The fear and joy of playing Augusta National

For many over time, the physical withdrawal from the first major of the year has presented itself in the form of a 143-mile road trip to the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The RBC Heritage has followed the Masters all but once (2011) since Seve Ballesteros slipped on the green jacket a second time in 1983. Of all tournaments on the PGA TOUR schedule, no other pair contested consecutively at singular host sites have as long history as the duo occupying this familiar fortnight, but the world was robbed of both this year. The fanfare of the parade and cannon blast along the Calibogue Sound was silenced at the latter this week. The RBC Heritage launched four months after the United States landed on the moon for the first time in 1969. There have been 51 champions, 10 of whom are multiple-time winners. In the era as the soft landing after the Masters, 11 winners at Augusta National Golf Club have gone on to compete at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island. Given their success, it’s fair to wonder why more haven’t wanted to keep the rally rolling. Beginning with Bernhard Langer’s victory in 1985, as a group they’ve made 10 cuts with three top-10s and another six top-25s. With such a rich history of success, this all-time Power Rankings slots the top 15 and acknowledges five more who deserve attention. And yet, winners Jack Nicklaus (1975) and David Edwards (1993) didn’t make the cut. Craig Stadler also was omitted despite eight top-10s, including a T2 and three T5s. Gil Morgan and Ernie Els each posted seven top -0s with three podium finishes apiece. Even three-time runner-up David Frost (1988, 1993, 1995), his five top-10s and course-record 61 in 1994 didn’t generate enough consideration. ALL-TIME POWER RANKINGS: RBC HERITAGE 15. Tom Kite He was Luke Donald at Harbour Town before Luke Donald was Luke Donald at Harbour Town. Kite made 22 starts at Harbour Town and didn’t win, but he finished second (1984), T3, fourth and T5 (twice). Ten of his 17 career cuts made here were top-10s. 14. Luke Donald Five times the groomsman, including a playoff loss in 2011, and still not the groom. He also has a pair of T3s and sits second in all-time earnings at Harbour Town. 13. Nick Price Ekes into the ranking portion as the 1997 champion. Beginning with a solo third in 1992, he rung up all five of his top-10s in the span of six appearances. Cashed in each of his last 14 ending in 2006. 12. Bernhard Langer In addition to becoming the only Masters champion to capture victory at Harbour Town in consecutive weeks, he finished T3 twice and fourth once en route to 12 cuts made in 14 appearances. 11. Matt Kuchar It took him 11 starts to secure a plaid jacket in 2014, but he already had shown a liking to the course with two top-10s among four top-25s in the lead-up. Since, he’s added three top-10s, including a runner-up finish last year. 10. Greg Norman The 1988 champion also was a two-time runner-up (1986, 1994). Totaled five top-10s among 12 cuts made in 17 trips. Finished T22 the week after settling for second at the 1996 Masters. 9. Boo Weekley The most recent to successfully defend a title (2008) also has a T6 and another three top-25s. All told, he’s 12-for-12. He’s the only winner in tournament history who hasn’t missed a cut in at least seven appearances. 8. Hubert Green In 26 years on the PGA TOUR, he missed only three editions and picked off two victories (1976, 1978). He also banked a T9 and another four top-25s among 19 cuts made. 7. Stewart Cink Hasn’t missed an edition since winning as a tournament debutant in 2000, but he front-loaded his 15-for-20 record with another victory in 2004 and three more top-10s through 2008. 6. Fuzzy Zoeller Ten times a champion on the PGA TOUR, Harbour Town is the only site where he won more than once. Victories here in 1983 and 1986 headlined five top-10s. Added a T4-T3 burst in 1992-1993. 5. Payne Stewart After two forgettable results early in his career, he established himself as a regular with consecutive titles in 1989 and 1990. In another eight appearances, he added a T4 (1991) and T3 (1998) and a P2 (1999). 4. Jim Furyk His sterling record at Harbour Town includes two victories – the latter of which in 2015 is the most recent of 17 on the PGA TOUR – runner-up finishes in 2005 and 2006 and another four top-10s. 3. Tom Watson Twice a winner (1979, 1982), including the last before the tournament transitioned to the week after the Masters. Also the runner-up in 1977. In all, he logged seven top-10s and another seven top-25s in 25 tries. His last career cut made (of 501) was a T72 here as a 65-year-old in 2015. 