By TERRY LYONS
HILTON HEAD – The RBC Heritage tees-it-up this morning and features a strong field including seven of the Top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and 38 of the Top 50). As the Tour turns towards the warmer weather months, 28 of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings and 19 of the 20 players that have won on Tour this season are playing the old school Harbor Town golf course.
World No. 2 and reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler is making his tournament debut. Scheffler has eight Top-10s in 11 starts this season, including four as the defending champion in a nine-week stretch. Scheffler successfully defended his title during the first opportunity (WM Phoenix Open), then finished T-4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and fourth at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. He concluded his fourth title defense attempt with a T-10 at last week’s Masters Tournament.
World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay has only finished outside the Top 10 once in five starts at the RBC Heritage (T-3/2017, T-7/2018, T-3/2019, MC/2021, P-2/2022). Cantlay, the 2021 FedEx Cup Champion, fell to 2015 FedEx Cup Champion Jordan Spieth on the first extra hole (No. 18) of the 2022 RBC Heritage, marking the first playoff in the FedExCup era (est. 2007) between two FedExCup champs. The last player to win a tournament a season after losing it in a playoff was Ryuji Imada at the 2008 AT&T Classic (Zach Johnson def. Imada in 2007).
Preview | The RBC
COURSE: Harbor Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina
ARCHITECT: Pete Dye
YARDS/PAR: 7,213 yards/Par 71
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $20,000,000/$3,600,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jordan Spieth
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @RBC_Heritage #PLAIDNATION