $6.3K he is near the minimum for DraftKings.
