Golf didn’t disappoint on its return to action with a playoff needed to decide the Charles Schwab Challenge. The Tour now travels to Hilton Head in South Carolina for the RBC Heritage 2020 and, once again, we have a strong field assembling for this invitational.
Our tip last week, Justin Thomas, finished four shots off the leaders but we did take a return on Jordan Spieth as he squeezed into the top 10. Let’s see if we can build on that result at Harbour Town Links.
For the second week in a row, World Number One Rory McIlroy leads the outright market, this time at +1200 (12/1) with Bovada Sportsbook, whose odds we will quote throughout. Rory was in contention at the start of the Charles Schwab Challenge but a poor last round left him in a tie for 32nd.
This is McIlroy’s first appearance in the tournament since making his debut in 2009 and that shows just how eager some of the big names are to get some play in ahead of the Majors. Rory was the form player coming into golf’s return but that subdued display in Texas makes us wary.
Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau are 14/ co-second favorites with most top American facing sportsbooks. JT Just scraped into the top 10 finishers last week while Bryson tied for third, one shot off the lead. It was an impressive four days for The Scientist who leads the Power Rankings going into Thursday. With two top five finishes in four visits to the RBC Heritage, many are looking to DeChambeau to convert this time.
World Number Two Jon Rahm is the other 14/1 shot and then we have a gap to Xander Schauffele (22/1). Collin Morikawa (25/1) lost out in Sunday’s playoff to Daniel Berger and he sits temptingly in the middle of the chasers. Rahm was much shorter in the markets last week but, after missing the cut at Colonial, punters will be wary.
Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Justin Rose and Sungjae Im could all offer some value at between 28/1 and 33/1. Rose and Reed were solid last week while Simpson is second in the Power Rankings with a 9-9 record here and a playoff loss to Graeme McDowell in 2013.
We have to move into the outside bunch before we find our first former RBC Heritage Champion. Matt Kuchar (40/1) won here in 2014 and, more relevantly, finished one shot behind CT Pan 12 months ago. Pan is a longshot bet in 2020 and, in a stronger field, he is not expected to make a successful defense.
More realistic contenders in the outside pack at 50/1 or higher might include Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and last week’s winner Daniel Berger. Rickie Fowler, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Jason Day are all further back in what is clearly a high-quality field.
If we can pick some winners this week they should come at value prices but what will it take to get over the line in the 2020 RBC Heritage?
Our Preview’s RBC Heritage Predictions & Picks Verdict with Course & Betting Trends
This tournament was first played as the Heritage Classic in 1969 and the first edition was won by the great Arnold Palmer. Like a lot of events on Tour, it has been through a number of name changes but the competition has been known as the RBC Heritage since 2012.
The tournament is played at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island at a par 71 course that just heads above 7000 yards. The short course can be guarded by significant winds at times while Harbour Town also features some of the smallest greens on Tour.
CT Pan led the way with his short game last year and, interestingly, he returned average stats for Greens in Regulation and Fairways Hit. Accuracy should, however, be a key factor over the four days.
Davis Love III is the most successful player in the tournament’s history with five wins and multiple champions are relatively common. Interestingly, three of the last seven editions have gone to a playoff while three of the remaining four have been won by a single stroke so we could be in for another dramatic finish.
Our pick for the 2020 RCB Heritage is Jon Rahm and while his display at Colonial doesn’t offer much encouragement, his outright odds have slipped to something far more tempting. Rahm missed that cut and was strangely out of touch with the putter but he is too good a player to be off the leaderboard for long.
Rahm is also making his debut this week but he has good relevant stats that can help him to convert. Add in the following top 10 finish picks and we will hopefully be heading for more returns as the Tour progresses. These are our RBC Heritage predictions for this preview:
- Jon Rahm to win at +17.78 (nearly 18/1) with Bookmaker. He is 16/1 with BetOnline, 14/1 Bovada & Intertops.
- Collin Morikawa (+250), Webb Simpson (+300 ie: 3/1) and Brooks Koepka (+400) for top 10 finishes, all those odds are with BetOnline.
Matt Harris is a golf and soccer expert for USA Betting. His other area of specialist knowledge is cricket. He is well known in sports journalism and contributes articles to a plethora of big-name websites and media outlets. Titles that he writes or has written for include: Betfair, BetVictor, Unibet & Just Bookies.