For the fifth of eight Signature Events this season, the PGA TOUR is hosting the RBC Heritage this week. Since 1969, this tournament has been played at Harbour Town Golf Links (par 71, 7,213 yards, POA Trivialis greens) in Hilton Head, South Carolina. As a Signature Event, all of the PGA TOUR’s best players will be competing for a $20 million purse. This is a field of 72 golfers and there will be no cut.
Below, I have featured some head-to-head tournament matchup bets to consider for the RBC Heritage.
Patrick Cantlay over Justin Thomas (-115)
Cantaly has been incredible at Harbour Town throughout his career. While he has yet to win here, Cantlay has been extremely close, finishing T3rd or better in five of his seven starts at Harbour Town, including a runner-up in 2022. The 33-year-old is gaining 2.29 strokes per round at coastal venue, which ranks second in this field only behind Scottie Scheffler. As for Thomas, his resume at Harbour Town is strong, but it doesn’t compare to Cantlay’s. In six starts at this par 71, Thomas has finished T11 or better three times and he is gaining 0.89 strokes per round.
As for their current forms, both Cantlay and Thomas finished T36th at the Masters last week, but Cantaly gained strokes on approach, while Thomas lost strokes in the major category. Thomas has been closer to winning than Cantlay this season, but both players have four top-25 finishes to their name. At Harbour Town, Cantlay’s expertise for this course should once again lead him to a higher finish than Thomas. These two players have competed in three RBC Heritages together and Cantlay outperformed Thomas at all three of these events.
Maverick McNealy over Michael Kim (-110)
McNealy and Kim have had similar seasons thus far, with four and five top-25 finishes, respectively. Both players also have one runner-up finish on their resume. However, while their forms are very comparable, McNealy has a huge edge in history at Harbour Town, making him the obvious choice for this matchup.
McNealy has made three-of-four cuts at this par 71 with a T4 in 2021 and a T26 in 2022. Kim on the other hand has only made two-of-five cuts at Harbour Town and he struggled mightily after making the cut on those two occasions, finishing T76th and 77th. At this course, McNealy is gaining 0.94 strokes per round, while Kim is losing a huge 1.71 strokes per round, which ranks second-to-last among this field.
Harbour Town was designed by Pete Dye and Kim has had major issues at most tracks created by the famous architect. When we compare this field’s last 24 rounds at a Dye course, Kim ranks 69th of 72 players in total strokes gained, while McNealy ranks 48th. Lastly, when we look at these two player’s odds to win the RBC Heritage on DraftKings Sportsbook, McNealy once again has the edge, with +6000 odds, compared to +6500 odds for Kim.
