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After the razzmatazz of Augusta National the PGA Tour has found the perfect come-down tournament in the shape of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The players love the surroundings and also the course, which offers a different challenge to that in the first major championship of the year. Tree-lined it might be, but it is right on the ocean, the wind is blustery, the land is mostly flat, the greens are small and they are also slow. “I don’t hit many drivers here,” Dustin Johnson said last year. “But no matter what club you’re hitting, you need to hit it straight and place it in the correct side of the fairway and kind of go from there. “The greens are small and they’re tough greens. They’re fairly flat, but you don’t really want to miss them.” “It’s a very claustrophobic place,” course specialist Luke Donald explained in 2017, speaking metaphorically. “There are a lot of overhanging trees and I think for some reason that real tight feeling narrows my focus and gets me more engaged in the shot, and that’s why I seem to hit it very well around here.” One final point: only one of the last 16 winners finished top ten at Augusta the week before (Matt Kuchar who was T5). Four of them didn’t play in the Masters and six of the other 12 had missed the cut there.
Angles to consider 1/ Par 4 Performance The last five winners all excelled on the par-4s. Wesley Bryan, Branden Grace and Matt Kuchar all ranked first for the week, whilst Satoshi Kodaira and Jim Furyk were second. There are plenty of dog legs and also holes where you can hit the fairway and still be blocked out by trees with the approach. Coping with that takes a certain mentality. Also, Bryan said: “You have a fair amount of short to mid iron shots out there.” 2/ Scrambling These greens are the smallest on the PGA Tour schedule which only adds to the difficulty of hitting them (above and beyond blustering wind). It means that the Greens in Regulation numbers are often down and what separates the wheat from the chaff is the ability to save par. Bryan and Furyk topped the Scrambling stats, Grace was third, Kuchar 11th and Kodaira 13th. 3/ By the sea Look for players who have proved themselves by the sea, with a strong breeze, on Bermuda greens and among the trees. Kodaira said the course reminded him of Japan and he was also second at Sentosa in Singapore, Bryan had been T7 at Innisbrook, Grace is a strong wind performer, Furyk a winner at Waialae and also on the course itself, Kuchar has since won at Waialae and El Camaleon. Going further back Graeme McDowell, Brian Gay, Boo Weekley, Stewart Cink and Davis Love III all back up this notion.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Jim Furyk He’s an elder statesman, but he’s not playing like it and, what’s more, he’s performing on tracks that hint he’ll enjoy his return to a course he has twice won on (and twice been runner up). He was T6th at El Camaleon, T9th at PGA National, T2nd at Sawgrass (like this week a Pete Dye design) and T18 at Innisbrook (having been T6th after 54 holes). Ranks eighth for Scrambling in the field on the Course Compatibility table. Kevin Kisner “I love it here,” he said two years ago. “It suits my game.” He lost the title in a play-off here in 2015, was T3rd after 54 holes two years ago (finishing T11th) and T7th last year. He ranks top 20 for Par 4 Performance in the field (see Course Compatibility 2), has excellent GIR and Scramble stats on the course, was a WGC winner two starts ago, and T21 last week in the Masters. Sung-jae Im Ranks ninth for Scrambling in the field and 19th for Par 4 Performance, was T4th at Innisbrook, T3rd at Bay Hill, T16th at Waialae and T7th in the Dominican Republic. A course debutant, but playing some fine golf and a week off might have benefited him (he’s played a lot this season).
Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Jim Furyk at 33/1 (SportingBet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) mc 1pt e.w. Kevin Kisner at 28/1 (PaddyPower 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) 41st 1pt e.w. Sung-jae Im at 45/1 (PaddyPower 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) mc
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