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But the Heritage might not be in the calendar spot it has occupied since 1983 -- the week after the Masters in nearby Augusta.
The 2011 Masters will be April 7-10.
"I think we have a final agreement; although I haven't heard back from the tour, it's been 100 percent approved," Heritage Classic Foundation chairman Simon Fraser said Tuesday.
That agreement would bring a 43rd annual Heritage to Hilton Head in April, Fraser said.
When asked if the Heritage would be in its traditional slot immediately following the Masters, Fraser said, "You just never know, do you?"
Heritage director Steve Wilmot and tour officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Heritage organizers have searched for months for a company to pay $7 million to $8 million to put its name on the tournament. Verizon ended its title sponsorship this year.
In recent weeks, organizers scrambled to persuade tour officials they have $5.9 million necessary to satisfy the Heritage's obligations to the tournament's purse and TV deals.
The foundation has $4 million in reserves, and it has secured $2 million in commitments split between the Town of Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County should no new title sponsor emerge.
A different date would change the dynamics of the Heritage. Players often refer to the tournament as a welcome break for them and their families after the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the Masters, one of golf's four major tournaments.
Hilton Head Mayor Tom Peeples said he would prefer the Heritage keep its traditional date, although he doesn't think a new date would be detrimental as long as boosters have enough time to prepare for a switch.
"I don't think it's anything we can't work with," said Peeples, a member of the Heritage foundation's board of trustees.
The April tournaments on the tour's 2010 schedule were the Shell Houston Open, April 1-4; the Masters, April 8-11; the Heritage, April 15-18; the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, April 22- 25; and the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, April 29-May 2.