2. Hale Irwin The 20-time PGA TOUR winner collected his first, second and 20th career victories at Harbour Town, the last as a 48-year-old in 1994. He also finished second twice and added a T3, a T4 and a T5 en route to nine top 10s. His last of 16 top-25s was a T24 in his title defense and last appearance in 1995. Missed only two cuts in 26 career trips. 1. Davis Love III He’s done it all at Harbour Town, including successfully defending one of his five titles (1992) spanning 1987-2003. Also finished T2, T3, fourth and T5. Eleven top-10s among 23 cuts made in 30 trips. HONORABLE MENTIONS Johnny Miller Really? The Desert Fox? Yes, indeed. The regionally charged moniker disrespects his career as a whole. Piled onto the mountain of evidence is the fact that he was a two-time champion at Harbour Town (1972, 1974). Alas, he didn’t register another top-20 in another 11 trips. Arnold Palmer The first winner of the RBC Heritage (in 1969), and the only under par in that edition at 1-under 283, didn’t trail after any round. After a T3 in his title defense, he went 5th-T10-T14-T23 through 1975. Doug Tewell Prevailed here in 1980 for his first of four PGA TOUR titles. In 23 starts at Harbour Town, he logged four top-10s among seven top-25s. Impressive on its own but unremarkable compared to others excluded from special recognition here, his extra credit is the fact that he’s currently in a 10-way T23 with six consecutive cuts made on the PGA TOUR despite not competing in the last 15 years. Even better, his last two career cuts made (of 338) occurred at Harbour Town in 2002 (T68) and 2005 (73rd), the latter of which when he was 55 years of age. Aaron Baddeley Broke through for victory for the first time on the PGA TOUR here in 2006 and added a T2 in 2008. They were among four top-10s and seven top-25s, six of which consecutively through 2011. Lanny Wadkins Days before his 21st birthday in 1970, he debuted at Harbour Town with a runner-up finish … as an amateur. In a career that extended through 2005, he totaled 692 starts, 29 of which at the RBC Heritage. (As an active member of the PGA TOUR, he missed only the 1985 edition.) His commitment to the tournament didn’t yield a victory, but he added a third-place finish in 1991 and another four top-10s among 17 top-25s.

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Akshay Bhatia's coach in North Carolina, Chase Duncan, had his pupil running sprints before this PGA TOUR season began. Not as punishment, but as an opportunity for Bhatia to get better. Why spend time running instead of grinding on the putting green or driving range? To work on his breathing. He'd run down a fairway, get his heart-rate up, and the duo would see how long it took to slow down again to a normal average. RELATED: What’s in Bhatia’s bag? "I'm trying to understand how I can control myself and make myself feel as comfortable as possible," said Bhatia. After his most recent result at the Safeway Open, it's fair to say he's starting to feel more comfortable on TOUR, too. Bhatia turned professional in 2019 after becoming the youngest player to ever represent the United States in the Walker Cup. He made his pro debut on TOUR at the Sanderson Farms Championship last season. The debut came after he had reached No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. But despite his success on the junior and amateur circuit, it hadn't quite translated to the pro game until the Safeway Open. Bhatia finished T9 there and earned a spot in the field at this week's Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. He was the youngest player to finish in the top 10 of a stroke-play event on the PGA TOUR since Justin Rose finished fourth at the 1998 Open Championship. "It's always nice anytime you get a chance to play the PGA TOUR," Bhatia said. "It's a great way to enjoy things because this is the life I want to have and I have to get a taste of it. Earning my spot here was a different feeling for me and I'm just excited to get it going." It has certainly been a meaty stretch of learning for Bhatia. After putting a bow on an impressive junior golf career - he was on the winning Junior Presidents Cup team in 2017, the winning Junior Ryder Cup team in 2018 and the winning Walker Cup team last year - he hadn't made a cut on the PGA TOUR until the Safeway Open. He was 0-for-7 on TOUR to that point, although he did finish T42 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour in April 2019 after Monday qualifying. "I've learned a lot more from failing than succeeding," Bhatia said. "Golf's such an up and down game and you can really let it take the best of you, but I've learned a lot. "Obviously it would have been great to get off to a good start, turning pro early, but the way it's worked out I've learned a lot about myself with the failures