Nut Hut Members Have Won Over $3.9 Million Since June 2020! Join Now!

RBC Heritage Tournament Image

RBC Heritage 2022 DraftKings Preview

back to business as hilton head heals the masters hangover

The Masters delivered once again. Maybe a bit anti-climactic of a finish but if you're not impressed by Scottie Scheffler's surge and overall Tigeresque dominance, you don't deserve golf. Speaking of Tiger.. what a beauty. Just awesome to be able to see every shot the whole week. No time to rest. New week, next event. Harbor Town Golf Links hosts the 2022 RBC Heritage. Let's get you set to see some green screens on DraftKings this weekend. 

What's up golf addicts! AC here, checking in week to week to provide a quick preview of the upcoming PGA Tour event. I’ll give you the lowdown on the course, the players, some key stats, and our favorite DraftKings picks for the week. 

All of the course data, player stats, and most of the information below can be found on Fantasy National Golf Club (FNGC). At FNGC you can view historic course conditions, course scoring breakdowns, tournament history, simulators, and official strokes gained data provided by the PGA Tour. Start building your models at Fantasy National now!

The Field and Tournament Details for Rbc heritage

It's early in the week but this field is looking real nice right now. We have a top-heavy list of golf's best that includes 25 of the top 50 on the planet. It is the day after The Masters, however, so some may choose to bow out before lock on Thursday. Abraham Ancer WD on Monday though we know he is injured.

Justin Thomas leads the field in DraftKings salary this week at $11,100. Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Shane Lowry, Corey Conners, Daniel Berger, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Sungjae Im, Jordan Spieth, Joaquin Niemann, and Russell Henley fill out the $9k and above.

The next tier is solid as well with the likes of Webb Simpson, Billy Horschel, Tyrrell Hatton, Harold Varner, Si Woo Kim, Alex Noren, Tommy Fleetwood, Kevin Kisner, Chris Kirk, Jason Kokrak, and Maverick McNealy. Sponsor exemptions include Michael Gligic, Adam Svensson, Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas, Scott Brown, and Jonathan Byrd.

The RBC Heritage has had a cornucopia full of past champs. Playing good golf for one week definitely gives you a shot here. From a +12500 50-year old Stewart Cink in 2021 to a +1400 Jim Furyk in 2010. Satoshi Kodaira won in 2018 at +25000. Longshot SZN is very much in play. Other past champions are Simpson, CT Pan, Wesley Bryan, Branden Grace, Furyk x2, Matt Kuchar, Graeme McDowell, Carl Pettersson, and Brandt Snedeker.

Webb's -22 was the best score to par over the years but important to know that the 2020 RBC Heritage was held in June due to Covid. The winning score has been as low as -9 when Grace won in 2016 and McDowell in 2013. The average victor's total over the least 12 years is -14.

Harbour Town Golf Links Course Breakdown

5i ad

  • Course: Harbour Town Golf Links
  • Location: Hilton Head, SC USA
  • Yardage: 7,121
  • Par: 71
  • Architect: Pete Dye
  • Grass: Bermudagrass overseeded with Poa
  • Comp Courses: Austin CC, Waialea CC, Colonial CC, Innisbrook Resort, Sea Island (Plantation and Seaside)

This course has been around for a while. In fact, the first Heritage event at Harbour Town Golf Links was in 1969. Won by none other than Arnold Palmer. The 7,100 yard Par 71 Pete Dye design sits on the southern tip of Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The typical Bermuagrass surfaces are still dormant this time of the year which yields to a Poa overseed on the greens and ryegrass back to the tee box. Much like we have seen the whole Florida swing.

As much as we have had a variety of winners, there has also been a variety of winning scores. Things aren't always easy at Harbor Town. The scoring average is over par and it ranks as the 16th hardest course on the PGA Tour. The greens are among the smallest the players see all year, there is lots of water and sand, and then there is the weather. As a coastal course, Hilton Head does bare the brunt of the ocean breeze.

Like many Pete Dye tracks, precision off the tee, not distance, is a larger advantage. Driving distance is well below average while driving accuracy is above average. Very "less than driver" event. Because the greens are so small, greens in regulation % are lower than average but getting up and down is not so much of an issue.

The wind is looking to be an issue this week. Keep an eye on it.

Key Stats for rbc heritage

  • Strokes Gained: Approach
  • Driving Accuracy
  • Strokes Gained: Putting
  • Opportunities Gained
  • Par 5 Scoring
  • Bogey Avoidance

Strokes gained approach will often be the most key stat at a Pete Dye course. These small greens will be tough to hold and depend highly on where you end up off the tee. That's why driving accuracy plays an important role. Guys will club down and not face many penalties off the tee in regards to rough but there are a lot of trees around this property. Many of them will be in the way this week. FNGC's Opps gained will show us who's avoiding those shots and throwing darts.

Putting isn't weighted highly for me this week but because so many of the green surfaces have been similar the last couple of months, it's worth a look. There have been mixed results for players in the top 10. A few have gained 5+ scores on the greens for success. Some lower than 2.

