The year’s first major championship is done, and now the PGA Tour heads to Harbour Town for the RBC Heritage. Jordan Spieth is the defending champion, but the favorites tag goes to Scottie Scheffler. Will either man be in contention to win on Sunday afternoon? Let’s take a closer look at our RBC Heritage golf betting picks.
What; RBC Heritage
Where; Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina
When; Thursday, April 13th – Sunday, April 16th
Par; 71
Yards; 7,191
Yes, the Master has come and gone for another year. And after a chaotic week with weather and arguments surrounding LIV golfers, Spain’s Jon Rahm eventually took the honors. Rahm won his first Green Jacket with a 12 under-par score of 276. He saw off the challenges of LIV pair Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, who both finished joint second on -8, to claim the second major championship of his career.
No LIV players will be present at ‘The Heritage’ this week. We are back on the official PGA Tour. And the tour as a whole will no doubt be breathing a huge sigh of relief after Rahm’s win at Augusta. It’s fair to say a Masters win for a LIV golfer is something the golfing establishment would not want to see. Especially when the PGA Tour is coming under pressure and increased scrutiny to up its game in the face of its dispute with the breakaway tour.
McIlroy out of the RBC Heritage
But even after seeing off the LIV threat, for now, the PGA Tour has been dealt a blow heading to Hilton Head. This came courtesy of Rory McIlroy, who announced Monday that he wouldn’t be in South Carolina to play this week.
As a designated event with a prize purse of $20 Million, the RBC Heritage is one of the main events on the PGA Tour. Players ranked in the top 20 of the Players Impact Program (PIP) can only skip one designated event a season. McIlroy is one of the top 20. But he has already sat out the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, also a designated event. So his absence will certainly be noted.
At the very least, the Irishman will likely lose part of his PIP bonus money, which the PGA distributes at the end of the season. But after a disappointing Masters, McIlroy may feel prepared to take the hit for his form this season.
Betting to win 2023 RBC Heritage
Despite having just won the Masters, Jon Rahm is only second in the betting to win the RBC Heritage.
Rahm competes for a joint second favorite at +1100, along with Patrick Cantlay. The favorite is world No.1, Scottie Scheffler, at +900.
Outside of the three leading candidates, we see a large gap in the Vegas golf odds before we get to joint fourth favorites, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young, who are both +1800. Next is the defending champion, Jordan Spieth at +2200.
More betting can be found below on our RBC Heritage odds table. The odds are taken from the best golf betting websites. If you want to learn more about these sites, you can read more on our Las Vegas sportsbooks reviews page.
This competition falls hot on the heels of the Masters. But the statistics tell us that the winner of the Masters doesn’t go on to win here. Recent history shows that players who performed poorly at Augusta or didn’t even play at the Masters seem to do better in this tournament.
Last year’s winner Jordan Spieth, had missed the cut at the Masters the week before his win here. And over the last ten years, seven RBC winners either missed the cut (five) at the Masters or didn’t even qualify to play (two) in the year’s opening major championship.
So that means we’re not backing Jon Rahm this week. Ironically, it looks made for Rory. But he’s not even here! So who are we backing to win this week?
Corey Conners +5000
Conners won the Valero Texas Open for a second time two weeks back. He followed that up by missing the cut at Augusta with a disappointing eight over par. We think that with the win at San Antonio, Conners is worth a small investment at +5000 to win this week. Take him each way.
Hatton was T34 at the Masters last week. This followed his second place at the Players and his T4 at the Arnold Palmer. This course looks to be more to his liking. Last year he fired two rounds of 67 here. And he has also cut into four of his five appearances at Harbour Town. At odds of +3500 with BetOnline sportsbook, Hatton looks good value.
For our final pick, we’re going for Viktor Hovland. Yes, given the Norwegian finished T7 at Augusta, we may slightly contradict our earlier statement that players who underperform at Augusta do better here. But Hovland has just been so consistent in recent weeks.
In the Players Championship, he finished T3, and in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was T10. Form like that can’t be ignored. Hovland is playing well enough, and we make Hovland our final pick to win at +2800.
Dean has been writing betting tips for websites now for over 15 years. He started out writing and editing his own publications, but has now expanded to publishing articles on various well known websites where he covers everything from hot dog eating competitions to casino reviews.
Over the years Dean has learnt to adapt his skills. Using his extensive sports knowledge and his British sense of humor, Dean has developed into a trusted voice in the betting industry.