RBC Heritage 2024 Each-way Tips: Picks from 20/1 to 66/1

• 50/151.00 Sepp Straka had an ideal warm-up at Augusta

• 66/167.00 Taylor Moore has course and current form

• 20/121.00 Matt Fitzpatrick has defended a title before

We're supposed to feel extra excited when the elite names gather for a big tournament.

But turning the previously rather genteel RBC Heritage into a no-cut 69-man Signature event with accompanying mega purse seems rather forced.

Whether that changes the dynamic remains unclear as this was previously a good tournament to bet on due to a clearly defined strategy.

It's one I've had plenty of success on with three-figure winners in the form of Brian Gay in 2009 and Stewart Cink in 2021.

I've also had near misses with a couple of other 100/1101.00 chances. Si-Woo Kim traded at massive odds-on before somehow losing in a playoff to Satoshi Kodaira in 2018 while a birdie rather than a bogey from the middle of the fairway at the 72nd hole would have got it done for Sepp Straka in 2022.

The key has been looking at players who did relatively well at The Masters without being under the gun and then backing them here on a course that looks far more suitable.

For one of the lesser lights to pull off victory this year, they'll have to beat a host of big stars rather than just a handful but the reasoning remains solid I think.

And it will help if Masters winner Scottie Scheffler either let's his foot off the gas or walks off with both feet (as he said he'll do) if wife Meredith goes into labour.

Harbour Town Golf Links - a par 71 now measuring 7,213 yards - is a plotter's track. No wild bombing it off the tee here, the requirement is to shape the ball both ways into the tight fairways and find plenty of the small, contoured bermuda greens.

And it's certainly a good one for course specialists.

Back Sepp Straka @ 50/151.00

As mentioned, Sepp Straka went close to a big payout here two years ago and he's been on my radar for this since.

All I wanted from him at Augusta last week was to play nicely. No frazzling himself by getting into contention or going home early after a missed cut.

So in that respect, Agent Straka carried out the plan perfectly.

The Austrian was tied 16th at Augusta National (very similar to Cink's prep of tied 12th) and did the right things well.

By right things, I mean the qualities that will fuel a big week at Hilton Head so sixth in both Driving Accuracy (80% to the field's 70%) and Greens In Regulation (67% to the field's 57%) at Augusta looks ideal.

Straka didn't make the weekend here last year (perhaps a hangover from his 2022 near-miss) but he fired three 67s on debut in 2020 and was 19th at halfway in 2021 after another 67.

Bermuda greens suit as highlighted by his win in the Honda Classic, second places at the St Jude Championship and Sanderson Farms and his tied third here.

And even though there are lots of stellar names to overcome, Straka can thrive in elite company.

Last year he was runner-up in the Open Championship and seventh at the US PGA while he's just posted tied 16th at both The Players Championship (ninth there in 2022) and The Masters.

Talking about the course, Straka said in 2020: "It's tight. If you're hitting it good, you can definitely make a lot of birdies if you're putting yourself in position."

He certainly hit it well last week and I'll invest at 50/151.00.

Back Taylor Moore @ 66/167.00

There's a few that appeal further down the betting.

Lucas Glover fits the bill as someone who had a good but fairly stress-free Masters (tied 20th) but his record here really is frustratingly poor - nothing better than tied 18th in his last 15 visits.

Taylor Moore has done better than that in just one attempt, a tied 11th on debut last year, so he gets the nod.

Moore backed up a tied 39th on his 2023 Masters debut with tied 20th this year, shooting a 2-under 70 to close.

He ranked 12th for GIR at Augusta and 18th Tee To Green and hopefully he'll enjoy these putting surfaces better than the super-quick bent greens at Augusta.

Moore certainly should do. He won last year's Valspar Championship on bermuda and was runner-up at the Houston Open on them a couple of weeks ago.

Further, when 11th here 12 months ago, he took the fewest putts in the field and ranked 13th for Putting Average.

Performances such as fifth in the Wyndham Championship at Sedgfield and eighth in the RSM Classic at Sea Island also have relevance to this week and Moore looks capable of getting in amongst it.

"I know each individual area of my game's in a good spot and really just looking forward to putting four rounds together and just keep building on each and every week," he said last month.

That was before his second in Houston and pleasing top 20 at Augusta so it's happening.

Back Matt Fitzpatrick @ 20/121.00

It's naive to think that all the market leaders will be coasting along, shooting the breeze and breaking out into chuckles as local man Dustin Johnson whizzes by on a speedboat, eating sandwiches and not noticing much.

The one I think will have the most focus is defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

Winning at Hilton Head was on the Englishman's bucket list as he used to holiday here with his family.

In that respect, it brings to mind Stephen Gallacher and Emirates Golf Club in Dubai.

Gallacher also used that as a holiday destination and being in his happy place worked wonders. The Scot became the first player to win the Dubai Desert Classic back-to-back and had an incredible run of 10-2-1-1-3 there from 2011 to 2015.

Fitzpatrick isn't quite at those levels yet at Harbour Town but along with last year's playoff win over Jordan Spieth he's been fourth in 2021 and top 15 in both 2018 and 2020.

He's ranked in the top six for Putting Average in three of the last four years (second and third for Strokes Gained: Putting in two of those) so really reads these greens well.

Going back to the idea of playing well at Augusta without flying too close to the sun, Fitzpatrick's finish of 22nd (he was 14th, 15th and 16th respectively after the first three rounds) looks ideal.

That added to 10th at the Texas Open and fifth in The Players Championship so confidence should be high.

Finally, some words on defending.

Boo Weekley did it here in 2007-8, Spieth almost matched that last year and Fitzpatrick himself has pulled off the feat on the DP World Tour via his back-to-back victories on another tight and twisty track when defending the Omega European Masters at Crans.

Read Steve Rawlings' RBC Heritage preview here