With the first Major of the season out of the way, we return to PGA Tour action with the 57th edition of the RBC Heritage.
A turbulent Masters week saw Rory McIlroy finally get his hands on a Green Jacket and it’s no surprise to see that he is taking a rest this weekend, while many of the Tour’s biggest names look to bounce back from defeat at Augusta.
Harbour Town Golf Links plays host again this week, as it has done since the tournament’s inception, providing a real test of accuracy with the irons and efficiency on the greens.
We’re in fine form as far as PGA Tour events are concerned, with Bud Cauley, our 45/1 pick for the Valero Texas Open, providing a nice return by finishing T5 at TPC San Antonio.
Collin Morikawa 10/1
Many people had singled out Collin Morikawa as their likely Augusta champion for 2025, but it wasn’t to be as he finished a disappointing, but still respectable, T14. Unable to get on a real hot streak, Morikawa was fairly consistent throughout the week but just couldn’t latch onto the low scorers at the top of the leaderboard.
The RBC Heritage looks like a great opportunity for Morikawa to get his name back to the top of the pile as he’s recorded some strong finishes here before, most notably a T7 in 2021 and ninth place last year.
Distance is not the key to this course with accuracy taking precedence, something which should play into Morikawa’s hands. He has the most accurate driver on the Tour this year and also leads the way for strokes gained approaching the green; it’s only the putter that has been letting him down.
The greens at Harbour Town are some of the smallest he’ll play on this year and finding them is possibly the most important factor of all. There is no one better at doing that than Morikawa, which should give him a great chance of finishing in the 6 places available with William Hill.
Should he be able to find some better form with the putter, it will take a fair effort from the rest of the field to deny Morikawa a seventh PGA Tour title at odds of 10/1.
J.J. Spaun 60/1
Away from some of the household names returning here, we like the look of J. J. Spaun at a bigger price. Spaun heads to South Carolina off the back of a 50th-place finish at The Masters, with a final score of seven over par.
That performance and his previous missed cut at the Valero Texas Open don’t offer a whole lot of hope, but his two runner-up finishes in the three tournaments prior – including a play-off loss to McIlroy at The Players – mean we have reason to be optimistic.
He is one of the Tour’s best when it comes to getting the ball on the dance floor, ranking eighth for greens in regulation percentage this season. His driver isn’t particularly accurate but the rough here doesn’t pose a massive challenge and his irons should be good enough to make up for any missed fairways.
At 60/1 he looks good value to finish in the 6 places available with William Hill, something he has already done on three occasions so far this season. He’ll need to bounce back from two poor showings to win here but we’d be silly to count him out!
