Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2023 RBC Heritage

2023 RBC Heritage Fantasy Sleeper Report

Whether you are pro LIV or anti, it was still hugely entertaining to see the added narrative of Brooks Koepka vs Jon Rahm on Sunday at The Masters.

In the end it was Rahm, as he tends to do, that prevailed, with the Spaniard hitting the accelerator as Koepka slipped his title charge into reverse – could that be the upshot of not playing much in the way of meaningful, competitive golf of late?

Either way, Rahm was helped into his Green Jacket by defending champion Scottie Scheffler, and you wonder how many famous duels that duo will have on Sundays in the weeks, months and years to come.

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Who knows, they might have a face-off this week as the PGA TOUR heads to South Carolina for the RBC Heritage.

Both are scheduled to appear at the Harbour Town Links, although of course it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Rahm was to withdraw given the extent of his achievement on Sunday – he would follow Rory McIlroy, Will Zalatoris and Jason Day, and no doubt others, in sending their apologies despite initially being named in the field.

The RBC Heritage has been the site of 160/1, 175/1 and 200/1 winners in recent memory, but that trend might now unfortunately change with the PGA TOUR bestowing this event with ‘elevated’ status – no doubt in part to ensure a stronger field congregates on Hilton Head Island. It’s amazing how persuasive a $20 million prize pool can be….

But fans of betting on long shots and underdogs should not abandon hope just yet, because Harbour Town is an idiosyncratic golf course where the wind can blow so hard that it makes holding Pete Dye’s trademark miniscule greens all the tougher.

It doesn’t matter too much what you do off the tee, although missing in the right places is advised given that there’s water everywhere here, and that Dye’s bunker placement is also supremely effective at this layout. Hitting approaches from non-ideal angles is not the recipe for success.

The greens run at a fairly sluggish pace, certainly compared to Augusta last week anyway, but they have that upturned saucer vibe that Dye is famous for, so they’re not always the easiest to hold – the rain, forecast for Friday and Sunday, may help to soften them to some extent, at which point this could become a pitch-and-putt contest.

You might read a lot about post-Masters malaise this week, but the leaderboard of last year’s RBC Heritage would suggest that is hokum. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young and Shane Lowry all finished T3 or higher 12 months ago, so don’t be fooled into thinking the big names are here for a jolly. 

The best players made all the running last year, with Spieth eventually downing Cantlay in a playoff, but there’s still plenty of classy operators to back at 50/1 and longer. You’ll find five such options listed in our 2023 RBC Heritage sleeper shortlist below:

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Matt Kuchar – 50/1 – As a former winner of this event with four other top-10s to his name, plus victories to his name at Mayakoba and the Sony Open, it’s fair to say that Matt Kuchar loves these kinds of conditions more than any other.

And he heads to a happy hunting ground in decent spirits too after getting close to the top prize with solo third at the Texas Open last time out, which followed T8 at the high-class Genesis Invitational.

All of that comes as no surprise given his tidy tee-to-green game and particular expertise around small greens, so we can expect Kooch to give another quality showing at Harbour Town.

Tommy Fleetwood – 60/1 – Trending in the right direction lately has been Tommy Fleetwood, who recorded top-30s in quality company at the PLAYERS and Genesis Invitational before going close in a T3 effort at the Valspar.

A solid solo 33rd at The Masters continues to good feelings for a player who possesses a solid recovery game to go with excellent ball-striking, and so missed greens won’t worry him quite as much as they will some of the other flushers in this field.

A former British Open and Scottish Open runner-up that has won on a Links golf course in France, the conditions at Harbour Town – where Fleetwood posted a T10 finish last year – will not be of undue concern.

Rickie Fowler – 75/1 – The year 2023 has been a good one for Rickie Fowler, who has recorded five top-20 finishes in six strokeplay starts – decent turns at the PLAYERS and Genesis in particular confirmation that his game is ascending the right way.

The next step in Fowler’s re-birth as an elite level player will be contending for silverware, and you wonder if Harbour Town will be as likely a venue as any for that to happen.

This is a guy who has won at wind-struck tracks like PGA National and TPC Scottsdale, who has prevailed on the Scottish Links and in the Arabian desert, and who has a runner-up finish at the British Open to his name.

Approaching something like his best golf, now’s the time for Fowler to contend once more.

Gary Woodland – 100/1 – Although he has no short game to speak of, Gary Woodland upset the odds once more at Augusta by finishing T14 at a layout where the greens are (usually) very difficult to hold.

Woodland is also a former champion at Pebble Beach that has finished runner-up at Kapalua, so when the wind is blowing strong and greens are missed he still seems to find a way despite not being the best chipper in the world.

But what he does have going for him is a brilliant long-range approach game, backed by much better driving of late. Woodland was also pretty solid on the greens at Augusta as well, so as long as he can chip to a reasonable standard he can surely do very nicely at Harbour Town this week.

Taylor Moore – 100/1 – Innisbrook is a golf course where scrambling and chipping are vital weapons for success, and it was there that Taylor Moore won his maiden PGA TOUR title just a matter of weeks ago.

A relative newcomer on the TOUR, Moore is no stranger to getting first looks at a course each week – as he will at Harbour Town, but that doesn’t seem to be an obstacle; he finished T39 at The Masters on debut last week, which is a fine effort from an Augusta virgin.

Previously T8 at the RSM Classic, the insinuation of that is that Moore feels at home by the ocean – all of which stands him in good stead ahead of the trip to Hilton Head Island.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the RBC Heritage here.

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2023-2023)

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