RBC Heritage Preview | Field, Featured Tee Times, Course Layout, What to Watch For

The RBC Heritage, annually a second-tier tournament, gets a makeover this week. As it normally follows the Masters every April, it struggles to bring big names to Hilton Head, SC. This year, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and more highlight a stacked field that will tee it up Thursday at Harbour Town Golf Links. 

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Course Layout 

Harbour Town plays around 7,100 yards, making it one of the shortest stops of the PGA Tour season. The Pete Dye design features 3 Par 5’s, as it plays at Par 71 total.  What you may be thinking is this set-up lends itself to being overpowered by one of the long hitters this week, but that won’t be the case.

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There are many forced layups around Harbour Town, which will make long iron and wedge play a premium. The Par 3s featured in its routing continually rank with the world’s best. The 18th hole is its signature, and one of the most recognizable finishing holes in golf. The design dances through forest and coastline, which provides no lack of diversity. 

Field

World No.1 Rory McIlroy is back this week and hopes to right the ship from his closing round at Colonial. He began the round just 3 strokes behind the leader, but posted a +6 on his front 9 to play himself out of contention. He will have to find a club to rely on this week, as driver will be taken out of his hands a lot at Harbour Town. He needs to tighten up his short iron/wedge play if he wants any shot at winning this week.

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Brooks Koepka returns to action after a very middle-of-the-road performance at the Charles Schwab. He made it to the weekend, but just never had anything going and finished in the middle of the pack. It’s the same with Brooks as it is for Rory, he must find confidence in shorter clubs as driver won’t be the play this week. 

Dustin Johnson will make the start, hoping for a better result than last week as he missed the cut after consecutive 71’s. DJ struggled again on the greens, and that has become an all too consistent trend for him. You have to putt well to win at Harbour Town, so hopefully DJ figured something out in his two days off this past weekend. 

Xander Schauffele will be looking for some redemption this week after a heartbreaking lip out on the 17th green during Sunday’s round pushed him out of the playoff. Xander’s game fits perfectly for this golf course. He’s a fantastic iron player, and finds greens as good as anyone on Tour. It would not surprise me to see him in contention again this week. 

Players to Watch 

Justin Thomas is coming off a great performance at Colonial. He was in total control of his game, but just couldn’t get anything going on Sunday to get to the top of the leaderboard. JT is one of, if not the best, wedge player on the planet. In the last few years he has learned to slow down his arms to create more control over his ball flight. He will have many opportunities to use wedges at Harbour Town, and I expect him to take full advantage.

Kevin Kisner’s game seems to be rounding into form. He played well last week, coming in a tie for 29th. He’s a local boy to the track, as he lives in Aiken, SC. Kis is a fantastic iron player, and in my opinion, a Top 3 putter in the world. His familiarity with the area, his playing style, and form coming into the tournament are all reasons I have him on my players to watch list. 

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Ian Poulter, another guy who can flat out roll it. He has an incredible track record at Harbour Town, just hasn’t been able to bring it on Sunday to win. His game fits this course to a T, so look out for him to make a run. 

Featured Groups 

Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Daniel Berger (TH: 7:29, FR: 12:54)

Rory Mcilroy, Rickie Fowler, CT Pan (TH: 7:40, FR: 1:05) 

Gary Woodland, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama (TH: 12:54, FR: 7:29)

Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose (TH: 1:05, FR: 7:40)

See all Tee Times here.

Weather Outlook

HILTON HEAD WEATHER

My Pick to Win 

I’m taking JT. Looked great last week, can really roll his rock, and it’s hard to find a better wedge player in the world. VegasInsider has him at +1600 (16/1).

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