Johnson defeats Spieth in epic Playoff

This week’s RBC Heritage slots familiarly immediately following the Masters where Scottie Scheffler prevailed for the first time in a major. For the 42 who competed at Augusta National and are committed at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (as of Monday afternoon), the tournament promises that – hang on one sec … checks field to confirm that Scheffler isn’t playing –someone else will win. Notwithstanding Scheffler’s historic surge, the tournament also is known for its heaters. In its first 53 editions dating back to 1969 – all contested at Harbour Town – there have been 10 golfers who have won it multiple times. Davis Love III headlines the club with five titles, while Hale Irwin and this year’s defending champion, Stewart Cink, have won thrice. Twelve former RBC Heritage champions are among the 132 in the field this week, including all of the last nine. Continue reading beneath the ranking of projected contenders for how Harbour Town tests, which boxes Cink checked en route to victory, what’s new this year and more. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: RBC HERITAGE Jordan Spieth, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Stewart Cink will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Draws and Fades. DL3 scattered his Ws at Harbour Town over 17 editions (1987-2003) and in his 20s and 30s, but both Irwin (24) and Cink (22) stretched longer from the first to their last. What’s more, Irwin was 48 years old for his third; Cink was 47. That’s part of the magic of the place. It doesn’t discriminate against age. Or relative lack of muscle off the tee. Or putting. Ranging just 7,191 yards and with 18 of some of the PGA TOUR’s smallest greens on average (at 3,700 square feet), the par 71 rewards the shot-makers among the ball-strikers. It’s not as much about finding fairways as it is paying off finding the most strategic angles on approach. But with bermuda rough, which is overseeded, extending just three-quarters of an inch high, accuracy off the tee is secondary to piling up greens in regulation. Because targets demand precision, hitting it close is the default of getting it on. Cink ranked T57 in fairways hit last year, but he co-led the field in averaging 14 GIR per round. He also finished 11th in proximity, so it was no wonder why he paced the tournament in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. Cink also was T4 in scrambling en route to his four-stroke margin of victory. While the parlay of tidy into- and around-the-green work should be rewarded handsomely, the latter is the softest underbelly of Harbour Town. Small greens usually surrender high rates of salvaging pars after missing them in regulation. Furthermore, because the overseeded bermuda greens are ready to run up to 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, which essentially is the TOUR norm, talents who don’t profile as superior putters can circle this week as an opportunity to make a dent. The 2021 field averaged 70.332 on the scorecard. That’s second-lowest in recorded tournament history (1983-present) to the special June date of 2020 (when the course doesn’t require overseeding) and reflective of how a gathering worthy of a strength-of-field rating as determined by the Official World Golf Ranking of 481 can make a difference. (The SOF in 2020 was 712.) However, slightly higher scoring should be expected this week as the two easiest holes on the course are longer. New tees at the par-5 second and fifth holes have extended the pair. No. 2 is 48 yards longer at 550 yards; No. 5 now tips at 569 yards after a 20-yard increase. Also, for the record, after the new expanded tee box at the par-3 17th introduced an additional 22 yards last year, even newer modifications bumped it up again, this time by two yards to 198. The most challenging of the weather conditions will be the swirling winds that will blow a bit at least through the first two rounds and as energy threatens rain and storms that will linger into the weekend. Otherwise, comfortably cool air blankets the week as daytime highs extend into the mid-70s. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The matches felt a little closer Friday in the Presidents Cup. And then Max Homa made two big putts that gave the U.S. Team the same outcome. In the third straight Fourballs match that went the distance, Homa poured in a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole for a 1-up lead. After Taylor Pendrith gave the International Team hope with a birdie on the 18th hole, Homa matched him with another 12-foot birdie putt for the win. That gave the Americans another session by a 4-1 margin, stretching their lead to 8-2 going into the weekend at Quail Hollow and making another U.S. victory start to look inevitable. For the second straight time on home soil, the powerful U.S. Team goes into a double session on Saturday with a mathematical chance to win the cup. “This is insane,” Homa said after he and Billy Horschel outlasted the Canadian duo of Pendrith and Corey Conners. “To come down to the 18th two days in a row, man, what a day. Billy made some amazing putts. I just wanted to help him.” Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were on hand at Quail Hollow Club, and while it looked for a moment as though the International Team might make a game of it, the deficit at the end of the day was as daunting as ever. The lone point for the International Team came from two ties. Scottie Scheffler had a 10-foot birdie putt for the win on the 18th, and only a few blades of grass kept it from dropping as he and Sam Burns halved the match with Sungjae Im and Sebastian Munoz. Cameron Young had a 25-foot putt for the win that missed. He and Kevin Kisner settled for a half-point against Mito Pereira and Christiaan Bezuidenhout in the only match where the International Team ever led. The strength of the U.S. Team came from a pair of dynamic partnerships. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were 5-up at the turn and easily held on for a 3-and-2 win over Hideki Matsuyama and Tom Kim. Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas improved to 6-2 as a team in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup matches, leading from the fourth hole in a 2-and-1 victory over the Australian pair of Adam Scott and Cameron Davis. As usual, Spieth and Thomas were far from dull. They were 2 up with five holes to play when Thomas hit 6-iron to 2 feet on the par-3 14th over water to a back pin for birdie. And right when it looked as though the International side might get closer, Spieth was up to his tricks. His approach on the 15th — the 18th hole when Quail Hollow hosts the Wells Fargo Championship — was headed for the stream when it hit the rocks and caromed over the green into the rough. He chipped 15 feet by, and then holed that par to halve the hole. The Spieth-Thomas and Cantlay-Schauffele teams, formed as much by friendship as their games, are 2-0 this week and are tough to beat no matter whom the International Team sends out against them. The passion came from the Presidents Cup rookies. Homa’s goal all year was to make the team and he was among six captain’s picks by Davis Love III. Homa won twice last season, and started the new season with an unlikely title defense at Silverado in the Fortinet Championship when he chipped in for birdie on the final hole and Danny Willett three-putted from 4 feet. He flew across the country from California and looked energized, particularly at the end of the day with another point on the board for the Americans. It was the second straight day Homa was in the final match, meaning the entire U.S. Team was there to see it. “It’s surreal to have 10 of the best golfers I’ve ever seen in my life watching you and you’ve got to help them,” Homa said. “It’s a heavy weight. But it’s also really fun.” Saturday is pivotal at every Presidents Cup, and it could be the last chance for the International Team to get back into the game with four matches of Foursomes in the morning and four matches of Fourballs in the afternoon. The U.S. Team would have to win seven of them and halve the other to clinch the cup, which sounds unlikely except for who they have and how they’re playing. They came within one match of doing that at Liberty National in 2017.

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