RBC Heritage
Golf Betting, Cannons, DFS, Lighthouses, Golf Thoughts, Tartan Jackets, & the Weather
I’ve complained a bit about the designated events this year. I’m not so sure the tournament where Harry Higgs went shirtless should have a bigger first-place prize than the Masters, and I really did hate how the timing minimalized the Honda Classic. Price of doing business I suppose.
Pissing and moaning aside, I really like that we have a top-notch field this week and can bask in the afterglow of Augusta rather than being thrown back into the harsh reality of non-elevated golf. This course is a favorite of mine with a charm all its own, now with the field of golfers it deserves. So, let’s take a quick look at the golf course.
Harbour Town Golf Links
Characterized by numerous doglegs, overhanging trees, a wide array of devilish bunkers, and minuscule greens, Harbour Town Golf Links is a coastal par-71 course that measures 7,191 yards. It is a relatively flat course with fairways flanked on all sides by a variety of trees including palmettos, oaks, and pines. There might not be a greater contradiction in courses played in consecutive weeks on Tour than going from the expansive, lengthy, and undulating Augusta National to the claustrophobic, concise, and level Harbour Town. It ranks as the 17th-shortest course on Tour.
As the Bermudagrass is still dormant this time of year, the tournament is played on fairways and rough overseeded with ryegrass. While the rough has typically been minimal at only 0.75″, and more like the first cut at Augusta National, the Tour has given it a massive increase up to 2.5″ in order to give this elite field more of challenge. Greens are the second-smallest on Tour at an average of only 3,700 square feet. They are overseeded with Poa Trivialis and run around 11.5 on the stimpmeter.
Scoring overall can be challenging here. Subtracting the 2020 event in which the field was very strong and the course was played on Bermudagrass in the summer, the last five events have played 0.25 strokes under par. This ranks Harbour Town as the 17th toughest course on Tour. Taking out Webb Simpson’s 22-under victory in 2020, 10 of the last 12 winning scores have been 14-under or less.
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Hangover?
Obviously lots of factors at play each and every week, but with 44 men playing at both Augusta and Harbour Town, it’s interesting to note how things have gone when they go right into another event.
Ron put together a nice chart displaying their Strokes Gained on the field the week after playing in a major going back to 2015.
Betting Tip
Been ice cold with the freebies, but the good news is that I had a winning week with matchups at Augusta and am feeling more confident than ever heading into the RBC.
Wyndham Clark > Brian Harman +101
As I’ve been over a bit already this week on some shows, I love Clark here. He’s been a guy who had been incredibly consistent despite being a middle-of-the-road putter. With the small greens mitigating any disadvantage that brings and highlighting his great around-the-green play, I really like him to just put up solid scores without big hiccups here on Hilton Head.
I don’t look to fade Harman here, per se, but at this price point, I’m happy to take the better ball striker, the better scrambler and the steady hand in Clark.
See all my outright bets on this weeks Betting Preview podcast
Ron’s Harbour Town DFS Value
Cam Davis - $7,100 (DraftKings)
Davis is the ultimate boom/bust play this week. While struggling through sickness, he missed five consecutive cuts, followed by finishing 6th at The PLAYERS, and then another missed cut at the Valero. Harbour Town is another "less than driver" course on which he tends to have success. He finished 3rd here last year and was 25th in 2021. With current ownership around 5%, he provides the salary space needed to select five other upper-tier players.
Check out all of Mr. Klos’ thoughts on DFS this week &
be sure to check out the team talking through their builds on our DFS Podcast
Weather
The chances of precip aren’t that high, so I’m much less worried than I was last week for sure. There is the possibility of some higher winds Thursday afternoon, leading to a possible wave advantage for the groups playing early/late, but a bunch of the course is tree-lined and less susceptible to windy conditions, plus it’s not as if we’re seeing forecasts for 40mph gusts or anything.
My prognosis: decent chance of a small AM/PM advantage, slight lean to guys with early Thursday tee times for DFS, first-round leader bets and as a reason to break a tie between some One and Done possibilities.
Harbour Town Lighthouse
In case you haven’t seen a single piece of content this week, I wanted to make you aware that there is a lighthouse on the premises.
Couple of facts in case you want to sound cultured while watching golf with your friends/family/potential life partner.
It’s not that old! It was finished in 1970 and widely panned as a dumb idea while being built
114 steps to the top, 90 feet high
It’ll cost you $5.75 to climb, kids under 5 are FREE
Made out of Stucco!
Apparently, there is a strict ban on riding your motorcycle to the lighthouse, as Cyndi from Google’s Questions & Answers section let us know
Tweets Screenshots of Tweets of the Week
(I can’t actually post tweets with Twitter being either mad at Substack or so broken that things won’t work. Either way, can’t embed, so you’re getting clickable screenshots)
It’s still just the comedown from the Masters, so plenty of closing thoughts on Augusta from around the social world.
Biggest news of the week for me is certainly the fall schedule confirmation. Pretty much what we expected with the Houston Open gone (moved to the spring), the Ryder Cup getting the slot it deserves and no one really knowing what happened to the CJ Cup (does it stay in the U.S. and replace the Honda???)
I don’t fully understand this one, but I like it nonetheless. Pretty sure it’s just throwing shade at Stanford golfers as being a bit on the pampered side.
ONE OF US!
This qualifies as “ONE OF US!” part 2, but I’m way too cheap to throw away a driver. I’ll stick to throwing a ball into a pond when I’m mad.
This came to fruition, and truthfully, Brooksie is likely a couple top 10s at the remaining majors away from being on the Ryder Cup Team this fall. This will be something I cheer for going forward.
As always, be cool, bet responsibly, enjoy the golf and check out all our offerings each and every week. Subscribe to the members-only Discord, take advantage of the tools, ask us questions and hopefully win some money.
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