2022 RBC Heritage Preview: Odds and Golf Betting Picks

This week Joe Cistaro breaks down the course and golf betting tips for the 2022 RBC Heritage. Here’s a closer look at golf odds across online sportsbooks.

The Masters has come and gone.  Scottie Scheffler surmounted what proved to be a big challenge at Augusta last weekend for his fourth – yes, fourth – win this season and his first green jacket.  Scheffler never faltered as he seemingly cruised to victory to continue his breakout season.  

This week, the PGA tour travels to beautiful Hilton Head, South Carolina for the RBC Heritage.  One of the more picturesque courses on tour, Harbour Town Golf Links presents a unique opportunity for players to strategically plan around a golf course.  Let’s start with betting odds and the field.  

2022 RBC Heritage Odds

At the time of this writing — April 13th — you can find these odds at BetMGM Sportsbook.  The below list features all golfers with odds 40/1 or better.

Here is a list of recent winners at the event.   

• 2021 – Stewart Cink (-19)
• 2020 – Webb Simpson (-22)
• 2019 – CT Pan (-12)
• 2018 – Satoshi Kodaira (-12)
• 2017 – Wesley Bryan (-13)
• 2016 – Branden Grace (-9)
• 2015 – Jim Furyk (-9)

The field is absolutely stacked for the RBC Heritage this week despite playing the week after the Masters.  Several golfers in the top 20 of the OWGR make the trip to Harbour Town to play a course that represents quite a departure from most PGA tournaments.  

Stewart Cink won last season with an immaculate display around the greens.  Repeating will prove to be quite the task, with the likes of Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, and many others in the field vying for the plaid jacket.  

138 players will tee it up this weekend with the standard top 65 and ties playing on the weekend.  

2022 RBC Heritage Betting Preview

• Course: Harbour Town Golf Links
• Date: April 14 – 17
• Par: 71
• Yardage: 7,121
• Greens: Bermuda

Harbour Town Golf Links is a short, Pete Dye design constructed to test players’ precision and strategy around the course.  The fairways are heavily tree-lined with several dog legs that prevent players from bombing and gauging there way around the course.  

Precision is key as the course features the second-smallest greens on the PGA Tour – nearly half the size of tour average.  The greens are not elevated, so players can get creative while scrambling.  

Length is not of import at the course and the rough isn’t extremely penal.  Instead, players must find the correct sides of fairways to set up their approach.  Then, the course is all about approach and hitting the small greens.  

Wind is the primary defense of the short course.  As evidenced by the past winning scores, a windy day can make going low challenging.  However, if the winds are docile, players will be taking aim and putting together exceptional rounds of golf.  

The course features three Par 5’s and a short Par 4 as the primary scoring opportunities.  The 15th is a three-shot hole, but still features a 26% birdie rate.  

Statistical considerations for the course are SG: Approach (heavily weighted), Fairways Gained, GIR Gained, SG: ARG, SG: Putting, and Opportunities Gained.  

2022 RBC Heritage Betting Picks

Unless mentioned otherwise, all strokes gained statistics will be reference over the player’s previous 36 rounds on the PGA Tour

Russell Henley +3300 (BetMGM)

We will start with a caveat.  This course is well-suited for a superstar approach specialist like Justin Thomas or Collin Morikawa to take the reins and lap the field.  That said, I am never too keen on paying the price to start my betting card that short.  Instead, I will happily take advantage of the better prices below.  

Here we go again.  Our old pal Russell Henley makes another start at RBC Heritage.  The course just fits so perfectly for the ball striking extraordinaire.  

Get the hedge dollars ready for Sunday.  We have done this dance before.  Henley is worthy of some FRL consideration and will tease you with a potential wire-to-wire win.  However, we witnessed Russ cough up the Sony Open this year and the Wyndham last fall.  Sundays can hurt.  

With that said, he leads the field in Approach and sits 11th in GIR gained.  The course is a great fit for him and the price is perfect for my normal betting card structure.  Let’s start here with 1.25 units and hope for the best.  

Kevin Na +5000 (PointsBet)

RBC Heritage feels like a perfect Kevin Na course.  Short.  Dog legs.  Distance doesn’t matter.  Around the green and putting.  This course feels dialed up for several walked in putts.  

Na closed his Masters with a 14th place finish after a solid Sunday round.  His history at the Heritage is either a missed cut or a T10 finish and last season he missed the cut.  He sits in the top ten in SG: ARG and is 3rd in the field on Par 3’s from 175-200 (the range for all of the Par  3’s).  

Na will always get my money when distance does not matter.  At 50/1, he feels like a bargain even with this field strength.  I am going to throw a ¾ of a unit on him this week at PointsBet.  

Tom Hoge +8000 (DraftKings)

One of our outright winners this year, Tom Hoge finally gets to downshift after making appearances at various challenging events over the last month or so.  Hoge held his own in his first Masters appearance, making the cut and finishing in the Top 40.  Now, he gets to play a course tailored to the strongest aspect of his game.  

Hoge ranks 5th in SG: Approach, 6th in Opportunities Gained, and 1st in Proximity: 175-200.  Assuming he can find the right position on the fairway, Hoge should be able to dial in several approaches for great looks at birdie.  

Where he struggles on the green, the tiny greens at Harbour Town should mitigate his difficulty with the flat stick.  We are in for a 1/2 unit on DraftKings.  

Luke List +13000 (DraftKings)

While I don’t think Luke List fits the archetype for players I want to target at Harbour Town, I cannot resist a 130/1 price tag on a PGA tour winner this season.  

List is a tee-to-green monster with enough length for any course.  The driver isn’t necessary, so List will be able to play lesser clubs and hopefully find more fairways than normal.  

Despite his normal profile over the years as a bomber who can’t putt, List is 15th in approach and 4th in SG: ARG in the field.  The price just doesn’t check out for a player with the upside to win on Tour.  I will hit this price at DraftKings and consider a T20 or T30 given the outright mark.  Let’s start with ⅜ on the outright card with potential for more later.  

RBC Heritage Betting Card

We completely whiffed at the Masters with both betting and DFS.  I spent all week framing a lineup with Scottie Scheffler as my stud to only pick the worst combination of cut makers in the history of golf.  In any event, the Masters card was pricey.  We flushed 5.875 units to bring us back below three digits.  Hopefully, we hop back over that hurdle this week. 

2022 Profit in Units:  +96.625 units

Follow me on Twitter at @JoeCistaro  to follow along with any additions, matchups, or top finishers I add to my outright betting card.  Good luck with all of your wagers this week and thanks for reading.