Without sponsorship, tournament could fold
Few PGA Tour events have a signature as indelible as the Heritage.
There’s the iconic lighthouse that looms beyond the 18th green and the classic Harbour Town Golf Links, one of the most recognizable courses in America. What other event opens with the defending champion, flanked by cannons, hitting a ceremonial shot into the sea and closes with the winner donning a preposterous plaid jacket?
The one thing the Heritage lacks, however, is a private sponsor. And without one soon, this will be the final year for the event, which began in 1969 with a victory by Arnold Palmer.
| UP NEXT |
| Heritage |
| Where » Harbour Town Golf Links, S.C. |
| When » Thursday-Sunday |
| TV » Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday), CBS (Saturday-Sunday) |
| FIVE TO WATCH |
| Luke Donald |
| With a victory, the Englishman can vault from No. 3 to No. 1 in the world rankings. The short (6,973), tight, shot-makers course is suited to Donald’s skills. Brilliant iron player tied for third in the Heritage in 2010 and tied for second in 2009. |
| Jason Day |
| Coming off a runner-up finish in the Masters and a week off, is the Australian primed for a run at the Heritage? Day finished in the top 25 last year. The 23-year-old is seeking his second PGA Tour victory. He’s ranked No. 24 in the world. |
| Mark Wilson |
| Look who is atop the FedEx Cup standings and the PGA Tour money list. This is the type of course the light-hitting Wilson can contend on. The 36-year-old from Wisconsin won twice in the first month of the season. He missed the cut at the Masters. |
| Ernie Els |
| Els plays in perhaps the best threesome with Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter on Thursday and Friday. He has made the cut in his last 13 PGA Tour events but hasn’t really contended since the Tour Championship in September. |
| Rickie Fowler |
| Is this the week the 22-year-old finally breaks through for his first victory? With 11 top-10 finishes, including three runners-up, the Californian is due. He tied for eighth at the Heritage last year and was in the hunt at the Masters before shooting a 76 on Saturday. |
It’s been 18 months since Verizon announced that its involvement with the event would end in 2010. PGA Tour vice president Ty Votaw signaled the 11th hour for the Heritage in February.
“It’s imperative for the long-term future of the event to secure a title sponsor,” Votaw told the Associated Press.
With the 43rd Heritage teeing off Thursday, this has been a gloomy week at Sea Pines Resort as players have considered the possibility of losing one of their favorite events.
“It’s definitely a tournament everyone wants to keep,” Aaron Baddeley, champion of the 2006 Heritage, told reporters. “It’s a great course, a great tournament. It’s just, winner, winner chicken dinner.”
The Heritage has long been a special stop. Until this year, the tournament came the week after the Masters and gave players an opportunity to decompress at breezy, idyllic Hilton Head Island. Last year, 2004 Heritage winner Stewart Cink called the event the “anti-Masters.”
“It’s just such an iconic tournament,” Davis Love III said. “If we didn’t have such a bad economy, it would be one people would be standing in line for.”
On Wednesday, defending champion Jim Furyk suggested that finding a sponsor is difficult considering Hilton Head’s remoteness.
“It’s got a little bit of a tight footprint as far as corporate hospitality,” Furyk said. “But this island, this area, is a wonderful place to entertain people. So hopefully [the PGA] will get it done.”
South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has joined the effort. She attended the first shot ceremony Monday as Furyk drove a ball into Calibogue Sound.
“We have to look at how we got into this situation. When it was time to find a sponsor, the length of the contract was too long and the money was too much,” Haley told the Golf Channel on Wednesday. “We have now scaled that back to what is realistic and what is more in line with the market.”
According to a study, commissioned by the tournament and done by Clemson University, the Heritage pumps $82 million into the state economy. Haley said, however, that state funds will not be used to keep the tournament afloat.
“Can is not an option,” Haley said. “We will get a sponsor.”