I've had and understanding a lot of things. I've taken a lot more from not playing my greatest golf and understanding what I can get better at." Bhatia said he's had his eyes opened to how many good players are on TOUR and how many could win on any given week. Patience is key, he said. During the COVID-19 break, he worked hard to add more shots to his repertoire and better understand how he feels under pressure - hence the sprints and the breathing exercises. He said he still feels like he's got momentum this week in Puntacana, despite the fact that his top-10 at the Safeway Open was two weeks ago. "Anytime you get to play competition, that's the greatest thing - to play against the best," he said. Bhatia spent last week recovering from the rigors of contending on the PGA TOUR. He watched the last few holes of the U.S. Open because runner-up Matthew Wolff is a fellow George Gankas student and Bhatia played with DeChambeau at a Monday qualifier a few years ago. "It's kind of crazy to see where he is now. At the time I thought he was hitting it so far," Bhatia said of DeChambeau. "He was carrying it and was taking these lines where I thought, ‘holy crap.' It must be just amazing what he's doing now." Still, Bhatia is taking things one step at a time as he tries to reach the same level on TOUR as DeChambeau and Wolff and the laundry list of other young stars in the game. He said this week at Corales is one of "the coolest places" he's been to play golf in his life, and, with a laugh, he said he'd of course rather be in the Dominican than at home or grinding at a Monday qualifier. "The biggest thing for me is just to try to go out and birdie every hole. That's all I'm aiming to do - just try to play golf. There's nothing really special to it. Adding pressure to it doesn't make you play better," said Bhatia. "I'm just going to have a good time, enjoy the views, and it's going to be a fun week."

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Early Wednesday morning at an eerily quiet Muirfield Village, the most talked about golfer in the history of the game was playing a practice round with the most talked about golfer over the last month. It made for a very curious scene. One is returning to competitive golf for the first time in five months. The other is turning golf upside down, or perhaps bench pressing it to new places. One can only imagine the conversations between Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau during the nine holes. Facial expressions seemed to convey a full gambit. It looked like periods of education, questioning and thought provoking subjects … and also those of revelry and humor both simple and complex. Whether they talked about shaft stiffness and spin rates or how cheap parmesan cheese smells like vomit we will never truly know … our curiosity remains. But theirs was likely, somewhat, satisfied. Woods is selective with his practice partners and DeChambeau knows it. Throughout his storied career, getting a practice round with Woods before a PGA TOUR event is something only a few have experienced. It is why when the 26-year-old was called out for inadvertently calling Woods old after this preparation round for the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, he laughed it off but yet still squirmed just a little. It’s a treat folks don’t want to jeopardize. In the early years of his career it would routinely be Mark O’Meara or maybe Jay Haas tagging along with Woods. On the odd occasion, caddie Steve Williams would be a conduit to laid back international players getting a spot. But generally speaking, prep time was a closed shop to other competitors. But as Woods matured in age, and continued to add to his golf wisdom, the doors began to open for more to fill the slots. Thanks to his injuries, Woods spent a lot of time watching golf from a distance. One could surmise curiosity was a small branch on his ever growing personal tree during this time. Over the last decade or so, Woods began to accept the advances of those who piqued his interest. Bubba Watson was shaping the ball in a way most couldn’t dream of and then found himself around the Woods camp. Jason Day, who like Woods grew up with an Asian mother, slipped in there as he began to hit his straps on course. Woods also began forging friendships with young players on TOUR who live near him in Florida. