There is no Heritage in 2020. How the local fallout from its cancellation will linger
It’s Thursday of Masters Week and Steve Wilmot would normally be ensconced in the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing tournament headquarters finalizing details for the next stop of the PGA Tour.
“Busy, busy, busy from 6 to 8 in the morning and 7 to 9 at night,” he said of his Masters-week routine covering 20-odd years. “In between, everybody’s looking at the Masters.”
But this day is different. There is no 2020 Masters until November, if then, and there will be no 2020 RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island at all. Normalcy surrendered, for the moment, to the coronavirus outbreak that is sweeping the globe.
Nevertheless, Wilmot’s plate is full dealing with the fallout from the cancellation of South Carolina’s annual PGA Tour stop. He knows calling off the tournament is the right decision, but he can’t help but share the pain of what the loss means financially to the Hilton Head area and, indeed, the entire state.
“There’s no playbook for something like this,” Wilmot said. “This would have been my 34th (Heritage), and it’s hard to emphasize what (the tournament) means to so many people and how many people will be impacted financially.”
Surveys report the tournament generates a $102 million annual economic impact. Charities reap more than $3 million each year.
“Civic clubs lose the money they would make from selling concessions,” he said. “The Hilton Head High football team uses money from parking cars for summer camps, and that’s gone. The Bluffton High team has handled ecology for us and has received video equipment and other things.
“Of course, there are the hotels and rental properties and restaurants and other commercial enterprises that have financial losses. A lot of people have been laid off. The trickle-down is amazing.”
After the PGA Tour canceled the Players after one round and its next four events on March 12, Wilmot and his staff began pondering possibilities that ranged from a Heritage without spectators to no tournament at all.
“That Saturday (March 14), I was in the office when the cleaning service crew came in,” Wilmot related. “One of the workers asked if we would have the tournament and I told her I hoped so. She said, ‘I sure hope so, too, because that’s our busiest time of the year for us with a lot of overtime. We’d sure hate to lose that.’”
A few days later, the Tour canceled the Heritage
Of course, Wilmot said, “there was never any question we would do the right thing. The situation was ever-changing. The answer to a question at 10 o’clock might be different at 11 o’clock. We were talking to the Tour, the governor’s office, DHEC. We were listening to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).”
The result meant the loss of revenue, about $1 million, already spent on tournament logistics, including installing bleachers and printing costs. He also is dealing with sponsors and had to set up options for ticket refunds.
“We’re not an NFL team with an owner who is a billionaire,” Wilmot said. The Heritage Classic Foundation “is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, and that means we’re going to have to be lean and mean going forward.”
RBC, the principal sponsor, has another tourney, the Canadian Open, still on the schedule. Will it be played? If so, will travel restrictions impact player participation? And Boeing, the presenting sponsor, has experienced challenges with one of its aircraft.
“Like I said, there’s no playbook for all this,” Wilmot said. “Everybody is working remotely, and that’s tough for me. I’m a hands-on guy and like to sit across the table and talk to people.”
Wilmot played golf the other day.
“That tells you how different this year is; I have never had time to play in March or April,” he said. “It was eerie. There weren’t a lot of people around and they’re taking down the bleachers. It’s almost like it is after the tournament.”
Work over the cancellation continues, but the 2021 countdown has already started — about a full year away exactly — and Wilmot knows the tournament will come back strong.
“We know we did the right thing,” he said. “It’s a difficult time, but we’ll step back, count our blessings and work to be better than ever.”
New PGA schedule for 2020
The revised schedule for 2020:
CONFIRMED
Aug. 3-9: PGA Championship, TPC Harding Park, San Francisco, California
Sept. 14-20: U.S. Open, Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York
Sept. 22-27: Ryder Cup, Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin
Nov. 9-15: the Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
The PGA Tour’s season-ending event/FedExCup Playoffs ...
Aug. 10-16: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
Aug. 17-23: The Northern Trust, TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts
Aug. 24-30: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields CC, Olympia Fields, Illinois
Aug. 31-Sept. 7: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia
TO BE CONFIRMED
June 15-21 (formerly U.S. Open week): potential PGA TOUR event
July 13-19 (formerly The Open Championship week): potential PGA TOUR event
July 27-Aug. 2 (formerly Men’s Olympic Competition week): potential PGA TOUR event
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "There is no Heritage in 2020. How the local fallout from its cancellation will linger."