By: Jake Friedman
Introduction
Fresh off of the first major of the year, the stars of the PGA TOUR head to Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina for the RBC Heritage. Going from a major to an elevated event for the PGA Tour has to be exhausting for the players, but nonetheless that's how the schedule shook out this year. The defending champion of this event is Matthew Fitzpatrick who beat Jordan Spieth in a playoff (who won this event the year before).
As always, please refer to Nate's article for a very in-depth breakdown of the tournament's field, course, and more!
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DFS Guide
10k Range
Scottie Scheffler ($13,300) - Coming off a Masters victory last week, if you're playing cash games or multiple lineups it's hard to not play Scheffler in at least a few of them. His ownership is going to be through the roof given his recent form is a win at the API, a win at The Players, a T2 at the Houston Open (7 foot putt away from forcing a playoff), and a win last week at The Masters. What we are seeing from Scottie is reminiscent of prime Tiger Woods and although his personality is as boring as watching paint dry, his golf game is insane. He is the best player on the PGA Tour tee to green and has now Gaines strokes putting in his last 4 starts. His only appearance at this event was last year where he placed T11 (a rare finish outside of the top 10). I do have some concerns this week given the exhaustion of winning last week and first traveling back to Texas to tend to his pregnant wife before heading to South Carolina to play. He's made it well known that if she goes into labor it doesn't matter where he is or what he is doing, he will withdraw and enjoy the birth of his first child. Although I believe his wife is still 2 week from her due date, it's still a risk that he withdraws after teeing off this week. It's almost a free square in DFS you need to play but given the travel and threat of withdrawing, there is some risk.
Xander Schauffele ($10,800) - After everyone and their mothers tipped Xander last week, he never contended to put on a green jacket. With that being said it's another top finish this season and at a major for Xander coming in solo 8th at The Masters last week. Xander has finished top 10 in 7 of his 9 starts this season and is consistently gaining across the board in the 5 main categories I look at (driving distance, driving accuracy, approach, around the green, and putting. His long term statistics say the same with his worst those categories being driving accuracy. His first 3 appearances at this tournament were uncharacteristically bad, but he finished 4th here last year. Xander will continue his reign of top 10's this week and is another conservative option in DFS.
9k Range
Tommy Fleetwood ($9,800) - I couldn't help writing Tommy up after watching him on Sunday at The Masters. There was a second, and I mean literally 1 second, that I thought he could possibly start to contend on Sunday. Regardless, a T3 finish last week and a T7 the week before, the form is finally turning a corner for the better. Fleetwood is about Tour average in driving distance and decently above tour average in driving accuracy, approach, around the green, and putting. I do need to remind everyone that he has 0 PGA Tour wins so history tells us it's unlikely he puts on the plaid jacket come Sunday, but he is the king of contending. His course history is pretty good with a T15, T10, missed cut, and T25. He will be rather popular but in cash games I like the play.
Wyndham Clark ($9,200) - Going from $10,000 last week in DFS at his Masters debut and with a much stronger field to $9,200 this week in a weaker field doesn't make much sense to me. Yes, he did miss the cut, but it was on the number and his first time playing Augusta. I'm willing to throw that out the door and focus on how well he's played this season. If Scottie Scheffler wasn't in the equation, he would have been a winner at both the API and The Players to add to his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Given his current form he is firmly in the top 3 hottest players on the PGA Tour at the moment. Wyndham is long off the tee but below Tour average in accuracy. He is above average on approach, around the green, and putting. His course history here is nothing to write home about but he's also 100x the golfer he has been in previous years. The price makes me think he will be pretty heavily owned but I'm not afraid of that and will look to diversify my lineups in different spots.
