Hideki Matsuyama, at 40/1, ended a new four-year winless drought by winning his first major championship at the Masters last weekend.
He is not in this week’s field at the RBC Heritage, but five of the top 10 players in the world ranking are, including tournament favorite and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson (10/1), who returns to his home state smarting off a missed cut last week at Augusta National. Last year’s RBC Heritage victor, Webb Simpson (12/1), returns to defend his title off a top 12 Masters finish. Patrick Cantlay (16/1) missed last year’s event, but has event form of 3-7-3 from 2017-2019 and is looking to rebound from a missed cut last week.
Here’s some worthwhile picks for the RBC Heritage, which starts Thursday at Harbour Town in Hilton Head Island, S.C.:
Sergio Garcia (35/1)
Garcia missed the cut at Augusta last week and has missed cuts in 10 of his last 12 major championships. This, however, looks like a good spot for a rebound just as he did last fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship in his next start after the U.S. Open. Garcia typically plays well on Pete Dye designs, especially at TPC Sawgrass, where he has won and posted another top 10 just a few weeks ago.
Harris English (40/1)
English arrives off his best career Masters finish (T-21). Now he is back by the coast where he has thrived during his career. He lives just a couple of hours down I-95 in Sea Island, Ga., where he was sixth on another coastal layout at the RSM Classic last fall. English won earlier this year at Kapalua. He also has finishes of ninth (2013), fourth (2014) and third (2015) at Waialae, plus finishes of second (2015) and eighth (2018) at Torrey Pines, a fifth (2018) at the Corales Puntacana, plus a victory (2014), a fifth (2020) and another fifth (2021) at El Camaleon.
Si Woo Kim (40/1)
Two of his three PGA Tour wins have come on Pete Dye designs, including earlier this season at PGA West for The American Express. He also has won The Players Championship (2017) on another Dye design at TPC Sawgrass. Many players who have had success at Harbour Town have also had success at Sedgefield for the Wyndham Championship, which Si Woo won in 2016.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (50/1)
Bezuidenhout opened with a 2-under 70 at the Masters, but had a tough weekend and ended up tied for 40th. The South African ranks second in scrambling and fifth in strokes gained: putting, in this week’s field over the last 24 rounds.
Kevin Streelman (66/1)
Streelman missed the RBC Heritage cut last summer, but has three career top-seven finishes in the event. He took down Abraham Ancer and Bernd Wiesberger to advance to the round of 16 for the WGC-Dell Match Play three weeks ago on a Dye design at Austin Country Club.
Matthew NeSmith (100/1)
NeSmith played his college golf at South Carolina and is a resident of Aiken, just two hours away from Hilton Head. He can be shaky with the putter, but he is one of the tour leaders for strokes gained: approach and greens in regulation.
J.T. Poston (125/1)
Poston has missed four of eight cuts this year, but has consecutive finishes of eighth or better in the RBC Heritage the past two years. He also won two years ago at Sedgefield so he is yet another player with that Sedgefield-Harbour Town correlation.