Preview - PGA Tour

The week after a major championship is bound to be something of a gear change but the RBC Heritage is the smoothest of the lot.

It's also the most regular, in that the circuit visits annually, and that's because players, fans and TV love both the tournament and its host course.

It's also a neat fit: the hoopla ahead of the Masters is always enormous and so something of a come-down is a necessity. Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island provides it: a well-loved holiday destination and a golfing layout that provides a pleasingly tricky test after the tension-packed full-on focus of the Masters.

This week the trees are closer to the fairways and those fairways are narrower, the greens are small, the grass on them is Bermuda not bent grass, the pace of them is nowhere near as rapid as at Augusta, the wind is more blustery, and the course is not so long: tee shots are about neat placement not distance,

approaches are played with more short irons and need to be fired at pins rather than to slopes that will feed the ball to the hole.

The course was created by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus – and it was the Golden Bear's first design. It plays to around 7,190 yards with a par of 71.

Big-hitters from the tee have placed but they rarely win. They tend, in contrast, to give the week a miss or lose patience.

2013 winner Graeme McDowell said of it: “It’s a test of ball-shaping, positioning and patience.”

“Small greens, tight fairways and wind,” added Brandt Snedeker, another former winner.

Jim Furyk was under no illusions why he was a two-time winner. “It calls for a lot of different shots," he said. "It’s different than a lot of golf courses we play. I won’t lie to you, my strengths are very valuable here, getting the high, bombing draw and driver isn’t really in my wheelhouse and there’s not a huge need for that here.”

Luke Donald, who has recorded seven top three finishes, said: “The guys that can scramble well and have good course management thrive. It’s not a course you need to be a long hitter. Certain holes it helps, obviously, but the long hitters, it’s taking driver out of their hands a lot. So I feel like the playing field’s levelled out.”

Before Spieth last year and Cink in 2021 the winners scoring on the par-4s was sensational. Each of the six before them ranked top two in fact (CT Pan, Wes Bryan and Branden Grace were all first, Jim Furyk, Satoshi Kodaira and Webb Simpson all second). But Cink was fifth and Spieth third – so they still built their success on these holes.

Each of the last eight winners ranked 11th or better for SG Tee to Green. You could argue that it's a typical trend in any week but there is good reason to factor it in this week especially. Because those fairways are tight, those greens small, when missed saving par matters and because the putting surfaces are small putts are never very long.

Course form tends to uphold. Davis Love III won five times, Jim Furyk landed two wins and two seconds, Boo Weekley was a back-to-back champion, Webb Simpson won after losing in extra holes previously, and Donald had seven top threes. Players who thrive here also do so at the likes of Waialae, Sea Island and El Camaleon.

It's a good link – both call for conservative tee shots, accurate approaches and a good short game on Bermuda greens. Four players have won the Harbour Town-Sedgefield double while many have recorded top five and top ten finishes at both courses.

Golfers who played at the Masters have done fine but ones who contend don’t have a good record winning here. The last two winners are good examples: Cink was emboldened by a top 20 at Augusta, Spieth missed the cut at Augusta and arrived at Harbour Town in determined mode.

Normally this tournament attracts a few big names while other rest and recuperate at home. But as a new designated event the prize money is up and so is field quality. That introduces a very new element. More elite players with their eyes on the prize.

The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected.

A promising T16th on debut at Augusta for the Korean youngster and also one that won’t have exhausted him. He ranks 16th for SG Tee to Green and 9th for Par 4 Scoring. He’s a winner at Sedgefield and he was sixth at the Amex (which uses a Dye course twice).

The Canadian has played Harbour Town well after three cuts to start his log book there, going 21-4-12 since. He’s 24th for SG Tee to Green and, while he dropped outside the top 50 for Par-4s, he was 10th last season. On Dye tracks he’s been seventh at Sawgrass and third at Austin. He’s been third at Waialae in similar conditions and was 12th there this year. A winner ahead of the Masters, high expectations might have tripped him up there.

Another Sedgefield winner and he’s also a former Sawgrass and PGA West champion too so ticks two boxes – three, in fact, because he won at Waialae in January. His course returns include T14th on debut in 2016 and he was runner-up in 2018. He ranks 23d for SG tee to Green this campaign and 43d on the Par-4s.

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