The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
The Field
The RBC Heritage is the traditional follow-up event to the Masters. The event takes place on Hilton Head Island, which is just up the road from Augusta and located on the southeastern coast of the USA in South Carolina. The field often gets watered-down, with several top names wanting to take a break after the first major, but with the Heritage now getting signature event status (and a 20M prize purse), many of the top names in golf are scheduled to attend in 2023. The field is currently set at 69 golfers but there has been a withdrawal already with Viktor Hovland opting to skip this week after a missed cut at the Masters.
Scottie Scheffler ($13,300) is in the field but his wife is set to give birth soon and he may withdraw at any moment. Be sure to keep an eye on the DK Live app for updates. Like most signature events, the cut this week for the RBC Heritage will again see the top 50 players and ties making the weekend.
The Course
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Par 71, 7,099 yards, Greens: TifEagle Bermuda (poa overseed)
Harbour Town Golf Links is one of the more idyllic settings the players visit all year. The course was designed by Pete Dye and has some characteristics that make it quite unique, including some of the smallest Bermuda greens on the PGA TOUR (3,700 sq. ft. average) and narrow fairways that make placement off the tee crucial. Missing on the wrong side of the green or fairway can mean getting blocked out of an approach or having little to no chance at an up and down.
The average driving distance of the field at Harbour Town is 10-15 yards less than the average stop on the PGA TOUR, and it is worth noting that two of the past seven winners have lost strokes off the tee to the field for the week of their win. Hence, emphasizing distance or SG: OTT stats are generally not a priority this week — although certainly having players with decent driving accuracy or fairways gained stats is a plus.
The fact the course is set alongside the water also means wind plays a factor. Cooler and more gusty conditions have kept the scoring higher the past two seasons, and three of the past six winners have now failed to breach the 13-under mark for the week. The weather and small greens also tend to make strokes gained around the greens stats more important. Top finishers at Harbour Town have gained more strokes against the field in around-the-green stats than off-the-tee during the lifetime of this event and last year’s winner Matthew Fitzpatrick gained a healthy 3.2 strokes ATG.
As far as setup goes, Harbour Town contains a nice mix of challenging and easier-to-score holes. Two of the par 5s set up well under 550 yards in length and present extremely good birdie and eagle opportunities for the players (assuming their drives find the fairway). The par 4s include four that measure in-between 450-500 yards, with the 18th being one of the toughest of the bunch — as its green has no cover from wind and is set directly alongside the ocean.
Although the par 3s all measure in at a range of just 175-200 yards, a mix of small greens, water hazards, and overhanging trees make them all tough to maneuver. The par 3, 14th is on par with the 17th at Sawgrass in terms of toughness, and how your players navigate these holes will be important in determining whether or not they can compete this week.
2024 Outlook: There doesn’t look like too much to report weather-wise this week. There is a very low chance of rain the first two days and winds on Thursday are slightly stronger in the P.M., where they are forecast to hit 10-12 mph. In this smaller field, we likely won’t get a huge wave split, scoring-wise, but the potential for the early starters to gain an advantage does exist. Friday is set to be slightly more gusty overall but winds look set to be more constant throughout the day. The weekend has some potential rain and thunderstorms that pass through in the afternoon but nothing biblical. Short games will still be important, but expect similar conditions to last season where players were able to score better than they have been in previous seasons where the weather was more volatile.
Last Five winners
2023—Matthew Fitzpatrick -17 (over Jordan Spieth playoff)
2022—Jordan Spieth -13 (over Patrick Cantlay playoff)
2021—Stewart Cink -19 (over Harold Varner III -15)
2020—Webb Simpson -22 (over Abraham Ancer -21)
2019—CT Pan -12 (over Matt Kuchar -11)
Winning Trends
– Eight of the last 12 winners of The RBC Heritage had recorded TWO top-five (or better) finishes worldwide in the year of their victory before their win at Hilton Head.
