Wow that was fun! We had live sports back and more importantly, it was golf! As someone who really loves putting, it was a tough watch as both Xander and Morikawa missed putts inside of 4 feet on the 17th green. Xander missed in the final round and perhaps more painfully, Morikawa missed in a playoff. However the fact that it was the same hole made me think of that famous Happy Gilmore quote, “DAMN IT! IS THAT HOLE (GOAL) REGULATION SIZE OR WHAT?!?” Regardless, we must tip our hat to Daniel Berger, your Colonial 2020 Champion. Now, onward to South Carolina for a fun course and another loaded field due to Covid-19. Welcome to the 2020 RBC Heritage Classic.
The Tournament:
The RBC Heritage (Heritage Classic) was founded in 1969 and is typically known for following The Masters in mid-April. However, in a Covid-19 world, PGA Tour Events have shifted to accommodate sponsors and maintain the safety of players. The inaugural champion was a 46 year old Arnold Palmer, which I feel is so fitting. This course is short (good for a 46 year old man) and rewards good ball striking (something Palmer was good at until the day he died, R.I.P.). David Love III has the most wins at this event all time with 5 victories. The previous 5 winners are as follows; Pan Cheng-tsung, Satoshi Kodaira, Wesley Bryan, Brandan Grace and Jim Furyk who won his second Heritage Classic in 2015.
The Course:
Harbour Town Golf Links was opened in 1967 as a place to test the world’s best players. With Help from Jack Nickolas, Pete Dye designed this course to be short and benefit the player that hits all of the correct shots and could control their golf ball. This is done by having tiny greens that are on average 3,700 sqft. The modern day course tips out at 7,099 yards and is a Par 71 (75.6/148).
The Field:
Similar to last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the field for this event is uncharacteristically deep with talent and numerous in entrants. There are 153 players which includes 12 additional spots added by the tour as well as nine automatic qualifiers who are granted entry regardless of the current field size. The PGA Tour Power Rankings have the beefy Bryson DeChambeau who finished 3rd last week. DeChambeau showed that all his bulking up was not in vein as he over powered Colonial with his driver but failed to capitalize on the greens. Can his putter get hot this week and help him take home the victory? Other players high on the Power Ranking are Xander, Webb Simpson (Surprising after a missed cut last week) and Ian Poulter who has played the Heritage surprising well in his career.
My personal pick is Rory McIlroy. He hasn’t played this course since 2009 but he strikes the ball so well that he will be in contention. It will just be a matter of how many putts he is able to make. I also like Matthew Wolff this week. With a bad showing at the Taylormade Driving Relief Challenge and the successes of Collin Morikawa and his fellow OSU Cowboy, Viktor Hovland, Wolff has silently become the forgotten man. Don’t sleep on this young gun.
Quick Hits:
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Mason
(Thanks to Golf Advisor for the Picture)
A Good Walk Spoiled 