Quick look at the RBC Heritage

The dreams of a green jacket are gone for most for another year but the chance to win a pretty damn cool plaid one is here right now. The motivation to get right back on the horse is strong in many – particularly those who went so close at Augusta National. In the field this week at Hilton Head are four players who finished within two of Tiger Woods last week … plus a plethora of other stars. Harbour Town Golf Links brings us some old school precision golf – more of a rarity these days as length usually prevails. Here, you must throttle it back. You must pick your spots and hit them. Welcome to the RBC Heritage. THE FLYOVER  The par-4 472-yard 18th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links can be deceptively difficult. The fairway is actually one of the easiest to his on the PGA TOUR thanks to a widening in the landing zone (94.13% since 2007) but the approach gets your attention. It’s played over par the last three seasons despite almost everyone coming in from the short grass. Your second shot has to deal with carrying the marsh and a bunker guarding the green and of course you are right off the ocean making the wind judgement imperative. LANDING ZONE At just 332 yards the par-4 9th becomes a critical hole to make your move. Last season only three of the par-4s on the course averaged under par and this was clearly the easiest of them playing at 3.743. If you want to get at Harbour Town you better have an effective plan for this hole. Here’s a look at where the tee shots landed last season. You can see the variety of attack between driving it or laying up. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams: “High pressure will dominate the weather over the next several days with warmer temperatures expected with highs in the upper 70s Wednesday and Thursday. An approaching cold front will produce strong winds ahead of a line of possibly severe thunderstorms Friday afternoon before pushing east late in the day. Drier, windy and cooler conditions can be expected behind the front Saturday with highs struggling to reach the upper 60s. Warmer temperatures return Sunday for the final round.â€� For the latest weather news from Hilton Head, South Carolina, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I wouldn’t show up to a property that I don’t think I could win at. I think my game suits a lot of different style of courses. This property historically suits sort of a shorter hitter that’s very precise, putts well and wedges it pretty well. You can sneak a few extra drivers off the tee, but you don’t really have to. BY THE NUMBERS 273 – Last season, Harbour Town Golf Links had the second shortest Driving Distance (All Drives) average of any course, with the field averaging just 273 yards off the tee. Just 11.12% of drives went over 300 yards off the tee, marking the lowest percentage of drives over 300 yards of any course during the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season. 1802 – FedExCup points earned by Luke Donald at RBC Heritage since 2009. He has never won. 7 – Number of RBC Heritage winners who have gone on to make the TOUR Championship in the FedExCup era (2007). 75.76 – Percentage of greens hit this season by former champion Matt Kuchar. He leads the PGA TOUR. 6 – Number of players in the field with double-digit PGA TOUR wins: Davis Love III (21), Dustin Johnson (20), Ernie Els (19), Jim Furyk (17), Zach Johnson (12) and Jordan Spieth (11). Two players can join that group this week: Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker each have nine wins. SCATTERSHOTS  One of Pete Dye’s signature designs, Harbour Town Golf Links features the smallest greens on the PGA TOUR and remains in the record book as the venue for the fewest putts in a four-round tournament when David Frost needed only 92 putts to complete the 2005 RBC Heritage. The average green size is 3700 square feet. Bryson DeChambeau returns to Harbour Town, a venue with special significance in his PGA TOUR career. In his professional debut at the 2016 RBC Heritage, DeChambeau finished in a tie for fourth and in 2018, missed out on the Satoshi Kodaira-Si Woo Kim playoff by one stroke. Since last year’s near miss, DeChambeau has won four times on the PGA TOUR and enters the week 18th in the FedExCup standings. He also managed the first ace of his career on Sunday at the Masters. Five of the top-10 finishers from Augusta National will compete in the RBC Heritage: Dustin Johnson (T2), Xander Schauffele (T2), Francesco Molinari (T5), Webb Simpson (T5) and Patrick Cantlay (T9) are all in the field. Defending champion Satoshi Kodaira was a surprise winner last season given his form and once again he comes into the event far from at his best. But a year ago he led the field in Proximity to the Hole (29’6â€�) averaging nearly six feet closer than the field average of 35’ 5â€� and 28 feet closer than the field on approaches from 200-225 yards. RBC Heritage concession stands run differently than most tournaments. Food is donated by non-profit organizations and then resold with profits benefitting eight local charities. In advance of tournament week, a bake-off is held among non-profits to determine which organization will benefit from onsite cookie sales. In 2019, Pocket Full of Sunshine – a non-profit that helps employee adults with special needs – won the contest.

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