Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2023 RBC Heritage

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2023 RBC Heritage  

RBC Heritage Fantasy Preview

It felt, be it sub-consciously on the part of the TV broadcasters or otherwise, that The Masters was golf’s version of a superhero movie.

The good guys were the PGA TOUR pros who have stayed loyal and true to golf’s traditions, while the baddies from LIV – headed by Greg Norman, a megalomaniac with world domination in mind – were at Augusta to steal the Green Jacket and all the powers it brings.

Like all generic superhero franchises, it was ‘good’ that prevailed over ‘evil’ with Jon Rahm reeling in Brooks Koepka after four days of titanic battles in apocalyptic conditions.

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As Koepka sauntered into the lead early on in the tournament, the 100ft trees that crashed to the ground in the dramatic weather in Georgia felt like something of a metaphor; the hopes of golfing purists similarly falling a-timber with them.

But Rahm, courtesy of an outstanding final round of 69 in still-tough conditions, made the most of Koepka’s hapless front nine on Sunday to secure the first Green Jacket of his career and continues his exceptional start to 2023.

Not bad for a guy who four-putted the first hole of the tournament….

Remember when the RBC Heritage was simply a post-Masters schedule-filler? Not anymore, with elevated status and a $20 million prize pool ensuring many of the game’s finest will head to South Carolina this week.

Last Event’s Fantasy Results

The Masters quickly became the Jon Rahm show on Sunday, ending with a well deserving win for the Spaniard. 

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With only two missed cuts out of our 12 picks last week, our top-horse Cantlay finished T14 along with a handful of T16 finishers.

Although Rahm and Mickelson were not in our picks last week, we still faired well overall; but unfortunately not well enough to be on top. 

On to next week!

The RBC Heritage Field

A whopping 18 of the world’s top-20 players will duke it out for the Tartan Jacket this week.

By the time you read this, or indeed thereafter, there may be late withdrawals as tends to happen in a post-major week – Rory McIlroy and Will Zalatoris have already announced their WD.

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But Rahm is still slated to play, as is Scottie Scheffler and the likes of defending champion Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa, fresh from their top-10 finishes at Augusta.

Others, such as Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Thomas, will also fancy their chances of adding more silverware to their collections.

This Week’s Course Preview

A week after the complexities of Augusta National, the players head to a track designed by the man renowned for its desire to make the sport as difficult as possible: Pete Dye.

But his work on the Harbour Town Links, to which Jack Nicklaus was a contributor, finds him in somewhat more generous mood, even if his trademark tiny, ‘upturned saucer’ greens are very much in situ.

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You could say that water is in play on every hole too, while it’s amazing how frequently the players seem to end up in the sand at Harbour Town – a result, perhaps, of the occasionally fierce cross-winds that blow here.

But the rough is usually generously short and the thick tree lines, unusual for a coastal track, protect the players somewhat from the worst of the wind down on Hilton Head Island.

The Par 71 layout measures 7,191 yards and features four Par 3s and a trio of Par 5s – the bulk of the heavy scoring will be done on the longer holes, with the 550-yard second hole seeing almost as many eagles as bogeys in 2022. 

Much of what will unfold this week will be dictated by the weather, but a score of around -13 will likely be needed to stand a chance. And that could all be undone by the final hole, a 472-yard Par 4 on which danger lurks at every turn – this played comfortably over par last year.

Weather Forecast for Hilton Head, SC

If the players were fed of getting soaked to the skin at The Masters, the bad news is that more of the wet stuff could be heading their way this week.

The early forecast for Hilton Head Island suggests that thundery downpours on Friday and Sunday are possible, although the good news is that the temperatures will be pleasant – around 75˚F by all accounts – and the wind not that fearsome (barring localized gusts). 

Thursday and Saturday are therefore likely to be the best days for scoring, with wind speeds of around 8-10mph and warm, sunny spells.

HILTON HEAD WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the RBC Heritage

Jordan Spieth delivering a trademark Spiethian performance to win the 2022 RBC Heritage.

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He ranked just 60th for SG: Putting, but struck the ball beautifully – making three eagles on the way to a play-off victory over Patrick Cantlay.

The triumph was secured in classic Spieth fashion; lumping his approach shot into a bunker on the first playoff hole before squeezing a sublime chip to just seven inches. Cantlay, following Spieth into the sand, was unable to get up and down.

It could have all been so different had Shane Lowry not hit his approach to the Par 3 fifteenth into the drink – that double-bogey, followed by just par at the easy Par 5 sixteenth, condemned the Irishman to a share of T3.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the RBC Heritage this Week

Once upon a time, the RBC Heritage was a fantastic vehicle for fantasy golf with its weak field and unique conditions. These days, things are a little harder with the quality of player on show and the fear of a post-Masters mindset. Still, there’s some attractive contests to get stuck into.

• PGA $75k Dogleg: Although single-entry contests are not always a wise way to go for events of high variance, if you are feeling confident in your lineup then this game features a $7.5k top prize with just 2,650 teams in the mix.

• PGA $400k Drive the Green: Navigating the pitfalls of this event may require a multi-roster build, and so targeting one of the cheaper multi-entry contests – this one is $5 per team – is perhaps the way to go. There’s $50k on offer to the winner.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes

The RBC Heritage was once one of the most bizarre tournaments on the PGA TOUR rotation, with winners such as C.T. Pan, Stewart Cink and Satoshi Kodaira all taking the spoils at sportsbook odds of 160/1 or longer.

There was no set formula, with bombers, putting maestros and young upstarts – Wesley Bryan even won here in 2017 – all coming to the party.

Now, thanks to its elevated status, there should be a bit more certainty to our selections as we revert to the tried and tested Pete Dye method of success.

Harbour Town has largely been forgiving off the tee, and that was the case last year too – five of the first nine players on the leaderboard had a higher GIR percentage than fairways found. The takeaway is that quality iron players from the thicker grass can still prevail if they are somewhat errant off the tee (in true Spiethian style).

Dye made a habit of designing second-and-third shot golf courses, and Harbour Town is in that lineage. If you can hold the greens with your approach then happy days; these Bermuda/Poa overseeded greens aren’t the smoothest necessarily, but they aren’t anywhere near as complex as the surfaces at Augusta last week.

If you do miss the green, then in true Dye style you’ll need to have good hands to get up and down, so quality approach players – with a reliable scrambling and rescue game – are the order of the day.

If you’re looking for correlations, you don’t have to look too far – the RSM Classic is played not a million miles away in Georgia, while players comfortable in seaside, breezy conditions have a habit at showing up in the same tournaments; the Sony Open, AT&T Pebble Beach, Farmers Insurance Open and the Corales Puntacana can all be added to your shortlist. 

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the RBC Heritage   

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2023-2023)

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