RBC Heritage Classic Golf Preview And Predictions

Posted by Eric Williams on Wednesday,April 12, 2017 11:55, EDT in

Golf News

I know the first PGA golf tournament succeeding the prestigious Masters, feels a bit anti-climatic coming on the heels of the highly coveted first major of the year, but there’s still money to be made by betting on the 2017 RBC Heritage Classic.

The first PGA Tournament following the 2017 Masters gets underway on Thursday, April 13 at the beautiful Harbor Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. As is always the case, the field for this year’s RBC Heritage Classic has another field of world-class title contenders that will be going all-out to pick up a win in sunny South Carolina. Now, let’s get down to business with these golf betting picks.

A Closer Look At The RBC Heritage Classic Golf Preview And Predictions

When: April 13-16, 2017
Where: Harbor Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Format: 72 holes – Stroke Play
Purse: $6,500,000
Defending Champion: Branden Grace
TV Coverage: Golf Channel, CBS
Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET – Golf Channel.
Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. Golf Channel, 3-6 p.m. – CBS.

The Course

Harbour Town Golf Links is a par-71 course whose total length is 7,099 yards. The Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus co-designed course remains one of the best ever designed by either golfing legend and features both, shapely greens and narrow fairways.

A Look Back

Last year, Branden Grace drained five birdies to shoot a blistering 66 in the final round and come from three shots back to earn his first victory on the PGA Tour while beating out Luke Donald by two strokes.

Veteran golfer Jim Furyk won for the second time in 2015 after bagging the 2010 RB Heritage title while Matt Kuchar won in 2014. Graeme McDowell (2013, Carl Pettersson (2012) and Brandt Snedeker (2011) have bagged the other RBC Heritage Classic titles since the start of this decade.

This year’s field will feature Grace, Furyk, Snedeker and Kuchar as well as numerous other PGA Tour winners.

Here is a look at the odds of the top contenders.

2017 RBC Heritage Classic Odds

Matt Kuchar +1200
Brandt Snedeker +1300
Branden Grace +1650
Bill Haas +1800
Kevin Kisner +2000
Martin Kaymer +2250
Russell Henley +2500
Tyrrell Hatton +2550
Adam Hadwin +2750
Charley Hoffman +3000
Jim Furyk +2888
Matthew Fitzpatrick +3055
Luke Donald +3000
Jason Dufner +3250
Russell Knox +3500
Billy Horschel +3600
Bryson Dechambeau +3750
Kevin Na +4000
Graeme McDowell +4050

Analysis: For me, my top pick to win the 2017 RBC Heritage Classic goes to the favored Matt Kuchar after he was my No. 2 pick to win last week’s Masters and finished tied for fourth at 5-under.

Kuchar shot a closing round 67 at Augusta National and nailed a hole-in-one on the 16th hole. Kuchar has finished in the Top 10 in each of last two years and has a whopping five, top-10 finishes at the RBC Heritage Classic in his career.

My second selection to nab the 2017 RBC Heritage hardware is a pick for Charley Hoffman seeing as how he finished 14th at 2-under in last year’s event – and will likely be seriously determined to bounce back from last week’s collapse at the Masters. Hoffman recorded the largest first round lead at the first major of the year in over six decades by leading by a whopping four shots after the first round. Hoffman shot a three over 75 in the second round, a par-72 in the third round and a closing round 78 to finish tied for 22nd.

For my longshot pick, I’m going with five-time Heritage winner Davis Love III. I know he’s 52-years-old now and has only won one tournament since the start of this decade, but that was only two years ago when he bagged the 2016 Wyndham Championship by one stroke over Jason Gore.

I know his chances of winning are not nearly as good as they once were when he was in his prime, but hell, at +15000, I think he may be worth a ‘what the hell’ kind of wager.