PGA TOUR players praise Pete Dye’s legacy

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Stewart Cink shot a steady, stress-free 70 to cap off a dominant, record-breaking week and win his third RBC Heritage title on Sunday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Stewart Cink, RBC Heritage The 47-year-old Cink finished at 19-under 265 at Harbour Town, four better than Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III. Grillo shot a 68 while Varner, who had the highest finish of his career, fired a 66. Cink hugged his son and caddie, Reagan, after his closing par on the 18th green. He, wife Lisa and their other son, Connor, all had their arms around each other to celebrate. “I don’t even know if I have the words,” Stewart Cink said. He won for the second time this season — only he and Bryson DeChambeau have done that — and continued his resurgence on the PGA TOUR at a time when many pros his age are looking ahead to the PGA TOUR Champions. Not Cink, who broke a 12-year winless streak at the Safeway Open in September and added five more top-20 finishes, including a tie for 12th last week at the Masters. He won $1.278 million, nearly as much as the $1.404 million for his two previous victories at Harbour Town combined. Cink is also just the fourth player to win twice in the same PGA TOUR season after turning 47. Sam Snead, Julius Boros and Kenny Perry, who accomplished it twice, are the others. Cink put on show for the ages — shattering the lowest 36-hole score at Harbour Town of 13-under 129 shared by Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson. Cink also broke the 54-hole scoring mark of 16-under 197 that Justin Leonard had in his 2002 win. Cink carried a five-shot lead into the final round and dared all chasers to come get him. Nobody made a run at Cink, who led by at least three shots throughout. PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, paired with Cink, opened with a birdie. But bogeys on the second and fourth holes took Morikawa out of the mix. Maverick McNealy has five birdies on the front nine to climb to 14-under, four back of Cink, in the middle of the round. Consecutive bogeys on the 11th and 12th ended McNealy’s surge. Grillo and Varner came the closest at 15-under and were just three back until Cink’s final birdie at the par-3 17th, which made it all but certain he would add another plaid winner’s jacket to the ones he won here in 2000 and 2004. Cink had made 17 birdies and two eagles the first three rounds. He had only two birdies Sunday, but that was more than enough to claim his eighth career PGA TOUR victory. McNealy (67), Canada’s Corey Conners (68) and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (68) tied for fourth at 13-under. Morikawa slipped to seventh after a 72, tied with Chris Kirk (67) at 12-under. Top-ranked Dustin Johnson closed with his best round of the tournament at 66 to finish tied for 13th at 10-under. Johnson was the November Masters champ, yet missed the cut there last week and was never in contention at Harbour Town. “I just feel like I made way too many mistakes,” he said. “Around here, you make mistakes, they penalize you pretty big.”

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The Butterfield Bermuda Championship has announced a newfound partnership with Aspen Bermuda Limited for 2022 in their quest to move closer to a more sustainable future for Bermuda’s annual PGA TOUR event. Many new and innovative solutions are being implemented at the tournament this year and thereafter to create an ever-increasingly environmentally friendly event. Mark Pickering, CEO of Aspen Bermuda Limited says “Aspen Bermuda Limited is proud to be the inaugural sustainability partner of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship as we continue our commitment to our local communities”. Plastic is detrimental to Bermuda’s oceans, wildlife, and population. As the harm caused by single-use micro-plastics increases, it becomes a prominent issue that requires close attention from the sporting events industry. Therefore, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship is taking great strides to implement a successful “green” event plan, which is intended to set the sustainability standard of excellence for other sporting events to follow. 2022 Event plans include a vast reduction of single-use plastic passing through Port Royal Golf Course throughout the tournament. Water stations positioned throughout the golf course will enable attendees to re-fill their water bottles with no bottled water available to purchase on-site. Aspen Bermuda Limited will giveaway 500 reusable water bottles daily at the entrance gate to promote single-use plastic awareness. In addition, the volunteer headquarters is reducing plastic waste by providing reusable water bottles to all Butterfield Bermuda Championship volunteers. Concession stands will serve drinks in reusable cups rather than single-use plastic cups. The on-site TAG recycling programme, new in 2022, involves collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works, Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) and Cerobin. The specially designed Cerobins, placed throughout the golf course, will separate tin, aluminium, and glass from general waste. This separation helps to ensure the TAG items are processed correctly at Bermuda’s local recycling facility. All other regular trash will be disposed of at Tynes Bay, where the incinerator converts waste to energy. Transportation throughout the tournament is an extensive logistical operation. The 2022 championship will move entirely to electric buses to transport its volunteers, spectators, and tournament guests. Tournament staff are using a fleet of electric cars to move around the island in the advanced months of the tournament to reduce the event’s carbon footprint. This year, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship has partnered with Bermuda Sands and Cutter & Buck to produce an environmentally friendly uniform. The polo shirts produced by Bermuda Sands are made from 90% recycled water bottles. Volunteer jackets produced by Cutter & Buck are also made from recyclable materials. 2022 sees the move from paper tickets, pairing guides and course maps to a digital format. All mentioned will be accessible via a smartphone and a QR code, reducing paper waste significantly. A continuing partnership with Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) will help to ensure that areas of Bermuda impacted directly by the tournament are maintained and that the Butterfield Bermuda Championship leaves no trace on the local environment. These areas include the ferry docking station, Whale Bay beach, Munro Beach Cottages beach and Pompano. The tournament staff also partake in beach clean-ups to help maintain the coastline of Bermuda. In addition to this, tournament staff regularly participate in KBB clean-ups to help maintain the beauty of Bermuda, specifically in Southampton and around Port Royal Golf Course. These areas include sections of the railway trail, roadsides and bus stops, the Rockaway ferry dock and various south shore beaches.

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