Just a two-hour drive from Augusta National, the PGA TOUR heads to Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where we’ll make our 2023 RBC Heritage picks. Hilton Head Island is a golfer’s paradise and Harbour Town is one of the most beautiful and scenic courses on the PGA TOUR.

Harbour Town Golf Links is a par-71 that measures 7,121 yards and features Bermuda grass greens. A Pete Dye design, the course is heavily tree lined and features small greens and many dog legs, protecting it from “bomb-and-gauge” type golfers.

The field is loaded this week with 132 golfers. While last year was quite possibly the best field in RBC Heritage history, the event will take another big leap forward in 2023. This week’s tournament is yet another designated event, meaning there is a $20 million prize pool.

With golfers only able to skip one designated event per season, all the big names are in attendance other than Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day and Will Zalatoris, who announced on Monday that he will miss the rest of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season.

Past Winners at Harbour Town

• 2022: Jordan Spieth (-13)
• 2021: Stewart Cink (-19)
• 2020: Webb Simpson (-22)
• 2019: CT Pan (-12)
• 2018: Sotoshi Kodaira (-12)
• 2017: Wesley Bryan (-13)
• 2016: Branden Grace (-9)
• 2015: Jim Furyk (-18)

5 Key Stats For Harbour Town

Let’s take a look at five metrics key for Harbour Town Golf Links to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their past 24 rounds.

1. Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes Gained: Approach is exceedingly important this week. The greens at Harbour Town are about half the size of PGA TOUR average and feature the second-smallest greens on the tour. Typical of a Pete Dye design, golfers will pay the price for missed greens.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds

1. Tom Hoge (+28.9) (+3300)
2. Max Homa (+27.6) (+22500)
3. Tony Finau (+25.3) (+1200)
4. Scottie Scheffler (+25.2) (+2200)
5. Collin Morikawa (+24.9) (+11000)

2. Fairways Gained

The fairways at Harbour Town are tree lined and feature many dog legs. Bombers tend to struggle at the course because it forces layups and doesn’t allow long drivers to overpower it. Accuracy is far more important than power.

Fairways Gained Over Past 24 Rounds

1. Russell Henley (+45.6) (+17500)
2. Collin Morikawa (+42.1) (+16000)
3. Adam Long (+39.9) (+22500)
4. Tyler Duncan (+38.8) (+9000)
5. Tom Kim (+38.5) (+40000)

3. Strokes Gained: Total at Pete Dye Designs

Pete Dye specialists tend to play very well at…