Rory McIlroy will be looking to rebound from a disastrous final round at last weekend’s Charles Schwab Challenge when he tees off on Thursday at the RBC Heritage as a narrow +1200 favourite on the PGA Tour odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Listed as +750 chalk going into the Charles Schwab Challenge, McIlroy fell out of contention while shooting a final-round 74 and turned in a season-worst 32nd-place finish. Despite struggling at the first PGA Tour event to be held in three months, McIlroy continues to sit atop the World Golf Rankings going into the 2020 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head island, S.C.
McIlroy had been a model of consistency prior to his meltdown on Sunday. The 31-year-old had tallied top-five finishes in each of the seven PGA Tour events he appeared in this season, including an impressive victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions. However, he remains an unknown quantity at the RBC Heritage, which he has not appeared at since finishing a distant 58th back in 2009.
A trio of rising stars closely trail McIlroy at online sports betting sites for this week, with Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas all sitting at +1400 odds. DeChambeau turned heads with both a new look and a strong performance at the Charles Schwab Challenge. The 26-year-old has added 45 pounds in the past nine months and used it to his considerable advantage last weekend, averaging 340 yards off the tee and turning in a third-place performance.
DeChambeau’s solid finish extended what has been a breakthrough season. He has now finished among the top five in each of his past four outings, but has failed to pick up a tournament victory since his win at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open in November 2018.
Conversely, it was a rough return to action for Rahm, who missed the cut last weekend in Fort Worth. The Spaniard has recorded three top-three finishes this season, but like DeChambeau he has struggled to find victory with his last win coming at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April of last year. Thomas has a pair of wins to his credit this season, but also ran into trouble in final-round action on Sunday, shooting a 71 to fall to 10th place.
Elsewhere on the RBC Heritage odds, Xander Schauffele leads the middle of the pack at +2200, ahead of Colin Morikawa at +2500. Justin Rose, Patrick Reed, and Webb Simpson sit knotted at +2800 odds, while past winners at this event Matt Kuchar and Branden Grace lag at +4000 and +5000, respectively.
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