– 10 of the last 13 winners had recorded a T23 or better in a previous season at this event before winning.
– The winner of The RBC Heritage has played in The Masters the week prior AND missed the cut four times over the last 11 seasons.
Winners Stats and Course Overview
Matthew Fitzpatrick (17-under-par—2021)
2023 lead-in form (T10 – MC – MC – T14 – MC)
SG: OTT—+1.6
SG: APP—+6.2
SG: TTG—+10.9
SG: ATG—+3.2
SG: PUTT—+2.7
- This is very much a second-shot course, so emphasizing approach stats this week is a good idea. 2020 runner-up Abraham Ancer gained an incredible +11.8 strokes on approach here en route to a 21-under par score, while 2021 winner, Stewart Cink, gained +8.5 strokes on approach and led the field in that stat.
- In 2022, Jordan Spieth put in another strong tee-to-green performance which exemplified just how important both ball-striking and around-the-green play can be, given that he won the event while losing multiple strokes putting.
- Fitzpatrick’s 2023 performance was very similar to Spieth’s in that he gained almost all his strokes ATG and on Approach — while just being slightly above average off the tee and on the greens.
Finding Values (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Odds to win are one factor to think about when picking players (but not the only thing, so be careful putting too much weight on them). This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value compared to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.
Will Zalatoris +2500 and $9,000
Comparables:
Tom Kim +4500 and $7,400
Comparables:
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
HORSES FOR COURSES
1. Patrick Cantlay ($10,200; best finishes: 2nd-2022; T3-2019): Cantlay has typically excelled at this second-shot Pete Dye design. In four of his six starts at Harbour Town, he’s finished 3rd or better and has a terrific record at Pete Dye venues in general. He’s played poorly of late but looked solid last week in the tough conditions at Augusta.
2. JT Poston ($7,600; best finishes: T3-2022, T8-2020): Poston has the game to dominate on short, technical tracks. He’s now posted top-10 finishes at Harbour Town in three of the past four seasons. While he has missed the cut at this venue twice his upside at Harbour Town is undeniable.
3. Brian Harman ($7,800; best finishes: T9-2017, T7-2023): Harman continued his solid play at this event/venue last season, making the cut for the sixth time in seven seasons and posting another top 10. The three-time PGA TOUR winner has posted top-30 finishes at Hilton Head in five of the past seven seasons and remains a consistent DFS threat on these shorter setups.
4. Matthew Fitzpatrick ($9,600; best finishes: win-2023, T4-2021): While he doesn’t have a huge sample size of starts at this event Fitzpatrick has now finished first and T4 at Harbour Town in two of the past three seasons. The defending champion has expressed his love for this layout in the past as well.
5. Shane Lowry ($8,500; best finishes: T3-2022, 2019): Lowry got a sponsor’s exemption into the field this week and part of that invite was likely based on his strong play at past iterations of this event. He’s finished top 10 on three different occasions at Harbour Town (between 2019 to 2022) and is seventh in the field in strokes gained at this event over the last five seasons.
DRAFTKINGS DFS STRATEGY
Cash Games: Cantlay the course horse to trust
Patrick Cantlay ($10,200) has had a rough season (outside of one decent week at Riviera) but seemed to turn a corner at Augusta. He finished T22 and endured the poor conditions on the weekend better than most. His record at Harbour Town speaks for itself (see above) and he’s played some of his best golf the week AFTER a major (including posting a 3rd at this event last season). With his price somewhat depressed with Scheffler ($13,300) playing so well it’s a good time to consider building lineups around him in DFS. Further down, the prices of Si Woo Kim ($8,000) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout ($7,600) both look very appealing given the solid play they have shown this season. Kim nearly won this event in 2018 and Bezuidenhout has putted extremely well on these greens over the years.
