RBC Heritage Odds: Breaking down the market moves ahead of Hilton Head contest
Daniel Berger was the surprise winner of the Charles Schwab Challenge as the PGA returned last week in Fort Worth, Texas. The American beat compatriot Colin Morikawa in a play-off to land the $1,350,000 prize plus a rather natty looking sports jacket (pictured).
The pair feature as two of the golfers with the biggest odds swings ahead of this week's tournament, the RBC Heritage from Hilton Head in South Carolina, where guess what, another natty sports jacket is up for grabs along with another massive cash prize!
Daniel Berger was priced up at 66/1 pre-tournament last week and the bookmakers have trimmed him to 40/1 this week. William Hill go best price Berger and along with Betfair and Paddy Power are paying a fifth of the odds EIGHT places for this week's PGA Tour event.
Whilst it'll be a tough ask for Berger to go back-to-back, many punters are getting stuck into Morikawa who is enjoying a stellar season and whose game is set up for the Hilton Head challenge. At 25/1, the American was around twice as big in the betting when teeing up last Thursday.
Once again Rory McIlroy heads the betting, the Irishman is best price 12/1 with William Hill, four points bigger when going off an 8/1 chance last week in Texas. McIlroy failed to ignite before falling away tamely on Sunday and backers won't be in a rush to back him this week on his first visit to Hilton head.
Justin Thomas, who finished 10th on Sunday is a general 16/1 chance alongside the well fancied Bryson DeChambeau. A quiet third round at Colonial could well have cost DeChambeau a Tour win last week, eventually finishing third, the new improved Bryson packed on 20lbs in muscle to help him increase his length off the tee and both his power and appearance was getting a lot of attention.
Length off the tee wasn't supposed to be one of the metrics to look at at Colonial and isn't really this week at the tight tree-lined Hilton Head, but it didn't seem to do DeChambeau much harm. Sent off a 22/1 shot last week, he's 16/1 second favourite with a lot of firms, Unibet even have him as short as 12/1 at a course where he has two top-5 finishes.
Other players whose price has dropped following last week's performance include Xander Schauffele who was mighty unlucky not to be in the play-off. But for a horseshoe short putt on 17, the American could well be going to Hilton with a fifth PGA title under his belt. Sent off a 28/1 chance at Colonial he's best price 20/1 this week.
Further down the field we have two of the biggest swings in the golf betting from last week to this. Brandon Grace tore through the field on Sunday to finish in the top 20 when sent off a 150/1 in Texas, but lines up best price 50/1 in South Carolina, returning to a course where he won in 2016.
Another player to finish fast in the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday was Jason Kokrak. Sent off at 125/1 last week he lines up at Hilton Head a 70/1 chance where he's performed well in the past.
A look at the past winners at Hilton Head doesn't make great reading for golf bettors. Last year's victor CT Pan was 160/1, whilst Satoshi Kodaira in 2018 was 200/1 and 2017's winner Wesley Bran a 66/1 shot. Something to bear in mind when looking to have a bet on the RCB Heritage this week.
Good luck!
