The First Look: RBC Heritage

The RBC Heritage presented by Boeing has a new date after the schedule was shuffled because of the coronavirus pandemic. A strong field will gather on Hilton Head Island for the second tournament in the PGA TOUR’s Return to Golf. The top five golfers in the world, who all played at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, will tee it up again in Harbour Town, where C.T. Pan returns to defend. FIELD NOTES: The field has been expanded to 155 players from the usual 132 for 2020. … Rory McIlroy, the world No.1, will be playing at Harbour Town for the first time since 2009, when he was 19 years old. … Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson, who round out the top five in the Official World Golf Ranking, will all be playing the RBC Heritage after teeing it up in Fort Worth, which was the first event back after the three-month COVID-19 hiatus. … Rickie Fowler will be teeing it up at Harbour Town for the first time since 2012, while Sergio Garcia will play at the Heritage for the first time since 2010. … Five-time RBC Heritage winner Davis Love III will tee it up… With no RBC Canadian Open this year, two Canadians were given sponsor exemptions – Michael Gligic and David Hearn – along with two-time winner Stewart Cink, Bill Haas, South Carolina’s Matthew NeSmith, and Charl Schwartzel. … University of Georgia senior Spencer Ralston, who overcame an 11-shot deficit at the final round of the 2019 Players Amateur in Georgia to earn a spot in the field, rounds out the sponsor exemptions. FEDEXCUP: Winner gets 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Harbour Town Golf Links, 7,099 yards, par 71. The Pete Dye/Jack Nicklaus collaboration is the only layout that’s ever hosted the RBC Heritage. STORYLINES: The last four winners of the RBC Heritage were first-time winners on the PGA TOUR (Pan, Satoshi Kodaira, Wesley Bryan, and Branden Grace) and they represented four countries. … Three of the last seven editions of the Heritage have gone into playoffs. … Pan looks to become the first golfer to defend his title since Boo Weekley went back-to-back in 2007 and 2008. … Luke Donald, who has finished runner-up at Harbour Town five times, including both 2016 and 2017, will tee it up for the first time since the COVID-19 break. … Dustin Johnson returns to Harbour Town looking to avenge a mighty Sunday struggle last season. He held the 54-hole lead but shot a 77 to fall down the leaderboard to T28. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Brian Gay (2009). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, David Frost (2nd round, 1994), Troy Merritt (2nd round, 2015). LAST TIME: After Dustin Johnson’s meltdown, a final-round 67 propelled Pan to a one-shot victory over 2014 RBC heritage winner Matt Kuchar. Pan finished at 12 under for the week and notched his first PGA TOUR victory in the process. He’d go on to finish 37th on the FedExCup standings last season and earn a spot on the Presidents Cup team. Kuchar birdied the 72nd hole in 2019, but it wasn’t enough to catch Pan after a bogey on the par-3 17th. Patrick Cantlay, Scott Piercy, and eventual Open Championship winner Shane Lowry all finished T3 and rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 6:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups), Saturday-Sunday 7:45 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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