RBC Heritage 2026: Dave Tindall's each-way picks from 16/1 to 66/1

Introduction to the RBC Heritage

After the thrills and intensity of the US Masters, I'm not sure who is screaming out for a Signature Event just one week later. And it's not a one-off either as three of the next four weeks on the PGA Tour schedule are Signature Events. 

Two-time Masters winner (imagine writing that before the 2025 edition) Rory McIlroy skips this week's post-Augusta trip to South Carolina but, otherwise, this is another gathering of the big guns rather than what used to be a pleasant wind down for a much quirkier field. 

Of the 82 who go to post, 53 played the year's first major and plenty will be familiar with this week's Pete Dye design.

Harbour Town Golf Links is a 7,243-yard par 71 with three par 5s. It requires strategy, skill, shotmaking and shotshaping both off the tee and into the small greens.

Ahead of this year's event, Davis Love helped with a revamp in which new grass was grown all over the property. But it's a freshening up of what was already there so the greens are still Bermudagrass.

Approach stands out when looking at recent winners. The last five have ranked 5th, 1st, 7th, 10th and 2nd in that category.

Three of the last five were in the top 10 for Around The Green so that should be bumped up higher in our thinking than normal. It's a similar story with Scrambling. Plenty of top five finishers down the years have emerged with strong stats in that category.

Patrick Cantlay @ 16/117.00

My instinct is that the best strategy this week is the obvious one i.e. back Scottie Scheffler to win at 10/34.33 and Patrick Cantlay each-way at 16/117.00.

This is an each-way preview so Scheffler doesn't interest me but Cantlay is hard to ignore given his record here.

Reading back from 2025, the Californian has course form of 13-3-3-2-MC-3-7-3. Five top threes!

And, ahead of his return, Cantlay is absolutely trending in the right direction and doing things well that will reward him here.

After seventh place at the Valspar in his final event before the Masters, he shot middle rounds of 67-66 at Augusta before finishing 12th - his second best result in 10 starts there.

"I've hit the ball really well the last few days," said Cantlay, who ended up ranking 9th Tee To Green, 7th for Approach and, notably for what we're looking for, 1st Around The Green.

Talking about why he excels year in, year out at Harbour Town, Cantlay said last year: "I think the design is really good. I think it forces you to really play chess out there and put the golf ball in specific spots.

"There's no real advantage to hitting it particularly long, but you do have to control your golf ball. I tend to play out of the fairway here a lot, and that makes this place pretty easy."

Let's get aboard for the annual Cantlay Harbour Town challenge.

Bet 2: Viktor Hovland @ 30/131.00

Like Cantlay, Viktor Hovland was never under the gun at Augusta but can still class it as a positive week after finishing 18th.

Hovland shot himself in the foot with an opening 75 but he broke par on both Friday and Saturday and then really had it going in Sunday's closer when playing the first 13 holes in 7-under. He eventually signed for a 67.

At Augusta, the Norwegian stated his game was "trending" and this could be a good place for it to really take a big leap after a promising run of three top 20s in his last four starts.

Hovland shot a 65 on his very first lap of Harbour Town in 2020 and also opened with a 64 when he next played it in 2023.

For his third visit, he shot four rounds in the 60s last year for a share of 13th spot.

In 2023, he said of this layout: "I'm a big fan of Pete Dye golf courses. I think they're just awesome. And tree-lined golf courses, it's pretty narrow, so I can kind of hit that drive where I tee down, grip it down a little bit, and just hit like a low bullet. It's hard for me to hit a disastrous shot with that shot."

Asked why he hadn't played here more often, he replied: "I do love this spot. It's just scheduling purposes, you can't play every week even though this is one of my favourites. But happy to be back here this week obviously."

As for that Pete Dye angle, Hovland ranked 1st for Around The Green at Sawgrass when 13th in last month's Players Championship, a tournament where he's also finished third and ninth.

Last week at Augusta, he ranked 9th for Approach.

Hovland is dropping hints. Let's take him at 30/131.00 before his price contracts in future events. 

Bet 3: Michael Thorbjornsen @ 66/167.00

I thought about Sepp Straka, Brian Harman and Sahith Theegala for the final spot in the staking plan but I'm going to take a punt on Michael Thorbjornsen.

The exciting youngster only made it into the field as a first alternate after Justin Rose understandably pulled out following his latest Masters heartache.

Thorbjornsen suffered his own Augusta agony by not being there. He needed a top five finish at the Houston Open to make it to his first Masters and was on track after moving into third place with a round to go.

But he faltered on Sunday and, likely still suffering the disappointment, missed the cut in Texas a week after.

Having to watch rather than participate will surely have got him fired up and I'm hoping that desire will come out here.

It's his course debut but there are a couple of Pete Dye angles we can tap into.

Firstly, let's recall that Thorbjornsen was second with a round to go in The Players Championship at Dye's Sawgrass last month. Again he slipped back on Sunday but the week as a whole provided another big flash of his potential.

The other Dye link is his brilliant fourth place at the Travelers Championship when still an amateur in 2022.

"I love the course, love the way it fits my game," he said of Dye's TPC River Highlands back then and there are features of Harbour Town that should suit him as well.

Thorbjornsen says ball-striking is his strength while this year he ranks 34th Around The Green and 25th in Scrambling.  

Now read Steve Rawlings' in-depth RBC Heritage preview

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