Just a short two hour drive from Augusta National, the PGA TOUR heads to Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to play the 2022 RBC Heritage. Hilton Head Island is a golfer’s paradise, and Harbour Town is one of the most beautiful and scenic courses on the PGA TOUR.
Harbour Town Golf Links is a par 71 course measuring 7,121 yards and features Bermudagrass greens. A Pete Dye design, the course is heavily tree-lined and features small greens and many dog legs protecting it from “bomb and gauge” type golfers.
The field is loaded this week with 138 golfers. It may quite possibly be the best field in RBC Heritage history when it has been at this point in the schedule.
Some notable golfers in the field are Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Joaquin Niemann, Daniel Berger, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Sungjae Im.
For GPP contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.
And if you missed it, we added two new metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.
The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.
For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 150 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots on average it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.
Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Approach is exceedingly important this week. The greens at Harbour Town are about half the size of PGA TOUR average and feature the second-smallest greens on PGA TOUR. Typical of a Pete Dye design, golfers will pay the price for missed greens.
- High-end target: Justin Thomas — $11,000 (3rd SG: Approach)
- Mid-range target: Russell Henley— $9,000 (1st SG: Approach)
- Value target: Erik Van Rooyen— $7,300 (8th SG: Approach)
Fairways Gained
The fairways at Harbour Town are tree-lined and feature many doglegs. Bombers tend to struggle at the course because it will force layups and not allow long drivers to overpower it. Accuracy is far more important than power this week.
- High-end target: Daniel Berger — $9,600 (16th Fairways Gained)
- Mid-range target: Billy Horschel— $8,700 (17th Fairways Gained)
- Value target: Brendon Todd — $6,800 (2nd Fairways Gained)
Total Strokes Gained at Pete Dye Designs
Pete Dye specialists tend to play very well at Harbour Town. Si Woo Kim, Matt Kuchar, Jim Furyk, and Webb Simpson are all Pete Dye specialists who have had great success at Harbour Town. It is likely we see some more Pete Dye specialists near the top of the leader board this week.
- High-end target: Shane Lowry— $9,800 (1st Strokes Gained: Pete Dye)
- Mid-range target: Tommy Fleetwood— $8,200 (7th Strokes Gained: Pete Dye)
- Value target: Brian Harman— $7,700 (2nd Strokes Gained: Pete Dye)
Greens in Regulation Gained
The recipe for success at Harbour Town Golf Links is hitting fairways and greens. Missing either will prove to be consequential, and golfers must be in total control of the golf ball to win here.
- High-end target: Corey Conners— $9,700 (1st Greens in Regulation Gained)
- Mid-range target: Adam Hadwin— $8,700 (10th Greens in Regulation Gained)
- Value target: Aaron Wise— $7,100 (2nd Greens in Regulation Gained)
Strokes Gained: Short Game (Bermuda)
Strokes gained: Short Game factors in both around the green and putting. With many green-side bunkers and tricky green complexes, both statistics will be important this week. Past winners such as Jim Furyk, Wes Bryan, and Webb Simpson highlight how crucial the short game skillset is around Harbour Town.
- High-end target: Cameron Smith — $10,800 (1st Strokes Gained: Short Game Bermuda)
- Mid-range target: Kevin Kisner— $8,100 (2nd Strokes Gained: Short Game Bermuda)
- Value target: Beau Hossler — $6,800 (10th Strokes Gained: Short Game Bermuda)
