The RBC Heritage is the next event to follow The Masters. It's newly minted as a designated event, which means most of the PGA Tour's best players will be in attendance, including Jon Rahm, who won his first Green Jacket at Augusta National with strong opening and closing rounds. Located at the heavily-frequented Hilton Head Island Resort on the coastal lowlands of South Carolina, players will need to adjust to a much different course layout than the one they navigated in Georgia this past weekend.
Rahm will be in attendance in a field of 143 golfers, which also includes Scottie Scheffler, who will be making his debut at Harbour Town Golf Links. Patrick Cantlay, who lost to Jordan Spieth in a sudden-death playoff here in 2022, has the third-highest odds to secure an outright win, while Collin Morikawa and Spieth round out the top-five outright winner odds. Ball striking is always an important piece toward winning at any PGA Tour course, however, Harbour Town takes it to another level with thin fairways and small greens.
Let's explore the opening tee times, current top ten odds, and the Harbour Town Golf Links layout before diving into my top five power rankings entering the 2023 RBC Heritage.
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RBC Heritage Odds
RBC Heritage Course
Harbour Town Golf Links is a Pete Dye-designed course that's been played for over 50 years. Jack Nicklaus worked with Dye to develop the property, which is known for its narrow fairways and tiny Bermudagrass greens. These greens average 3.700 square feet, which is half the size of what we saw at Augusta National, which is why precise irons are so critical to maintaining success. Water hazards do pop up from time to time, mostly on the par 3s, which are evenly distributed along the front and back nine.
Harbour Town is a par 71 that doesn't run long at just over 7,200 yards. Only one par 5 is on the back nine on the 15th hole, which is why it's a par 71, but most of the over-seeded Bermuda fairways run straight, with numerous trees blanketing the perimeter to create bad lies with errant tee shots. The Bermuda rough stands over three inches, but a new intermediate layer serves as a buffer between the long rough and the Bermuda fairways, which will measure closer to an inch. The Bermuda greens run a bit slower than the Bentgrass surfaces at Augusta, but the Stimpmeter still projects roughly 12.5 feet so that it won't be a drastic difference.
RBC Heritage Power Rankings
Scottie Scheffler (+850) (Bet $100 to collect $950) Get the best odds for Scottie Scheffler at DraftKings
The World No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is set to make his debut at RBC Heritage. The 26-year-old already has two outright wins this season and is the top-ranked player in strokes gained tee-to-green, which is one of the top metrics to follow at Harbour Town Golf Links. Scheffler hasn't dropped outside of the T10 in any of his previous four events and hasn't dipped below T12 since October. Only the putter can stop Scheffler, but at a course designed to reward ball striking, the debutant can make his imprint with an outright win. It's why we're landing +850 odds on Scheffler as the betting favorite, but it's still good value compared to what we'll land after a strong opening round, so take his outright line with confidence.
Patrick Cantlay (+1200) (Bet $100 to collect $1,300) For the best odds for Patrick Cantlay go to DraftKings
Patrick Cantlay nearly won a year ago but wound up losing to Jordan Spieth in a playoff match at RBC Heritage. The 31-year-old Cantlay is seeking his first win of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, recording six outright wins across the previous two seasons. He's equipped with the best par 5 scoring average, has incredibly precise irons, and ranked sixth in total strokes gained, and his putter tends to be an asset instead of a liability. It also helps to know that Cantlay is ranked second in total driving, meaning he's powerful and accurate, which helps create ample birdie opportunities for a player with three T7 finishes in his past four outings at Harbour Town. At 12/1, we're getting solid value for a blue-chip prospect, so invest in Cantlay accordingly.
Collin Morikawa (+1800) (Bet $100 to collect $1,900) Head to DraftKings to get the Collin Morikawa pick
Collin Morikawa is another fantastic iron player that we've seen flourish on the PGA Tour this season. The 26-year-old has previous finishes of T26 and T7 at RBC Heritage, and he's built to dominate the course during his third appearance at the newly designated event. Morikawa ranks second in strokes gained approaching the green, second in driving accuracy, and fourth in strokes gained tee-to-green. Simply put, he's an exceptional iron player, and while his putter tends to flare up from time to time, there's a reason he's cracking the top five outright betting odds this weekend. He's eighth at converting greens in regulation and 40th in scrambling, so he can save par or attempt birdies from nearly all lies. At 18/1, we're getting 2x the value betting on Morikawa compared to Scheffler, so I like laying a unit on these odds.
Viktor Hovland (+2200) (Bet $100 to collect $2,300) DraftKings has the best Viktor Hovland odds
Viktor Hovland captured everyone's attention with a seven-under-par start to The Masters, but he wound up deflating and pulling a T7 finish at Augusta. The 25-year-old Norwegian has all of the tools to secure an outright win, despite making his debut at Harbour Town. That's right. Hovland and Scheffler are among a list of notable players who have never competed here until it became a designated event, so expect them to have plenty of motivation after relatively disappointing results at the first Major of the season last weekend. Hovland is 15th in strokes gained tee-to-green, eighth in strokes gained off-the-tee, and first in approach shots from 100-175 yards while also averaging the lowest number of putts during the first round this season. He's not going to shy away despite making his debut, so at 22/1 odds, we are obligated to lay at least half a unit on the young Norwegian, who has an outright win in each of his previous three seasons on the PGA Tour.
Tyrrell Hatton (+4000) (Bet $100 to collect $4,100) The best Tyrrell Hatton odds are at DraftKings
It's been three years since Tyrrell Hatton's only outright win, which occurred at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 31-year-old Englishman is ranked seventh in total strokes gained, including ninth tee-to-green and off-the-tee, while also ranking 11th in approaching the green. Previous finishes go T26, T39, MC, and T29, so securing an outright win would be a massive step forward based on the slow improvement we've seen from Hatton. He also has a nice touch when putting on the green, ranking 35th in strokes gained putting, while also showing command of the driver when it comes to accuracy and distance. 40/1 is the best value we're landing amongst these five recommended plays, so betting a half-unit on Hatton will get it done here.
