This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
RBC Heritage
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Harbour Town Golf Links - Par 71 - 7,191 yards
Field - 132 entrants
Purse - $8M
The Preview
Previewing the RBC Heritage with this many words and prospective player values would probably be pointless if Scottie Scheffler were in the field, so we can thank the 25-year-old for taking a week off from his run of dominance after becoming a major champion with his fourth win in two months last week at the Masters. However, a surprisingly strong contingent of 132 players now travels to Hilton Head Island where Harbour Town Golf Links generally invites a somewhat atypical eventual champion compared to the common stop along the PGA Tour these days.
Tree-lined fairways mute driving distance while accuracy off the tee becomes a necessity for selecting desired angles into some of the smallest greens we'll see all year. Although Harbour Town is relatively short at just 7,191 yards, we still see 7.2% more approach shots hit from 175-200 yards than the Tour average, which encourages scrambling ability given the aforementioned minuscule size of these putting surfaces as GIR percentages deflate. The weather forecast is a bit of an unknown with the possibility for scattered thunderstorms at some point this weekend, but regardless, there's usually a steady Atlantic breeze each afternoon that would cater to lower ball flights.
Recent Champions
2021 - Stewart Cink
2020 - Webb Simpson
2019 - C.T. Pan
2018 - Satoshi Kodaira
2017 - Wesley Bryan
2016 - Branden Grace
2015 - Jim Furyk
2014 - Matt Kuchar
2013 - Graeme McDowell
2012 - Carl Pettersson
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Proximity: 150-200 yards
GIR percentage
SG: Putting (poa trivialis)
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Collin Morikawa - $48
Morikawa's lethal combination of driving accuracy and elite iron play should serve him well again at Harbour Town, where he paced the field in GIR percentage -- alongside 2021 champion Stewart Cink -- last year with 56 of 72 total greens hit in regulation on the way to his T7 finish. The World No. 2 is now coming off a top-5 performance at the Masters, having ranked third in SG: Tee-to-Green last week at Augusta National.
Daniel Berger - $43
Berger has been vocal about his affinity for Harbour Town, which makes sense given he's a collective 30-under-par on Hilton Head Island since 2020. The FSU product is No. 1 among this week's field in both scrambling over his last 24 rounds and par-4 scoring over his last 12. He's also gained an average of 5.2 strokes from tee to green per event across his past 10 measured starts.
Matt Fitzpatrick - $39
Fitzpatrick is another guy who's let it be known that he just loves Harbour Town, placing top 15 in three of the last four editions of the RBC Heritage. He averaged five birdies per round en route to a T4 here last year, ultimately finishing top-8 in FIR percentage and putting average in the process. The Englishman ranks third in scrambling, fifth in SG: Around-the-Green, eighth in SG: T2G and 10th in driving accuracy over his last 12 measured rounds.
Glue Guys
Russell Henley - $37
Henley is second to none in SG: Approach over his last 24 rounds, while also sitting third in Prox: 150-175 yards and eighth in Opportunities Gained during this stretch. He gained 8.8 strokes with his irons and 10.8 from tee to green here last year, posting a T9 result despite losing 2.7 strokes with the flat stick. However, Henley has now gained at least 1.1 strokes putting in six of his last eight measured events.
Shane Lowry - $36
Lowry continued to produce for us last week at the Masters where he ranked fourth or better in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Around-the-Green and SG: Putting en route to his T3 finish, so we'll go back to him again this week at the RBC Heritage where he's placed T9-MC-T3 the past three years. Over his last 24 rounds, the Irishman is third in P3: 175-200 efficiency, fourth in SG: APP, fifth in par-4 scoring, seventh in Prox: 175-200 yards and 11th in scrambling.
Chris Kirk - $32
Kirk played his final 54 holes in a combined 11-under-par to notch a T7 at Harbour Town in 2021, and he profiles well again for the 2022 setup as he ranks third in SG: Tee-to-Green, third in SG: Around-the-Green, fourth in Opportunities Gained and 18th in par-4 scoring across his last 24 rounds. In fact, he's gained strokes from tee to green in 12 consecutive measured tournaments dating all the way back to the BMW Championship this past August.
Bargain Bin
Kevin Streelman - $25
Streelman is a typical course fit for Harbour Town as he heads to Hilton Head ranked third in scrambling and fourth in driving accuracy over his past 24 rounds. He also recently placed T22 or better in three straight starts from THE PLAYERS Championship through the Valero Texas Open. The 43-year-old has made the cut in eight of 11 career trips to the RBC Heritage, notably securing back-to-back top-10s here in 2018 and 2019.
Erik van Rooyen - $22
This is quite a nice discount on the 65th-ranked player in the OWGR, who also happened to reach 14-under in his Harbour Town debut two years ago when he racked up 21 total birdies at the 2020 RBC Heritage. The South African's MC-T60 run at the Masters and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play should help keep his rostership in check, but van Rooyen still sits second in Prox: 150-175, 10th in Prox: 175-200 and eighth in SG: Approach over his last 24 rounds.
C.T. Pan - $22
The 2019 RBC Heritage champion has gained strokes from tee to green in five consecutive outings since a ninth-place finish at the Genesis Invitational, and he also ranks top-30 among this week's field in SG: APP, driving accuracy, Opportunities Gained and proximity from 150-175 yards over his last 12 rounds. Pan is second in P3: 175-200 efficiency within this sample size as well, which is just another factor that ascends him to the No. 18 spot in my 12-round custom model for Harbour Town.