Tournaments: Henley can bounce back
Henley ($8,100) endured a rough Masters but overall the season has been a solid one for the four-time PGA winner. This week’s course is much better suited to his skill set and he’s putting so much better in 2024 than he has in past seasons that it makes sense to use him in GPPs — where he’s not likely to be overly popular. I talked about Adam Schenk below, but another Adam to consider this week is Canadian Adam Hadwin ($6,800) who didn’t have a great Masters but has shown us lately that on the right track, he’s ready to compete. Hadwin has top-five finishes in two of his last five starts and has played well on other Pete Dye designs throughout his career.
Top Recent Form
1. Scottie Scheffler ($13,300; win – T2 – win): Scheffler is likely one 5-foot putt away from coming in on a four-event win streak. His biggest threat right now is his cell phone and receiving a call that his wife is going into labor early.
2. Ludvig Aberg ($10,400; 2nd – T14): It’s not a stretch to say that Aberg may be the second-best player in the world right now. He’s gaining a ton of strokes ball-striking every week and has finished T8 and 2nd at the PLAYERS and Masters over his last three starts.
3. Xander Schauffele ($10,800; 8th – T5 – T2): Schauffele continued to play solid golf last week, posting a top 10 at Augusta. He’s had trouble breaking through but his form is near its peak right now.
4. Cameron Young ($8,700; T10 – T8): Young finished runner-up at the Valspar two starts ago and landed a T9 in his second Masters last week. His short game isn’t as good as some of the other top players which could disadvantage him around this technical track.
5. Tommy Fleetwood ($9,800; T3 – T7): Don’t look now, but Fleetwood is rounding into form and likely to give his first PGA win a go soon. He’s been top 10 the last two weeks and has putted well around Harbour Town in years prior.
MY PICK: Cameron Davis ($7,400)
Last season at the RBC Heritage we saw many of the players who finished well at the Masters carry that momentum into big weeks at Harbour Town. Of the top 10 finishers at Harbour Town in 2023 seven of them finished inside the top 20 at Augusta the week prior. That’s a pretty heavily weighted portion of the top end of the leaderboard and not something we should ignore.
This season the Heritage is again an elevated event and I would not be shocked at all to see similar results from those who finished high up at Augusta. This all leads to my main pick for the week, Aussie Cam Davis who finished T12 at Augusta (a career best) and comes in with some obvious momentum after also placing T21 at the Valero the week prior.
Davis is talented and his search for win number two on the PGA isn’t likely to last too much longer. Despite being a longer hitter he’s also done well at many of the PGA’s shorter, more technical venues. He’s placed T3 and T7 at the claustrophobic Harbour Town the last two seasons and has also picked up top 10 finishes at Sawgrass (T6, 2022), TPC Stadium (T3, 2021) and TPC South Wind (T6 2023).
While he may be popular, Davis’ price this week doesn’t fully represent his upside and that makes him a worthwhile value, even if his ownership for DFS may be a little higher than we’ve seen of late. He’s also a solid outright (+5500) and top 10 (+450) target on DraftKings Sportsbook for betting.
MY SLEEPER: Adam Schenk ($7,100)
Schenk put up one of the most underrated performances of the Masters. The Augusta rookie finished T12 and tied for second with Matthieu Pavon ($7,000) among all debutants. The top 12 finish also got him a ticket back to Augusta for 2025, as the top 12 finishers automatically qualify for next year’s event.
The result from last week didn’t come out of nowhere either. He posted a top 20 at Sawgrass last month and showed improved ball-striking at the Valero where he also gained 6.3 strokes with the putter. That club has carried Schenk in the past and almost landed him a victory at Colonial last season where he lost in a playoff to Emiliano Grillo ($6,900). Given the emphasis on putting and short games at a venue like Harbour Town Schenk’s chances this week look decent to post another strong finish.
As a sub-$7,500 GPP option for fantasy lineups, he’ll be a nice contrarian play — and for betting, his +260 top 20 odds make him a ripe placement target on the DraftKings Sportsbook as well.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
