Yahoo Fantasy Golf Contest Preview- RBC Heritage

Greetings Yahoo Contest players. The Masters has come to an end and now we move on to the RBC Heritage. It kind of feels like going back to work the Monday after a killer weekend trip to Las Vegas. Nonetheless, we here at Fantasy Golf Insider will never mail it in, and give a half-ass effort that others in the industry might the week after The Masters.

This week the PGA Tour heads to the Sea Pines Resort, in Hilton Head South Carolina and the Harbour Town Golf Links Course. This tournament has been played since 1969, although under different title sponsor names. Most people identify the course by the iconic red and white lighthouse behind the 18th green. Harbour Town Golf Links is a par 71 and is one of the shortest courses on tour at 7,101 yards. It contains extremely narrow fairways surrounded by hundreds of large oak and pine trees. Its greens are also very small and contoured. It has three Par 5s and four Par 3s.

Coming off of his Masters win, Jordan Spieth will be at the RBC Heritage along with defending champion Matt Kuchar, and 10 of the top 30 players in the world rankings. Last year Kuchar won dramatically by holing a chip on the final hole of regulation to claim a one-stroke triumph over Luke Donald. The closing holeout capped a 6-under-par 64, completing a comeback from a four-shot deficit to begin the day. Luke Donald will try again for that elusive first victory at Hilton Head, having played the past six editions in a combined 47-under par without winning and placing in the top three 5 out of his last 6 appearances. Other past winners of this event, Jim Furyk, the 2010 winner, and Brandt Snedeker the 2011 winner will be in the field.

As with every week we look closely at the Strokes Gained Statistic, especially Tee-To-Green. In addition to Strokes Gained, the best stats to analyze this week are driving accuracy, greens in regulation, and greens in regulation percentage from other than the fairway. As we mentioned earlier, the fairways are extremely narrow and it is almost impossible to hit all of them, so there will be a lot of approach shots out of the rough. Thus we want to see who excels at greens in regulation from places other than the fairway. The greens are small and it is going to favor those players that have extreme accuracy. Since the course is so short, driving distance will not be a large factor as it has over many of the tournaments over the past month and a half.

Tournament history is important at a course like Harbour Links because it is specific in its nature, being that it is short and narrow. A few of the players that have had good success here in the past include Luke Donald who has five Top 3 finishes in his last six appearances, Jim Furyk who has four Top 10s in his last seven appearances, and Boo Weekley who has won this tournament twice. Check out our Tournament History page to see exactly who has had success in the past at the RBC Heritage.

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A-List:

 

Webb Simpson & Bill Haas- A tough week for the A-List as we are not really thrilled with any of the options. Simpson has a solid tournament history with a 2nd in 2013, 52nd in 2012, and 14th in 2011 and 2010. He has been playing well lately with a T28 last week at the Masters, T43 at Arnold Palmer, and T7 at WGC Cadillac. He ranks 7th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green, 15th in Greens in Regulation, and 55th in Driving accuracy. If only Mr. Simpson could putt. Bill Haas is the best of the rest. He has missed the cut two out of the last three years here and does not rank better than 70th in any relavent statistical category. He has however been playing ok lately as he had a T12 at The Masters, MC at Shell, and T7 at WGC Cadillac. Like we said, we do not love him, we just love him better than everybody else on this list this week.

 

A-List Others: Luke Donald & Ben Martin

 

B-List:
Charles Howell III & Kevin Streelman- With the media appearances, interviews, etc, we find it hard to believe that Jordan Spieth will be able to bounce back from his historical win and perform great this week, which will make it one of the few weeks we will not choose him. CHIII has been delivering high-end finishes as of late with a T5 at Shell, T21 at Arnold Palmer, and T10 at Valspar. He did miss a rare cut at Valero a few weeks ago. In the RBC Howell placed 53rd last year, MC in 2013, 29th in 2012, MC in 2011, and 22nd in 2010. We like how he ranks in the key statistical categories this week- 29th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green, 30th in Greens in Regulation, and 7th in Greens in Regulation Percentage Other than the Fairway. The only stat we do not like is his driving accuracy, as he ranks 201st, but his ability to get to the green from off the fairway will make up for that this week. Harbour Town Links Course is a good fit for Kevin Streelman’s game. Add to that he is trending in the right direction, and he makes for a good play this week. Last week Streelman was very impressive at The Masters with a T12 and the week before he has a T42 at Shell, and the week before that a T67 at Arnold Palmer. He has had some success at the RBC Heritage in the past with a 53rd last year, 3rd in 2013, 17th in 2012, and 36th in 2011. His stats look great for here as he ranks 18th in Driving accuracy, 17th in Greens in Regulation, 47th in Greens in Regulation Percentage other than the fairway, and 55th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green.

 

B-List Others: Zach Johnson, Daniel Berger, Cameron Tringale, and Brandt Snedeker

 

C-List:

 

Patrick Reed & Daniel Summerhays– We like Reed because he is the best golfer in the field outside of Spieth, and as described above we are weary of Spieth this week. Over the past two months Reed has been consistent with a T22 at The Masters, T17 at Shell, 2nd at Valspar, T23 at WGC Cadillac, and T7 at Honda. He ranks 16th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green, 8th in Total Strokes Gained, and 84th in Greens in Regulation. He has played here twice and had a 48th last year and 71st in 2013. Daniel Summerhays has the look of somebody who is going to breakout with a win one of these weeks and with a bit of a weaker field, this week might be the one. He has been playing really well lately with a T4 in his last appearance at Valero, T55 at Arnold Palmer, T10 at Valspar, T17 at Honda, and T30 at Northern Trust. His tournament history is not good here, but we are going to overlook that because he is playing so well lately. Summerhays ranks 65th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green, 12th in Strokes Gained Putting, 25th in Total Strokes Gained, 73rd in Greens in Regulation, and 39th in Greens in Regulation other than the fairway. He is playing really well and we want to capitalize on his momentum

 

C-List Others: Russell Henley & Jason Kokrak

 

Best of luck to all of you this weekend and we look forward to hearing about your continued success!

 

-Fantasy Golf Insider