The beer is free and the golf is good: Inside RBC Heritage’s exclusive sponsor village
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RBC Heritage 2021
With limited spectators for the 2021 event, RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing is Hilton Head’s first big, in-person event since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Island Packet is your guide for updates and information throughout the tournament.
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What was once RBC Heritage’s biggest public party area is now an exclusive party zone.
Inside, the food and drinks are free, and there are unparalleled views of the 17th green and the 18th hole tee box.
It’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing in style.
The area between the 17th and 18th holes at the Harbour Town Golf Links was once known as “The Heritage Lawn.” Exclusive seating was broken up with public beer tents and vendors selling everything from cars to preppy hats.
RBC Heritage 2021 was destined to be different.
With 20% of the typical 135,000 fans, the course is quieter this year. There are no skyboxes or hundreds of people following players down the course.
But the former Heritage Lawn is still popping — with sponsors and their friends.
The Sponsor Village is an area exclusively for premium ticket holders. Tickets for the area were selling online for $300 per person. Volunteers check in visitors at the door and hole-punch their tickets. At any given time, the occupancy is between 600 and 800 people, according to the doormen.
Inside, bars and beer taps dot the lawn, and catered hors d’oeuvres are served in tents with foliage as decoration.
On the menu Saturday: shrimp remoulade cocktails, pork belly BLT sliders with rosemary garlic fries, carved beef tenderloin and egg rolls with spicy chili sauce.
Not your typical Heritage hot dog.
The bars served Michelob Ultra and beers from Wicked Weed Brewing, based in Asheville, as well as cocktails in RBC Heritage plastic glassware.
The catering for the sponsor village was provided by Southern Way Catering.
“It’s a little overwhelming. There’s so much to see and do,” Beaufort residents Erin Walker and Melinda Henrickson said as they sipped cocktails in the shaded viewing area near the 18th tee box.
The friends were at RBC Heritage for the first time together, and, they admit, overdressed.
While most people in the sponsor village were wearing plaid or athletic gear, Henrickson and Walker were wearing maxi-dresses paired perfectly with their jewelry.
They got tickets to the sponsor village from a friend, and said Saturday was their first outing in a year due to COVID-19.
“We didn’t stick our toes in, we cannonballed in the deep end,” Walker joked.
Up in the party tents
Meanwhile, up in the stands facing the 17th green, Patrick Lennon and his friends were decked out in plaid and enjoying lunch.
Lennon said he’s been to several Heritage tournaments, and that in normal years he usually hangs out on the Heritage Lawn.
This year, his group scored tickets from their friend who owns Logan Homes, a homebuilding business that’s active in North and South Carolina. He said he was blown away by the different level of hospitality.
“We like exclusivity,” he said as his friends laughed. “This event is a good way to reward people, bankers, real estate agents, and people who have worked hard all year.”
As Lennon spoke, Kyoung-Hoon Lee drove straight onto the green, missing the pin — and a hole in one — by less than a foot.
The entire tent swelled with excitement, followed by a group “AGH!” as Lee’s shot rolled painfully past the pin.
He had to settle for a birdie.
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 1:48 PM.