Harbor Town has only three Par 5s which will need to be scored on. All three present solid birdie looks at over a 25% clip. The two shorter ones have at least a 44% birdie rate. Birdies will need to be made elsewhere as well but I am more interested in guys who can avoid bogeys during a week like this. Avoid the water, avoid three-putts, and play into the wind.

Here's a tidbit from our Nut Hut in-house caddie: "I’ll tell you what it’s like out there. 15 holes of narrow corridors, holes shaped in all directions, overhang trees, tiny greens. It’s not long at all and everyone has to play to the same spots. It’s a highly unique course. There’s OB and some sneaky hazards and the par 3s are not easy."

If you are not yet a member, join the Tour Junkies crew and some brilliant minds in Goalby’s Nut Hut. The Nut Hut is a discord chat with tons of insight, caddie news, banter, trash talk, and most of all a collection of golf addicts that have won more than $4 million since the restart. Click the banner below to sign up!

rbc heritage Picks & Fades

Each week we will give you some plays and a fade from each DraftKings salary range. For all of DB and Pat’s thoughts and picks make sure to check out and subscribe to the Tour Junkies Podcast.

To Play or Not to Play Brooks Koepka

BK is not in the field this week.

$9K & Above 

  • DB: Play - Joaquin Niemann | Fade - Justin Thomas
  • Pat: Play - Dustin Johnson | Fade - Jordan Spieth
  • AC: Play - Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Corey Conners | Fade - Jordan Spieth

As long as JT stays in this event, I think I'll have a piece. He's popping in everything and in the last three months he has played some stellar golf. His price and lack of course history should help keep his ownership down. Got off Lowry last week and he rubbed it in a bit. He's number two in my model behind JT. Not many flaws lately and two top 10s in his last three stops here. I fucking love the way CoCo plays golf. Conners now has three straight top 10s at Augusta. That's just awesome. Top 10 in my model. T4 here last year. One more week of solid golf CoCo and then you can take a break.

Speef doesn't have it yet. He's working through something and it needs to go back in the oven for a while. Don't rush it Jordo.

$8K Range

  • DB: Play - Tommy Fleetwood | Fade - Kevin Kisner
  • Pat: Play - Kevin Kisner | Fade - Billy Horschel
  • AC: Play - Billy Horschel, Alex Noren | Fade - Webb Simpson

As much as watching him play is horrible, it's working. I will comfortably avoid watching Billy play this week and simply collect my winnings on Sunday. Billy rates 6th in my model over the last three months. Ranks 9th in ball striking at Harbor Town with 32 rounds. Noren is playing very well as of late and this price may turn some people off. Noren ranks 14th in sg total and 8th in DraftKings scoring at Harbor Town.

I still don't think Webb is quite there. The Master's had to have taken a bit of a toll. He's the only player in the $8ks that is losing strokes over the last six events. The numbers are going to be bad but the price is much too high given the in-form talent surrounding him.

$7K Range

  • DB: Play - Maverick McNealy | Fade - Cameron Young
  • Pat: Play - Matt Kuchar | Fade - Jason Kokrak
  • AC: Play - Adam Hadwin, Tom Hoge, Kevin Streelman | Fade - Kevin Na

I fully expect Hadwin to be the chalkiest guy in the range. Don't care. Dude is feeling it and this place sets up great for his present form. He's top five in my model and has three straight top 10s. Hoge is 11th in my model and coming off his first Masters appearance. The history isn't great but this is a new Hollywood Hoge we are seeing. Streelman only pops really for bogey avoidance and tee to green but those are important this week. he also has two top 7s at Harbour Town in his last four tries and two top 20s in recent form.

Na played decently at Augusta but nothing really impressive recently. He's one of the worst in the field in bogey avoidance over the last three months and the ball striking is suffering as well.

$6K Range

  • DB: Play - Nick Taylor, Joel Dahmen, Doug Ghim
  • Pat: Play - Matthew NeSmith, Brian Stuard, Beau Hossler
  • AC: Play - Brendon Todd, Nate Lashley, Michael Thompson,

In the Nut Hut live chat before the Valero, I mentioned a weird sneaky feeling about the Toddfather showing up. Bome, T8. I think this is a spot where he can continue finding that form. It's a risk, but if you are searching through the bag down here, you already knew that. I played Lashley in his last few events and it's really paid off. Especially in showdown. He missed the cut here his first go but going off form here. Thompson is the opposite. Awesome course history but mediocre form. Four straight made cuts with two top 10s sandwiched between a couple of T42s. He does lead the field in putting at Harbor Town.

There ya go. Masters hangover cure. Beauty event at a beauty course. Watch the wind. An advantage may reveal itself. Beware of WDs as well. There are 38 guys in the field that played last week. Some, are riskier than others. Good luck!

THE INS & OUTS

OUT: Sebastian Munoz, Abe Ancer

IN: Matthias Schwab, Joseph Bramlett

Open qualifiers: This is an invitational event

*The field is 132