This week, the PGA Tour will move to The Harbor City Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Five of the world's top ten will play in this week's tournament, including Cameron Smith, Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, who played well during Masters Week. Defending champion Stuart Zink and 2019 champion Pan Zhengchun are also in this week's strong squad.
The total prize money for this tournament is a record $8 million, and the winner will earn $1.44 million and 500 FedEx Cup points.
The "Three Musketeers of China" Yuan Yechun, Dou Zecheng and Zhang Xinjun (in order of this week's departure time) played in the Korn Ferry International Tour- Veritex Bank Championship this week.
(2022 RBC Heritage Golf Tournament Preview)
Father and son soldiers, can you continue to write a good story?
(Zink & Sons at the 2021 RBC Legacy Golf Tournament)
PGA Tour veteran Stuart Zink, 48, teamed up with his 25-year-old son, Regan Zink, to win the 2021 RBC Legacy Golf Tournament. The elder Zink made a strong start with two rounds of 63, and the final victory advantage was four strokes. Little Sink, who was backpacking for him, laughed and said, "My father made few mistakes this week, but he rarely listened to me in Cave 10 and ended up in the water." ”
(Defending Champion Swing: Stuart Zink)
The pair failed to qualify for last week's Masters, but created a classic of the week: The elder Zink scored the 34th hole in Masters history on the 16th hole of 170 yards, which was Sink Jr.'s birthday. "Happy Birthday!" Old Zink turned to his son next to him, and the two embraced excitedly to celebrate this special "birthday gift."
(Champion Father and Son)
Speaking about this week's game, The Elder Zink, who owns three red plaid jackets (RBC's tradition of golf, the Scottish jacket that awards the championship) said: "Ever since Reagan started giving me backpacks from Napa (this season's opening of the Flying Tower Championship), we've negotiated the right way to play on every hole. The most special thing about last year's competition was that at my age, I was able to share the glory of winning the championship with my son, which was a rare experience in my life, and I was very lucky. ”
I look forward to the eight PGA Tour champions continuing the good story of "father and son with one heart, and their profits and gold" with their sons this week.
Favorite player to win the championship
1. Sean Laurie
(Laurie in the game)
Laurie finished T3 well at last week's Masters, and his best time on the PGA Tour this season was a separate second place in the Honda Classic, just a stone's throw away from his first title of the season.
The British Open champion from Ireland has a lot of experience with Links, who finished T9 at Harbour City Links last year and T3 in 2019.
2. Justin Thomas
(JT in the game)
World number eight Justin Thomas has come to Harbour City Golf Links three times before, with the best result being the 2020 T8. He finished second on the PGA Tour in several stats (serve-to-green scoring, bird push rate in putt stats, adjusted par average).
JT's aggressive playing style and shrewd strategy will shine this week.
3. Colin Morikawa
(Morikawa and his girlfriend Karen Zhu in the Masters)
Morikawa will play in the RBC Heritage Golf Tournament for the third time, rising to the second place in the world, and he entered the final round with a single second place in last year's competition, but unfortunately the final round played average and finally achieved T7.
Morimagawa's average par (26 rounds, 68.85) is third on the PGA Tour this season, but his putter score (0.424) is only T31. Putt performance will directly affect his final ranking this week.
In addition to JT and Morikawa, the other three world top ten players in this week's squad are Cameron Smith (fifth), Patrick Cantley (sixth) and Dustin Johnson (ninth).
Masterpiece, challenging "little green"
Harbour City Golf Links, 7121 yards, par 71
(Corner of the course)
This masterpiece, designed by Pete Day in collaboration with Nicklaus the Golden Bear, has hosted RBC Heritage Golf Tournaments since the 1960s, challenging the world's best players. As Cox, the stadium's resident coach, puts it, the beauty of it is that "the long grass area is small, but the fairways are also compact and narrow." It is one of the smallest greens on the PGA Tour. ”
(Watch out for crocodiles!) ）
Weber Simpson, winner of the 2020 tournament and record holder of the tournament's 72 holes, commented: "This is one of my favorite courses. The layout here is nostalgic, the stadium has always been in good condition and can make a lot of wonderful shots. ”
Pan Zhengchun, who won the PGA Tour for the first time in 2019, said: "It's special for me here. I love the design, with a lot of emphasis on accuracy and hardcore accuracy. ”
Race record of 72 holes: 262, Webb Simpson (2020)
Tournament record on 18 holes: 61, David Frost (1994 second round), Troy Merritt (2015 second round)
Focus players' first round departure time
Beijing time from April 14 to April 15
20:38 Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas/Sean Laurie
00:45 Pan Zhengchun/Davis Raf III/Zach Johnson
00:56 Colin Morikawa/Stuart Simker/Weber Simpson
01:07 Cameron Smith / Joaquin Nieman / Ren Chengzai