The PGA Tour returns this week to Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina for the RBC Heritage. Less than a year removed from the 2020 edition, the Heritage is back to its traditional spot in the calendar on the heels of The Masters.
Harbour Town Golf Links is a par-71 that plays around 7,100 yards. Designed by Pete Dye with the help of Jack Nicklaus, Harbour Town is the quintessential Point-A to Point-B golf course. What this means is positioning is key. Whether it’s off the tee or on approach, players can find themselves out of position without a moment’s notice if they are not careful.
When you are constructing your DraftKings lineups, this sentiment should hold weight. Below, I’ll outline for you a couple of players that I like from three specific price ranges. These six players just so happen to fit into a lineup, so take that as you may. Each player has the ability to stay well-positioned on this tight golf course and should like their chances heading into the RBC Heritage.
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$9,000 and above:
Patrick Cantlay ($10,900): As one of the leaders of the Patrick Cantlay bandwagon, the last two stroke play events have brought immense pain. A missed cut at The Players followed by another missed cut The Masters was less than ideal. While cooler heads would move on, I will not lose faith in Cantlay. At $10,900, I am under the belief that some will pass up on Cantlay and that is more than fine with me.
Cantlay boasts a tremendous track record at Harbour Town, ranking fourth all-time in total strokes gained. He’s done just about everything but win in Hilton Head, finishing in third place in both 2017 and 2019, to go along with a 7th-place finish in 2018. It’s no surprise that Cantlay gets around Harbour Town so well, the course is tailor-made for him.
Cantlay has an uncanny ability to play Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus designs well. Whether it is Harbour Town, TPC River Highlands or Muirfield Village, Cantlay has proved time and time again that regardless of form, if a course suits his eye, he’ll play well. I’m hoping that he’ll leave the last few weeks behind him and bring his normal, steady game to a course that he clearly loves.
Collin Morikawa ($10,500): If Cantlay isn’t your cup of tea, then Morikawa should certainly be. After his victory at the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession Golf Club, he’s been a bit sluggish, but a tight golf course that requires precision might be exactly what the doctor ordered. I’m hoping his lone start here, which resulted in a T-64 finish, will drive his rostered percentage down a touch.
In my opinion, the struggles in his debut, just ten months ago, are a bit misleading. Coming off a playoff loss to Daniel Berger at the Charles Schwab Challenge, Morikawa made his way to Harbour Town the following week. A let down was always going to be the outcome after a disappointing end to a great week in Fort Worth.
Morikawa’s game should theoretically fit Harbour Town perfectly. We know his ball-striking will be good enough. His week will ultimately come down to whether or not his putter decides to cooperate. That is typically the case for the PGA champion, but Morikawa contends at a much higher rate than those priced around him, and that’s more than enough for me.
$7,000-$8,900:
Si Woo Kim ($7,900): The Pete Dye specialist himself is coming off the best major championship finish of his career with a T-12 last week at the Masters. Kim is always dangerous, but even more so when he is brimming with confidence. After a solid week at Augusta National, Kim now comes to a course where he has experienced past success.
In 2016, Kim placed T-14 and followed it up in 2018 with a playoff loss to Satoshi Kodaira. Since then, Kim has a pair of missed cuts to his name, but that doesn’t concern me when targeting a player like Kim under $8,000. The amount of upside that he presents simply outweighs the potential risks, especially when considering Kim on a Pete Dye design like Harbour Town.
Two of Kim’s three career wins have come on Pete Dye designs, The Stadium Course at PGA West and TPC Sawgrass. Harbour Town would fit seamlessly amongst those. In order to do so, he’ll need to overcome a putter that has betrayed him in his last two starts in Hilton Head. As of late, the flat stick seems to have turned the corner, as he has gained strokes putting in five consecutive stroke play events. If he can make it six starts in a row then I like Kim’s chances to be in the thick of things come Sunday.
Denny McCarthy ($7,000): I’ll be the first to say that I have a soft spot for McCarthy. Having been a former competitor of his (I use the term “competitor” lightly), I have seen up close and personal just how lethal he can be with his putter. However, limiting McCarthy to only being a putting savant may be a bit disrespectful.
The Valero Texas Open marked his third straight start that he has gained strokes on approach. This stretch of golf includes a third-place finish at the Honda Classic and a 55th-place finish at The Players. The latter finish is a bit misleading as McCarthy was in the thick of things heading into the third round, only to fall back to the pack over the weekend.
His counterparts in his price range have great course history, whether it’s Michael Thompson ($7,200), C.T. Pan ($7,100), or J.T. Poston ($7,100). McCarthy lacks that. Not only am I okay with this, but I welcome it. His past trips to Hilton Head should only drive his rostered percentage down. However, his ball-striking is in a much better place compared to years past and he is more than capable of figuring out Harbour Town.
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$6,900 and below:
Doug Ghim ($6,900): We’ll start the sub-$7,000 selections with Doug Ghim. This one will be rather chalky as I assume most are aware of Ghim’s ball-striking numbers. He’s gained strokes tee-to-green in four straight events, most notably at The Players, where he played the final round with eventual champion Justin Thomas.
He gained 9.1 strokes tee-to-green in his last start at the Valero Texas Open, which was good for the best performance of his career. The problem was he also had the worst putting performance of his career that same week. Ghim lost 7.5 strokes on the greens in San Antonio, which followed a poor performance at the Honda Classic, where he lost 4.1 strokes putting.
Clearly something is up with Ghim on the putting surface. But at $6,900, I am willing to look past his last month of putting woes. Tee-to-green, Harbour Town should fit Ghim’s game to a T. This will be his debut start at the RBC Heritage, but maybe that’s exactly what Ghim needs: a fresh set of eyes on green complexes that he’s never seen before.
Patton Kizzire ($6,500): My favorite DraftKings play of the week comes with Patton Kizzire. The Sea Island native has been striking his irons tremendously the past couple of months and should hopefully carry the momentum to Hilton Head. In fact, he is coming off the best iron performance of his career at the Valero Texas Open, where he gained 8.1 strokes on approach en route to a top-10 finish.
This will be Kizzire’s sixth appearance in the RBC Heritage. His history here is the definition of a mixed bag, having made the cut three times and having missed the cut three times. For one reason or another, he’s never been able to get his entire bag to fire on all cylinders at Harbour Town. The one silver lining from that are his irons, which have consistently shown up in Hilton Head, regardless of incoming form.
Kizzire is a notoriously streaky putter, which down at $6,500 is exactly what you want. He gives you an opportunity to save on salary, while also giving you a player with a real chance to contend if the putter gets hot. It’s always the most difficult to predict, but I think the putter will be hot this week. He’s gained strokes on the greens in three consecutive starts and seemed to have figured out these tricky green complexes in 2019.
