RBC Heritage Preview 2024

 RBC Heritage


Players travel 3 hours east to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina where they will compete for the RBC Heritage on the Harbour Town Golf Links course at Sea Pines Resort.

Year on year the RBC Heritage follows The Masters, so for most it's seen as the hangover tournament. But that’s certainly not the case this year. The RBC Heritage this year has been made into an ‘elevated’ event on Tour again. This means that the top players are obliged to play here as per the rules set by the Tour of said designated events.

With us retuning to the PGA Tour this week, this means that LIV players are obviously removed from the field that tee’d it up for The Masters.

Let’s dive into the course.

Harbour Town Golf Links

  • Par 71, 7191 yards
  • Pete Dye Design with helpings from Jack Nicklaus
  • Bermuda Greens with slight Poa Trivialis overseed this time of year
  • 4 x Par 3s – ranging from 192-200 yards
  • 11 x Par 4s – ranging from 332-473 yards
  • 3 x Par 5s – 550, 569 and 580 yards
  • 8/11 Par 4s 451 yards or less
  • Smaller than average greens 
  • Water in play off the tee on more than 50% of the holes
  • Volatile weather conditions as Course situated along the coast

 Previous Winners Stats

2023 – Matt Fitzpatrick -17 (playoff winner over Jordan Speith)

6th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE
1st STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
8th STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
10th GREENS IN REGULATION 
9th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
24th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

2022 – Jordan Speith -13 (playoff winner over Patrick Cantlay)
4th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE
1st STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
10th STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
9th GREENS IN REGULATION 
5th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
60th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

2021 Stewart Cink -19
20th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE
1st STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
2nd STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
1st GREENS IN REGULATION 
5th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
25th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

2020 Webb Simpson -22
30th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE 
7th STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
8th STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
12th GREENS IN REGULATION 
18th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
2nd STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

2019 CT Pan -12
50th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE 
11th STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
18th STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
39th GREENS IN REGULATION 
7th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
5th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

2018 Satoshi Kodaira -12
6th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE 
7th STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
7th STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
7th GREENS IN REGULATION 
18th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
16th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

2017 Wesley Bryan -13
67th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE 
6th STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
2nd STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
66th GREENS IN REGULATION 
10th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
11th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

Stat averages for previous 7 winners
Winning Score -16
27th STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE 
4th STROKES GAINED: TEE2GREEN 
9th STROKES GAINED: APPROACH 
23rd GREENS IN REGULATION 
9th STROKES GAINED: AROUND THE GREEN
18th STROKES GAINED: PUTTING

Stats to focus on

·         STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE/Driving Accuracy

  • GREENS IN REGULATION/STROKES GAINED: APPROACH/TEE2GREEN
  • Ability to scramble when needed
  • Par 4 scoring (400-450 efficiency)
  • Course Experience

A typical Pete Dye track Harbour Town include; deep pot bunkers that surround the greens and are awkwardly placed in the fairways, smaller than average greens meaning a premium will be on positional/accurate shots, especially off the tee as landing areas are narrow in places.

Looking at the course specifics. The distance is less than Tour averages, therefore brings all kinds of players to the front and with a chance, this can be seen by just looking at the previous 7 winners. This can make predicting the winner slightly trickier than usual! But there are a couple of stats/trends that I am interested in pursuing this week that can be read below.

The STROKES GAINED: OFF THE TEE and Driving Accuracy stats don’t really represent how much of a premium will be on positioning your tee shots in the right places this week to avoid trouble with dog legs/water and deep bunkering around the greens. So, I will be factoring driving into account this week and look for players who constantly set opportunities up.

Accuracy is clearly a premium here, not just with the driver/tee shot, but with the irons from these fairways. Hitting these tiny greens is a must and the skill to get up and down when the players eventually miss one will be massive here. Hence the GREENS IN REGULATION/STROKES GAINED: APPROACH/TEE2GREEN stats being low for 4/7 of the last winners, and then if the GREENS IN REGULATION stats haven’t been up to scratch like Bryan’s weren’t in 2017 and Pan in 2019, strokes can be gained Around the Green in the short run off areas, so it is key to look at a players all around game.

I shall factor in Par 4 scoring this week. We have visited various Par 72s in the last few weeks on Tour, here we come to a Par 71 where the players will face 1 more Par 4 to what they’ve seen of late with 8 out of the 11 of them falling under 451 yards, so I will be looking at the guys who are efficient at these shorter holes so far this season.

And finally, Course experience at Harbour Town has proved to be critical. Seeing this intricate track has clearly been a positive factor in previous years - we see this thru there being numerous guys that have won here multiple times and guys that perform here year in year out.

RBC Heritage Selections

Sticking the usual staking plan, I will be providing 5 selections that I will play 1pt each way on, meaning 10pts will be staked in total again. All selections have been taken with Bet365 at 8 places. Good luck again all! Let’s hope for another good week.

Wyndham Clark 28/1

Brian Harman 40/1

Denny McCarthy 50/1

J.T. Poston 50/1

Brendon Todd 66/1

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