The gang is all here: Heritage will have best field in tournament’s history

A top-heavy field of pros will tee it up at Hilton Head Island’s RBC Heritage beginning Thursday — the best showing of the world’s greatest players in the tournament’s storied 55-year history, according to the PGA Tour’s John Bush. This is due to the highest number of top 50 ranked players who are making the trip to the Lowcountry.

Scottie Scheffler, fresh off his second Masters win last weekend at Augusta, will be the biggest name in a field of big names —unless his wife goes into labor.

Consider the numbers:

▪ 3 past Heritage champions are in the field: Webb Simpson (2020), Jordan Spieth (2022) and Matt Fitzpatrick (2023).

▪ 9 of the world’s best players are at Sea Pines — and 43 of the top 50.

▪ 15 winners of 23 major championships will compete, including Rory McIlroy leading the pack with four.

▪ 54 Masters golfers, including all five players who finished tied for third or better, are in the field: Scheffler, the winner; Ludvig Åberg, who finished second; and Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa, who tied for third.

▪ 57 players who have hoisted at PGA Tour trophy are at Harbour Town.

The Heritage has always had the reputation of being a tournament where players could take a breath and relax following the tense play at the Masters, one of pro golf’s four major tournaments. This year’s Friday afternoon round at Augusta was especially grueling with the wind gusting to speeds not seen in many years.

The par-71 Harbour Town Golf Links is 140 miles southeast of Augusta National Golf Course at Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head, on the South Carolina coast and its attracting a tougher field since the PGA Tour made it “a signature” event last year. This designation translates into a limited field, a bigger purse and no cuts. Last year, 37 of the PGA Tour’s top players competed, which was the previous high number of top 50 players at the Heritage, the PGA Tour said. The signature events were created, in part, as a response to “LIV Golf,” the new professional men’s golf tour.

The $20 million purse at this year’s heritage, the fifth signature event of the PGA Tour season, includes $3.6 million for the winner.

“I’m so happy they have got such a good field,” said Brian Harmon of Savannah, the 2023 British Open winner who made his PGA Tour debut at the Heritage 20 years ago. “This is such a great event. They have always supported this event, even when it got a little dicey there, I don’t know, seven, eight years ago. We were afraid we were going to lose this tournament. I’m so glad that it’s still here and kind of made it through.”

Fitzpatrick, the Heritage defending champion, has fond memories of the tournament after winning it last year in a playoff with his parents and fiance looking on, becoming the first Englishman to win it since 1984.

“I’m just going to go out there, enjoy it, there’s no cut to even worry about,” Fitzpatrick, who finished 22nd at the Masters, said of this year’s Heritage. “It’s about trying to be probably aggressive for four days and try and make as many birdies in and as few bogeys as possible.”

It is easier to “get up for it” with a 70-man field with no cut, said Fitzpatrick.

“You got four days, that’s plenty of time to make up any ground on any scores, so for me I think it’s probably, I think people might be more up for it now,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick recalls vacationing on Hilton Head with his family as a child and even the ice cream he enjoyed at the Salty Dog Cafe.

“Yeah, just wandering around the harbor where the light house is and looking in the shops. Driving around. It’s just such a nice quiet island, so it’s great.”

Harbour Town Golf Links, known for its narrow, tree-lined fairways, strategically placed bunkers and small greens, makes for a big transition coming off the Masters, which is known for is large greens and big slopes and semi-wide fairways, Masters runner-up Åberg of Sweden noted.

“And here you have some tight chutes in the fairways and smaller greens,” Aberg said. “I think it’s a big change, a big difference.”

World No. 5 Wyndham Clark said he loves playing Harbour Town. The fans are fantastic, he said. As for the golf course, Clark described it as a “fun walk,” “classic” and “refreshing.”

“Typically it’s about a lot distance and long irons,” Clark said. “Then you come to Harbour Town and it’s all about placement and accuracy and not very many drivers.”

The winner of two green jackets now, Scheffler, who lives in Dallas, will be the player to watch at the Heritage. But there’s another reason to keep on eye on the world No 1. His wife, Meredith, is pregnant. During the Masters, Scheffler said he would withdraw from that tournament if she goes into labor. When asked today about how his wife is faring he replied, “there are no signs of early labor or anything like that.”

Scheffler, who has won three out of his last four starts and tied for 11th at last year’s Heritage, played the back 9 of Harbour Town at the pro-am Wednesday.

“I like the golf course,” he said.

The Masters winner described how small the greens at Harbour Town looked compared to Augusta National. Golfers, he said, must be able to “curve the ball” in both directions to post good scores at the course.

In the wake of the Masters victory, Scheffler added, he’s emotionally drained and bit tired but noted that he had the afternoon to rest to get ready for the first day of play on Thursday.

“I have not shown up here just to walk around and play a little golf,” Scheffler said.

The RBC Heritage has been played on Hilton Head Island since 1969. Its host, the Heritage Classic Foundation.

On a typically muggy Lowcountry morning Wednesday, starter Jim Hicks, dressed in the red and plaid outfits of RBC Heritage staff, called out the names of the pros and amateurs teeing off for the annual pre-tournament Pro-Am event. Hicks doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that the PGA Tour chose to host a second “signature” event at Harbour Town Golf Links this year.

“This is so good in terms of making the community proud and showing off the community,” Hicks said. “You say, ‘Wow, I’m really glad this is my town.”