Wow! Scottie Scheffler officially owns the sport, and there is no denying who the best golfer in the world is. Once again, you can find Scottie’s name at the top of betting boards. Scheffler sits at +400 and atop of the other 68 golfers teeing it up at The RBC Heritage. Most expect the field to shrink to 68 and for Scheffler to head home awaiting the birth of his first child, but at the time of writing this, there has been no official withdrawal.
Harbour Town Golf Links is one of the more historic courses on Tour, hosting The RBC Heritage for over 50 years on The PGA Tour. With Signature status, the field this week is one of the strongest this event has seen. Being the follow-up event after The Masters is difficult, but almost every golfer who qualified for a spot has elected to make the short trip from Augusta to Hilton Head. If Scheffler does head home, this event should be wide open. I would not rule out any one of the 69 on this short and very manageable course.
The Course: Harbour Town Golf Links
Harbour Town is the DREAM course for old heads and shorter hitters. The par 71 course barely makes it past 7,000 yards. Distance can be an advantage here, but with more emphasis on accuracy and avoiding the rough, I do not consider distance a necessity by any means. Once the golfers are in the fairways, they will typically have a short iron or wedge into the greens.
With Off the Tee being such a non-factor, all other facets become that much more important. Approach will be a huge factor as usual. Harbour Town requires scrambling and success around the green more than almost every course on Tour. You would think with how short Harbour Town is, it would be more of a Birdie Fest. However, I would not expect a winning score any higher than -15 or so. Taking advantage of the 3 Par 5s and avoiding bogeys on the 15 other holes is the blueprint for success.
Best Bets: RBC Heritage
Sahith Theegala (+3500)
Harbour Town sets up perfectly for a golfer like Sahith Theegala. Theegala is a pretty well-rounded player, ranking above average in all major facets of the game. He’s been good enough in his short career to have multiple victories, but he only sealed the deal at The Fortinet Championship last fall.
The main reason Theegala has failed to win more is the inability to put everything together at once. As I said earlier, he’s above average all the way from the tee to the hole. However, in most events he will lose strokes in one singular part of his game, which usually results in a Top 20 finish instead of competing for the title. At last year’s RBC Heritage, he finished only 3 strokes back of Spieth and Fitzpatrick while losing strokes approaching the green. If his irons had been average, he would have won.
I think this is a week Theegala can once again put it all together and win. His ability to scramble and get hot on the greens will help tame Harbour Town. For a smaller field event, I think 35-1 is a respectable number for what you are getting with Sahith. His well-rounded play and streaky scoring should set us up for an exciting Sunday!
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+6000)
While the 3-time DPWT winner is still looking for his first win on The PGA Tour, he has certainly played well enough to have already done it. Had it not been for rookie shocker Nick Dunlap, Bezuidenhout would have won at The American Express this January.
Statistics suggest that Bezuidenhout is a Top 30 golfer in the world, which may shock most of you. His only shortcoming is his distance, coming in about 10-15 yards shorter than the average Tour player. Luckily for CBez, Harbour Town is one of the shortest courses all season. He is very accurate Off the Tee, and his approach ranks 15th in this stacked field. He’s also 8th in the field putting, and had plenty of success on these greens in the past. In his 3 times playing Harbour Town, he’s gained over 5 strokes putting every single time.
If Christiaan Bezuidenhout is ever going to win on the PGA Tour, it will come on a course like Harbour Town. His lack of distance usually takes him out of contention, but the rest of his game is undeniably elite. Considering this is the perfect course for his maiden victory, I think 60-1 is a decent price. Expect CBez to be competing on the weekend!
Grayson Murray (+35000, Top 10 +2200)
There’s something very unsettling about Grayson Murray’s game. Looking at the bulk of his career, you’ll see a very inconsistent player who tends to miss the cut more than he doesn’t. However, Murray has won 3 times on the Korn Ferry and twice on the PGA Tour.
Whatever the reason is, Grayson Murray finds a way to win golf tournaments. Most weeks, arguably pretty much every week, Murray is nowhere close to contending. He’s still on Tour for a reason though, and that reason is his ability to take advantage of his streaky play. His win at The Sony Open this January shows that he can get the job done against the Tour’s best. He comes into Harbour Town having gained strokes Approaching the Green in 4 consecutive events. If his putter can get hot, Murray can absolutely contend this week.
I was shocked to see Murray so far down the betting board. Do I actually expect him to win? No way. But he has definitely shown us he can win a Tour event out of the blue, regardless of his form coming in. The main bet here is a Top 10 at 22-1. How about those odds?? In an event with less than 70 guys, and for a guy who won just a few months ago, this is hands down my favorite bet of the week. This value is simply too good to pass up!