5 picks preferred by our gambling expert

welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling tips column, featuring selections from GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator, Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a host and frequent guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network dedicated to sports and sports betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on Twitter at @LasVegasGolferand you can read his picks below for the 2026 RBC Heritage, which starts Thursday in Hilton Head, SC.

Going from Augusta National to Harbor Town is my favorite week-to-week change on the PGA Tour. After experiencing a week of high stress nirvana, a golf champ, why not stay in the low country for a much needed break and play a little recreational golf on the South Carolina coast? Just heavenly in my opinion.

It’s also funny, the big difference between Masters and RBC Heritage. From the behemoth of the golf course to a compact, small test of precision. From Bentgrass to Bermudagrass, from fairways 50 yards wide to that half width, and up to the iconic green jacket award to tartan plaid. There really are polar opposites almost everywhere you look, but they’re equally good too.

The RBC Heritage has grown significantly over the past few years when it was awarded a Signature on the PGA Tour. What we have now is a field of 82 golfers, featuring almost every top name in the game. Of those eligible, only Masters champion Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama chose to skip this week.

Harbor Town Golf Links is a magnificent Pete Dye design that I was lucky enough to play not too long ago. As noted, the fairways are narrow and tree-lined, with many of the trees displaying overhanging limbs that affect sight lines and shots from some of the smallest greens on Tour. For these reasons, I looked at Strokes Gained: Approach this week, Driving Accuracy, Greens Gained in Control, and Scrambling – because greens will miss more often.

One thing that Harbor Town shares with Augusta National is that course form and course history are very strong. Players who play well here, often do so over and over again. And this is associated with complementary studies. Another Dye project we’ve seen in the recent past, the TPC Sawgrass (The Players Championship) has had many crossover champions, including Scottie Scheffler, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, and Davis Love III. Simpson and Love III also each won the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. Waialae (Sony Open), Colonial (Charles Schwab Challenge), and Sea Island (RSM Classic) have produced many of the same results over the years as has Royal Birkdale, which recently became home to the Open Championship in 2021 and 2017. In 2017, Jordan Spieth and Kuchar finished 1-2 at Birkdale, both former RBC Heritage champions.

It’s also something to consider in handicapping this week and that’s how the Masters affects fast track performance. One thing is for sure, the last winners of the RBC Heritage all played the Masters last week. Deep down, did these winners compete at Augusta, and were they under the mental stress and pressure of being oh so close? Were they a feature at all, or did they miss the cut? All of the above but going back to 2000, most of the Harbor Town winners have played in the first major tournament of the season and most of them missed the cut or finished outside the top 15.

Russell Henley (18-1)

Henley finished third in the Masters, so he’s in the minority, but the recent Harbor Town winners (Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick) were also in last week’s event, and in Scheffler’s case, he won both events. Henley, quietly, has become one of the best players in the world, and this type of golf course has always been in his wheelhouse. He has finished in the top 10 here three times. He has won at Waialae and has finished in the top ten at the Wyndham Championship in each of his last four trips. Over the past 24 rounds, Henley is ranked sixth in Fairways Gained, fourth in Scrambling, and fourth in 400-450 yard Par 4s.

Patrick Cantlay (28-1)

It’s been a minute since I arrived at UCLA Bruin but he certainly showed some signs last week, and over the last decade, he’s probably the most successful player here in Harbor Town, finishing third four times, seventh once, and runner-up once in 2022. At the Masters, Cantlay ranked third in that SG field: Around the Green, nineteenth to the Green, nineteenth to the top. It looks like time may be right for Cantlay, who also finished 32nd at the Players Championship and tied for seventh next week at the Valspar Championship. His next start was last week at Augusta where he finished 12th, and now he’s heading to a course that suits him very well.

Robert MacIntyre (36-1)

I’ve seen Bobby Mac easily available at 40-1 in some places. I had a feeling we might be getting a better number than usual from the Scotsman, given how bad he looked last week missing the Masters. But 40-1 feels a little high for someone who recently finished fourth at TPC Sawgrass, was second at Valspar, and was fourth to start the season at Waialae. MacIntyre was also eighth at Royal Birkdale in 2021. In the last 24 rounds, MacIntyre is ranked ninth in the field in the 400-450 yard Par 4s, seventh in Scrambling, and No. 1 in SG: Putting (Bermudagrass).

Akshay Bhatia (60-1)

Bhatia missed the team again last week at Augusta but before that he had gone 3-6-16-1-13 in his last five games, a 13th place finish at TPC Sawgrass, where he finished third in 2024. He was 18th here at Harbor Town in 2024 and was 13th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He is currently ranked eighth on Tour in SG: Approach and ninth in SG: Putting.

Daniel Berger (90-1)

Finally, all five of our picks played last week at the Masters. One argued, one flashed briefly, and three, including Berger, did not make it to the weekend. Much like Henley, Berger’s game feels well suited to Harbor Town, where he has twice finished third and never missed the cut in six trips to Hilton Head. Berger was sixth at Waialae to start the season and then lost to Bhatia in the final at Bay Hill, again in a similar situation to the one we will see this week. Berger won at Colonial, finished second at Sea Island, had two ninth-place finishes at TPC Sawgrass, and was eighth again at Royal Birkdale in the 2021 Open Championship. Over the past 24 rounds, Berger is third in the field in SG: Approach, 17th in Fairways Gained, 12th in Greens in Regulation Gained, and ranks ninth in Hole Proximity from 150-175 yards.