As Masters wraps, golf world shifts focus to Harbour Town and RBC Heritage

Compare the Masters that ended Sunday and the RBC Heritage that begins Thursday, and the decision is quick and decisive: apples and oranges.

Yes. And no.

Apple: The Masters, played over Augusta National Golf Club’s brawny course, stretches over hilly Georgia terrain with more ups and downs than a roller coaster and can be likened to wrestling a bear. It’s a pressure cooker that goes with a major championship.

Orange: The Heritage, contested over Harbour Town Golf Links in the South Carolina Lowcountry, is 400 yard shorter, flatter and more like a stroll on the beach. The opportunity to exhale while still competing against the best.

Dig deep and, yes, they’re more alike than meets the eye. Different courses, but demanding courses.

There are top-quality fields, an enviable list of champions and back-to-back April dates on the schedule in both tournaments’ DNA. Augusta has Amen Corner, Harbour Town has the lighthouse. Both even feature devilish par-3s, the 12th at Augusta and the 14th at Hilton Head.

And, perhaps more significantly, both are played on the same course each year — creating opportunities for comparison that other events cannot match.

The Masters unfolded for the 89th time this year and its background requires no embellishment. This will be the 57th Heritage, a youngster by comparison but with a compelling history.

Ask John Ferrell, a PGA of America professional who has been at Harbour Town since 1989 and is now Sea Pines Resort’s director of sports, about Heritage moments to remember, and prepare for a long monologue.

Where to start? Davis Love III is a good launching pad. He won five times. There’s Greg Norman’s taking a youngster under his wing and winning. Just a couple of years ago, Matt Fitzpatrick stiffed a 9-iron shot from 180-odd yards on the famed 18th hole to beat Jordan Spieth in a playoff.

There are similarities beyond those: Both Augusta National, a bomber’s paradise, and Harbour Town, the king of finesse, demand for ball control.

Or, to borrow a thought from Spieth, the 2022 champion: “If you hit good shots, you get birdie looks. If you don’t, you get to play cool punch shots through the trees.”

The Heritage carries signature event status, which means almost all the PGA Tour’s top players will be in the field. Scottie Scheffler will defend his title. Rory McIlroy is the only notable absentee from the entry list.

“We want to create a place-to-be atmosphere, and I think we have,” longtime tournament director Steve Wilmot said. “We’ve built relationships through the years and our focus is to give our fans a great experience.

“Having a tournament on the same course for more than 50 years in pretty remarkable. That gives us history to build on.”

This history starts in the beginning, with Arnold Palmer winning the inaugural event. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson and Hale Irwin and Johnny Miller and Davis Love and Payne Stewert ... the impressive list of champions goes on and on.

“Our last five champions have won major tournaments,” Wilmot pointed out on the list that includes Scheffler, Fitzpatrick, Spieth, Stewart Cink and Webb Simpson.

Spieth and Fitzpatrick are two of Harbour Town’s admirers, and Wilmot made sure Spieth, who underwent wrist surgery last year and would not otherwise have qualified, would be there through a sponsor’s exemption.

“Jordan has been so good to the tournament in his support and commitment,” Wilmot said.

That commitment dates to 2015, the year he won the Masters. The victory meant a whirlwind media tour with demands on his time, but Spieth kept his word to play and made his Thursday tee time at the Heritage. (For the record, he opened with a 3-over-par 74, then came back with a 9-under 62.)

A couple of weeks after this year’s tournament, Harbour Town will close for an extensive restoration project overseen by Love and his design company.

That restoration will consider Pete Dye’s famous design but will make improvements to agronomy and maintenance of the course, rebuilding all greens, bunkers and bulkheads. The turfs will remain the same.

What look the finished product will take remains to be seen. More trees? A longer 18th hole? But one thing won’t change: The RBC Heritage will be a place to be in the spring time in South Carolina.

RBC Heritage TV schedule

• Thursday, Friday: The Golf Channel: 2-6 p.m.
• Saturday, Sunday: The Golf Channel 1-3 p.m., then CBS 3-6 p.m.

Top players in the field

The highest-ranked players in the RBC Heritage field:

• Scottie Scheffler
• Xander Schauffele
• Collin Morikawa
• Ludvig Aberg
• Russell Henley
• Justin Thomas
• Viktor Hovland
• Maverick McNealy
• Wyndham Clark
• Tommy Fleetwood