The Rundown: 2023 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town

Next up on the schedule is the 2023 RBC Heritage. It’s an elevated event this year and the field will consist of 98 of the top 100 golfers in the official world golf rankings.

This week is generally a weaker field with many suffering from a Masters hangover. That clearly won’t be the case in an elevated field with a big boy payday.

Last year Jordan Spieth won in a playoff against Patrick Cantlay. Spieth struck the ball well but actually lost 2.5 strokes putting.

In 2021 Stewart Cink shot 1 under on Sunday and won by four strokes. Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III tied for 2nd place.

2020 may be a good case study of the RBC Heritage considering how strong the field was. A number of the top golfers made the trip to Hilton Head after the PGA returned from Covid. Webb Simpson won at 22 under. The top 10 was made up of some talented names including Ancer, Berger, Hatton, Niemann, Garcia, Koepka, Thomas and DeChambeau.

The RBC Heritage is played at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Located at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Harbour Town GL is a Pete Dye designed, 7,121 yard par 71 with Bermuda greens.

There are 11 par fours, three par fives, and four par threes. The par fives play as some of the easiest holes on the course while the par threes are all over 190 yards and play rather difficult.

Off the tee; golfers will have to deal with tight tree-lined fairways. There are thick woods, bunkers, and water, so errant tee shots could be disastrous. The course forces many layups and emphasizes strategy and angles more than power.

It’s better to be in the rough on one side than the fairway on the opposite side on some holes so course history and experience play a big part at Harbour Town.

Driving distance is an afterthought here while driving accuracy is key. Average Driving Distance is one of the lowest on tour coming in at only 268 yards. Around 66% of drives find the fairway with many golfers hitting less than driver off the tee.

The greens are some of the smaller greens on tour and GIR percentage reflects it with only 57 percent of Greens hit. Around the green and scrambling come into play but scrambling is rather easy due to the size and flatness of the greens. Approach shots from 175-200 yards make up a quarter of all approaches at Harbour Town.

The tournament generally comes down to who’s hitting their irons well and making putts.

The field consists of 147 golfers with the Top 65 and ties making the cut after 36 holes to play the weekend.

2023 RBC Heritage: Key Stats and Figures

• Strokes Gained Approach
• Good Drives Gained
• Course History
• Around the green
• Proximity 175-200 yards

Historical Cut Line

• 2022: +1
• 2021: -1
• 2020: -3
• 2019: +1
• 2018: +1

Previous Winners

2022: Jordan Spieth -13
2021: Stewart Cink -19
2020: Webb Simpson -22
2019: CT Pan -12
2018: Satoshi Kodaira -12