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas come to mind as those who were part of his recovery from back surgery as motivators. And then there is DeChambeau. Perhaps the ultimate curiosity for all involved in golf right now. Already known as an outlier in the golf space thanks to his scientific based methods of analyzing the golf swing, DeChambeau has turned disruptor again with his recent bulking program. His play has once again thrust the distance debate back into golf. The six-time TOUR winner stacked on 40 pounds of muscle during the pandemic break and increased his distance off the tee significantly. He leads the PGA TOUR in driving distance (323 yards) and Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+1.113). In his recent win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic he averaged a near obscene 350.6 yards off the tee for the event. He also led the field that week in Strokes Gained: Putting, the only player to do both and win since 2004. This distance dominance, paired with accuracy and touch, is something the TOUR hasn’t seen since a young Woods joined in the late 1990s and was miles ahead of the competition in strength, fitness and distance. He also had a wicked short game to go with it. So when DeChambeau asked Woods if they could have a hit on Wednesday at Muirfield Village, it brought together two big storylines. But it wasn’t really a surprise the answer was yes. The pair have already shared a connection through Bridgestone, the brand of ball both use, and they share a kinship in their interest in product testing. DeChambeau and Woods have been bonding for some time, a thrill for the former. “Back in the day, he was it. He was the golden star. He was the one everybody looked up to. Junior golfers that I played with were all inspired by Tiger and how far he hit it and how he dominated tournaments,” DeChambeau says. “I watched in just complete awe, going, man, how is he doing this, especially when you’re young and you know you can’t hit it more than 250 or something like that, he’s hitting it 330 back in the day. Even now, he’s hitting it pretty long. There was a couple holes he hit 320, 325. I’m like, that’s pretty good for his age. It’s amazing for his age.” How a 44-year-old Woods takes that last comment is yet to be seen but, in context, with multiple back surgeries behind him it isn’t far from fact. And DeChambeau stressed it is something the man himself says often. Woods was asked about DeChambeau earlier this week and had plenty of praise based on what he’d seen from afar. “He’s figured out a way to increase distance and maximize his efficiency with not only his driver but all of his clubs,” Woods said on Tuesday. “What Bryson has done is no easy task. He’s put in the time and has put in the reps, and he’s figured it out. He’s gotten stronger, faster, bigger, and has created more speed. But more importantly let’s look at the fact that he’s hitting it as straight as he is. “That part of the most difficult thing to do. The further you hit it, the more the tangent goes crooked … the fact that he’s figured that out and has been able to rein in the foul balls to me has been equally as impressive as his gains off the tee distance-wise.” Woods might not have been the one to ask for Wednesday’s round but he would have been happy to get an up close and personal look at DeChambeau 2.0. In turn, DeChambeau also got a sneak peek at Woods, who hasn’t played on TOUR for five months. “Whenever we play, I usually ask kindly. That’s the way it kind of goes about,” DeChambeau admitted Wednesday. “It was more of me wanting to see what he was doing actually to be honest with you. I’m always interested to see what new things he’s doing. And I think it was mutual. Obviously he likes playing with me. We’ve had a great relationship. We have great conversations. So it was just mutually beneficial and we had a lot of fun.” DeChambeau claimed there wasn’t much chatter about his newfound power game save a few jokes. Therein lies another key for Woods these days. Fun. In his early years of heightened mental focus it wasn’t a word often associated with Woods from others. But the 82-time TOUR winner loves to inject humor into his life and enjoys finding good targets who can appreciate the give and take. “First off, it’s amazing to get to play with Tiger. I respect him. I have the highest respect for him and what he’s done for the game and inspired a whole new generation and generations to come,” DeChambeau added. “He played a couple jokes on me today, just messing with me, I’ll keep it personal … but he’s worried about winning the tournament this week just like I am. I don’t feel like we talked too much about it.” If they did talk about it, Woods wasn’t giving anything away either. After all, they say curiosity killed the cat. “I never asked and we didn’t really talk about it. We talked about a lot of other different things and just had a normal practice round,” Woods said wryly as the pair split ways. Normal practice round? There’s no such thing with either of these two. Curiosity remains.

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