WHAT’S NEW?

The RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing seems to get bigger and better every year, and this year is no different. Annual visitors to the tournament will notice a few additions this year:

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS THAT ADD UP TO HILTON HEAD’S TOP EVENT

Golf is a game of numbers.

When it comes to scoring, the lowest number wins, of course, but we also focus on numbers when we talk about par, hole identifications, yardages, club identifications, placement on the leaderboard, and rankings, for example.

Some of the behind-the-scenes numbers at the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing are less obvious, but equally important to the success of Hilton Head Island’s favorite event of the year.

STUDENTS SAY VOLUNTEERING AT HERITAGE HELPS BOOST THEIR GOLF DREAMS

For every young golfer growing up in the Lowcountry — and there are plenty of them — the dream is to one day play in the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.

That goal is still a long way off for most students at the International Junior Golf Academy and those in the First Tee of the Lowcountry and PGA Junior League programs, but a handful of local kids get the opportunity each year to step inside the ropes alongside the pros.

ANY OF THESE GOLFERS COULD WIN THE HERITAGE

The 132-player field at the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing will be full of talent, but only one golfer will hoist the gentleman golfer trophy, don the tartan jacket, and take home the $1.242 million first prize at the end of the best week of the year on Hilton Head Island.

Here are a few of the players most likely to add his name to the prestigious list of Heritage champs.

THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA SPONSORS THE HERITAGE AS A GESTURE OF GOOD WILL

When the savior of Hilton Head Island’s annual PGA Tour stop was announced in June 2011, the collective sigh throughout South Carolina was followed quickly by a collective brow-raising.

Why, many wondered, would the Royal Bank of Canada lay out millions of dollars a year to sponsor a golf tournament in South Carolina?

IN HIS OWN WORDS: CHARLES FRASER WROTE ABOUT FOUNDING THE TOURNAMENT

Charles Fraser described himself as a “historian of golf” and a golf businessman, not a “golfer” by recreation. From the beginning, he was convinced that golf would be important in the story of Sea Pines. In 1993, he drafted this description of how he brought golf to Hilton Head Island and later created the Heritage tournament. His daughter Laura Lawton Fraser was kind enough to share it with Monthly. Below are excerpts:

“HE NEEDS TO SLEEP WITH THAT PUTTER.” — IN REFERENCE TO GOLFER IAN POULTER

Hilton Head Island’s annual PGA Tour stop crowned its first Asian champion when Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira surged from six shots back in the final round of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing. He defeated South Korean Si Woo Kim on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff.

A LOOK AT THE HERITAGE, THEN AND NOW

The RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing is celebrating the 50th PGA Tour stop on one of Hilton Head Island’s best golf courses. While the track has remained mostly unchanged over the years, almost everything else about the island has changed.