8k Range
Sam Burns ($8,200) - One of my projected low ownership plays of the week, I think Sam Burns can have a sneaky good week at the RBC Heritage. The recent form has been nothing short of abysmal missing the cut in his 2 most recent outing and his best finish being T30 in the last month and a half. His long term form shows he is long off the tee, slightly below Tour average in driving accuracy, slightly above average in approach and around the green, and elite with the putter. Even in this stretch of bad form it's only been one piece of his game each week that eludes him and causes the issues. I'm not alarmed by the numbers I'm seeing week to week and given he has a T15 here last year and a 9th back in 2019, if he can align his game together he can be primed up to contend.
Russell Henley ($8,100) - Henley popped in my model this week so I'll be betting him outright and playing him in some of my DFS lineups. I was expecting better from him last week but still a T38 at The Masters is okay. He has 3 top 5 finishes this season on the PGA Tour and has only missed 1 cut which came at The Players. Aside from being pretty short off the tee, Henley is well above Tour average in driving accuracy, approach, around the green, and putting. With that arsenal, it's hard not to picture him having a shot any given week. His course history has been of a mixed bag missed cuts and top 25 finishes. I'm looking to Henley to build off of his T19 from last year and contend this week for the plaid jacket.
7k Range
Akshay Bhatia ($7,700) - Creeping his way higher and higher on my list of favorite golfer's, you knew I was going back to Akshay this week if you've been following my articles. There's not enough time in the day or words on a page for me to express how impressed I've been with Akshay's play over the last month. You look at his T35 last week at The Masters and think he might be cooling down, but I think the exact opposite. In his Masters debut, a T35 coming off of a a playoff victory the week prior to qualify at the Valero Texas Open is impressive. Akshay is long and accurate off the tee and is above Tour average on approach, around the green, and putting. His only appearance here was a missed cut last year. He's gained over a stroke per round in total over his last 4 tournaments. I can't get away from the current form and hope people choose to pivot off of him this week.
J.T. Poston ($7,600) - After starting the 2024 season red hot, it's been a bit of a struggle for position over his last 4 starts. His best finish came last week at The Masters with a T30 which is promising. Poston has a similar profile to Henley being short and accurate off the tee and above Tour average on approach, around the green, and putting. His course history is the definition of hit or miss with 2 missed cuts and 3 top 10's. Seeing Poston gain across the board last week and pairing that with his course history at Harbour Town Golf Links makes me think he's going to be contending come Sunday.
6k Range
Lucas Glover ($6,800) - If you join me with this play, please also join me in the manifestation of getting Glover's putter running hot this week. Glover's profile is an interesting one but given his 2 PGA TOUR wins last year, I don't mind rolling him out this week. He is short and accurate off the tee, well above Tour average on approach, slightly above Tour average around the greens, and well below Tour average with the putter. That being said, he gained just under a stroke per round with the flat stick last week at Augusta. Glover's approach is so elite that when he gets the putter rolling, he has a shot to contend. His form coming into this week is T20 at The Masters, T25 at the Valero, and 11 at the Valspar. He's played this tournament 20 times and has a handful of decent finishes. Last year he missed the cut but in his 20 appearances he's made the cut in 13 of them. I think he will be popular in this range given his form so take that as you will.
Erik Van Rooyen ($6,700) - EVR is coming in with some pretty abysmal form. He did finish T55 last week at The Masters but missed the cut in the 2 events prior. His 2024 season started great with a win in the swing season which we were on and continued his form with a bunch of top 25 finishes. He is slightly above average in driving distance, approach and putting while he is slightly below average in driving accuracy and around the green. Throughout the season EVR has proven he can spike with his irons and with the putter. What better place to do that than Harbour Town where he missed the cut last year, but has a T10 and T21 in 2022 and 2020 respectively. I'm taking my chances he can make the cut and possibly make a run this week.
Outright Betting Card
Russell Henley +5000 0.350U
Cameron Davis +6600 0.270U
Lucas Glover +10000 0.175U
Tom Kim +10000 0.175U
These are the plays I've locked in thus far but please give me a follow on X and/or join the Discord to see my full betting card for the week!
Good luck in all your action this week and please remember to gamble responsibly!