The golf betting experts top 5 each way picks at the 2023 RBC Heritage.
2023 RBC Heritage Betting Tips
April 13th – 16th, 2023
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Par: 71 / Yardage: 7,191
Purse: $20 million with $3.6 Million to the winner
Defending Champion: Jordan Spieth
Last Week: Brooks Koepka, Masters 2nd at 33/1
Best "Win Only" Bet
Matt Fitzpatrick 28/1
Those odds looks amazing but depends on how his neck feels after an excellent week at The Masters. T10 there and if he is now playing without pain could be a real threat here. T4 in 2021.
Doc's 5 Best Each Way Bets
Matt Kuchar 40/1
It was strange not to have old Kuuuuuch at The Masters last week but that just means he is rested, refreshed and ready to make a point this week. 8th at the Genesis, T3 in Texas and absolutely loves Harbour Town. Winner in 2014, he was also solo second in 2019 and T3 last year.
Justin Rose 50/1
T16 last week in The Masters and showing real signs of his best. T14 on his last visit here in 2020 improving his score every day of the four. Already a winner at Pebble, Harbour Town will suit where his game is at.
JT Poston 80/1
Tees and greens merchant with three top-10's in four starts at Harbour Town including a best of T3 last year. T36 at The Masters last week. Great odds.
Sam Burns 40/1
Looked a real contender at Augusta until the rain came in the third round. Sixth in Phoenix and at The Valspar, winner of the Matchplay, putting incredibly well, surely a good week lies ahead.
Shane Lowry 33/1
Playing nicely but still waiting to stitch four rounds together. I always think this course has an Irish parkland feel; shorter, tee to green is tricky, greens are small and not surprised that Shane plays well here. T3 here twice and coming in off a battling T16 at Augusta.
Additional Nerdy Key Stats Info
The field’s scoring average at Harbour Town last year was 70.74, the 19th hardest course for the year. In 2021 the average was 70.33, and it was the 26th hardest course on the PGA Tour.
Temperatures will range from 73 to 76 degrees as the week progresses. But the bad news is cloudy skies on Thursday and Saturday, but thunderstorms on Friday and Sunday. So for a second straight week, the weather will become the narrative for the week, and winds will be manageable between 7 and 11 mph each day.
So what will it take to win this week? Harbour Town is one of the best courses in America. It’s a different experience in which ball placement is utmost overpowering. Hitting it hard and far doesn’t work at this venue, so look for a precision player to win. Looking at all drives in 2022, the course averaged 278.6 yards, meaning it was the 6th shortest of all the courses on Tour. Since it’s so low (The highest on Tour last year was TPC Scottsdale, 311.3 yards), players not only throttle it down on many holes, they lay up with three woods or long irons. So our first important stat is driving accuracy. You have to drive it well and straight at Harbour Town. Last year the course ranked 35th (63.36%) in this stat compared to the others on Tour. Looking at past champions, seven of the last 14 were in the week’s top ten in accuracy. But that trend has changed as the last four and six of the previous seven have not even been in the top 30. Last year’s champion Jordan Spieth hit 36 of 54 fairways and ranked T-31st. 2021 champion Stewart Cink hit 31 of 54 fairways and ranked T-57th. 2020 champion Webb Simpson hit 33 of 54 fairways which ranked T-33rd. In 2019 C.T. Pan was terrible in this stat, as he hit just 29 of the 54 fairways and ranked T-59th, the worst of any champion since 1997. The year before, Satoshi Kodaira hit 42 of 56 and ranked T-4th.
The course caters to those that hit lots of greens; Last year, it ranked 10th as 60.12% of the players hit the greens. Last year’s winner Jordan Speith hit 50 of 72 greens and ranked T-9th. In 2021, Harbour Town ranked 19th, as 60.12% of the players hit the green, as 62.12% of the players hit the greens. In 2020 it ranked 17th, in 2019 and in 2018, it ranked 6th on Tour. 2017 was a misnomer as it ranked 16th, while in 2016, it ranked 2nd on the Tour and was in the top-6 in five of the last eight years. In the previous 26 years, 14 of the champions ranked in the top ten, with six leading the category. Stewart Cink was 1st in the category in 2021, hitting 56 of 72 greens, the best of all the champions since 1997. 2020 winner, Webb Simpson, ranked T-12th and hit 53 of 72 greens. In 2019, C.T. Pan ranked 37th, hitting 42 of 72 greens, while in 2018, Satoshi Kodaira ranked T-7th, so hitting greens is essential to winning at Harbour Town.
What makes Harbour Town tough is the greens. At 4,500 square feet, they are some of the smallest greens on the PGA Tour to hit, so it makes sense that scramblers do well since the course. It ranked 43rd last year (64.78, 8th best on Tour). In 2021 it ranked 44th (63.80, 8th best on Tour). In 2020 Harbour Town ranked 40th (67.14, 2nd best on Tour). In 2019 it ranked 42nd (62.99, 8th best on Tour) and 45th in 2018. It was 46th in 2017, 26th in 2016, and 49th best in 2015, which meant that the average player got it up and down 64.68% of the time. Only three courses saw averages higher you have to scramble well to exist. Last year’s winner, Jordan Spieth, ranked 6th, getting it up and down 18 of the 22 greens he missed. In 2021, Stewart Cink ranked T-4th getting it up and down 13 of 16 greens missed. In 2020 Webb Simpson ranked T-27th, while 2019 winner C.T. Pan ranked T-16th. 2018 champion Satoshi Kodaira was T-13th mostly because he hit a lot of greens.
At Hilton Head putting well doesn’t mean much, but you still have to make those nasty 4 to 8-footers. Last year in this stat, Jordan Spieth, despite having the reputation as one of the best putters on Tour, putted terribly. He was 60th in Strokes Gained Putting as he was 71st in putting from 4 to 8 feet and was 57th in putting inside ten feet, making 63 of 73 putts. In the previous year’s champions, in 2021, Cink ranked T-25th mostly because he hit so many greens. In 2020 Simpson ranked 2nd. In 2019 Pan ranked 5th, while in 2018, Kodaira ranked T-13th. So maybe it’s best to pick those putters that make putts in the five to ten-foot range?
When you look at the champions at this course, every one of them is ranked at the bottom of driving distance, and the longest is Jordan Spieth last year, who ranked 2nd as all of his drives averaged 290.5 yards. So think of it, most of the champions do not hit it long, something you won’t see at any other event on the PGA Tour. So the thought for the week is to hit it short and straight.
*Driving Accuracy: Percentage of fairways hit, last year Heritage finished 35th, in 2021, it ranked 29th in this stat, while in 2020, it was 33rd in this stat. In 2019 it ranked 21st, 24th in 2018, 21st in 2017, 18th in 2016, and 36th in 2015.
*Greens in Regulation: Stat is a great barometer on how good players manage their games around Harbour Town, last year Harbour Town ranked 10th, in 2021, it was 19th, while in 2020, it ranked 17th in this stat but was 6th in 2019 and in 2018. Every year the players that hit lots of greens do well.
*Scrambling: So, which course is tough to get it up and down on holes players miss the greens. Since all of the areas around the greens are mowed short and are left with really hard shots to get it close, scrambling is important. You are not going to be perfect, so you have to make sure you can make pars from some tough places
*Strokes Gained putting: Who gains the most strokes with their putter, since Harbour Town’s greens are so small, you will see fewer putts as you won’t have as many three-putts, but you still need to make those putts under ten feet.
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