Sea Pines Heritage Classic
| Location |
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Established | 1969, 48 years ago |
| Course(s) | Harbour Town Golf Links |
| Par | 71 |
| Length | 7,101 yards (6,493 m) |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | $5.9 million |
| Month played | April |
| Aggregate | 264 Brian Gay (2009) |
| To par | −20 Brian Gay (2009) |
 Branden Grace
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The RBC Heritage, known for much of its history as the Heritage Classic or simply the Heritage, is a PGA Tour event, first played in 1969. The venue has been the Harbour Town Golf Links at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The Harbour Town course, which frequently appears on several "Best Courses" lists, was designed by famed golf course architect Pete Dye, with assistance from Jack Nicklaus. In 1972, the first two rounds were played on both the Harbour Town Golf Links and the Ocean course at Sea Pines, with the final two rounds at Harbour Town.
From 1987 through 2010, it was sponsored either by MCI (under both the "MCI" and "WorldCom" names) or its eventual purchaser, Verizon. In 2011, the tournament operated without a title sponsor. The Royal Bank of Canada has been the title sponsor of The Heritage since 2012. It is currently organized by The Heritage Classic Foundation.
Harbour Town Golf Links
The Heritage Classic Foundation, general sponsor of The Heritage, provides the financial stability, guidance, and direction to the tournament. After each tournament, the Foundation distributes revenue produced by the event to a wide variety of charitable organizations, universities, and medical institutions. In 2005, the Heritage Classic Foundation donated $1.55 million, bringing the total to close to $13 million since it was organized.
The Heritage is one of only five tournaments given "invitational" status by the PGA Tour, and consequently it has a reduced field of only 132 players (as opposed to most full-field open tournaments with a field of 156 players). The other four tournaments with invitational status are the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the Memorial Tournament, and the Quicken Loans National. Invitational tournaments have smaller fields (between 120 and 132 players), and have more freedom than full-field open tournaments in determining which players are eligible to participate in their event, as invitational tournaments are not required to fill their fields using the PGA Tour Priority Ranking System. Furthermore, unlike full-field open tournaments, invitational tournaments do not offer open qualifying (aka Monday qualifying).
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