RBC Heritage still offers winning formula in topsy-turvy world of professional golf

Professional golf tiptoes into the new year teetering on the edge of uncertainty, thanks to the winds of change that began to blow a couple of years ago and created chaos at the game’s highest levels.

Against that backdrop of confusion, the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing — South Carolina’s long-time stop on the PGA Tour — stands ready to deliver again its usual something-for-everyone recipe of socializing, business and high-profile golf.

Conceived in the late 1960s to lure prospective home owners to the then fledgling Sea Pines Resort on the developing Hilton Head Island, the Heritage still is selling — this time providing the opportunity to sing the sirens’ song that promotes South Carolina’s tourism in general and golf in particular.

The golf began with an icon named Arnold Palmer’s winning the first Heritage in 1969 and the list of champions: Nicklaus, Norman, Love, Faldo, Langer, Stewart, Watson, Miller, Spieth, et al is littered with Hall of Fame-caliber names. Yet, the quality depth of the field for the 2024 tournament has never been stronger.

Socializing and business deals go together like ham and eggs during the Heritage, and tournament officials go to great lengths to enhance the experience for spectators. Fans would have to go out of their way not to have a good time. Sponsors seize the opportunity to entertain clients in a special way.

Sounds like a panacea — and it is ... for now.

But the ever-changing landscape created by the LIV Tour’s bursting onto the scene and signing some top players suggests that nothing is forever. Question marks litter the future.

Are PGA tourneys divided into two tiers this season?

The PGA Tour’s reactions have created basically a two-tier system of tournaments, one for the “name players” and the other for, well, the others. The top-shelf events have been labeled “Elevated,” “Designated” and now “Signature” — changes that are symbolic of the ever-evolving nature of the business these days.

Best news for the 2024 RBC Heritage: the tournament set for April 18-21 at Hilton Head’s Harbour Town Golf Links falls into the “Signature” category. That means the field will be limited to 70-odd players, including the top 50 in last season’s FedEx Cup standings, who will compete for shares of a $20 million purse. The no-cut format assures the elite competitors will be around over the weekend.

Duane Parrish, who heads the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, relies heavily on golf to promote the Palmetto State and calls the RBC Heritage the ideal opportunity to send the message. “Overhead television shots of the lighthouse and boats bobbing on Calibogue Sound, kite surfers, the yacht basin,” he said. “People see those scenes and think, ‘Hey, I want to go there.’ ”

Indeed, one Heritage insider quipped, “Does anybody who watches the Wells Fargo make Charlotte his vacation choice or does the guy who turns in for the Rocket Mortgage Classic think about spending time in Detroit?”

Said Parrish: “We’re trying to reach the viewers in Columbus, Ohio or Topeka, Kansas. Being the week after the Masters, people are starting the watch golf, and the Heritage provides the opportunity to show off South Carolina.”

With the “Signature” status, the field will include the likes of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth among the handful of players that officials like to say “move the needle” in drawing audiences.

The schedule sets up well, too. After scrambling in 2023 with the $20-million events all over the calendar, officials coupled 2024 “Signature” tournaments with majors or the Players to provide more continuity for the big names. April has the Masters and Heritage back-to-back, May finds the Wells Fargo and PGA on successive weeks and June includes the Memorial, U.S. Open and Travelers in a row.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan called the schedule “reimagined” and stressed the potential value of “stars competing head-to-head more often, alongside the weekly drama of life-altering moments and the emergence of new stars.”

“We’re ‘all-in’ on golf,” Parrish said, “and the Heritage is obviously a large piece of the puzzle. Then, with the Myrtle Beach tournament that begins this year, we will have two straight months of television exposure that we could not buy for any amount of money.”

The golf provides the reason, of course, but the social possibilities and the business opportunities are equal partners in the equation at Harbour Town.

Although RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada) has no branches in South Carolina, executives sponsor a tournament in the state for business reasons.

“Think about bringing wealth management clients from, say, western New York state or Toronto out of the cold and snow to spring-time in South Carolina in April,” Parrish said. “That’s a plum the Heritage can offer.”

The social aspect dovetails alongside the business opportunities, and one wag noted, “Some people never see a golf shot.”

“A big ol’ cocktail party with some golf” for some attendees, swaaid Biff Lathrop, executive director of the South Carolina Golf Association.

The SCGA has a tent alongside the 18th tee to entertain supporters and sponsors, and “people come to have a good time,” Lathrop said. “The tournament’s a lot about business opportunities and connections, but there’s more emphasis on the high quality of golf now” from the Tour’s top players.

The something-for-everybody idea pays dividends. The tournament’s economic impact is enormous. Then, the Heritage Classic Foundation has a charitable influence on the Hilton Head Island area and, Parrish said, “really throughout the state.”

A panacea . . . for now.

The economics of sponsorship

Amid the aura of good feeling headed into another PGA Tour season are questions. Primary among them: Will sponsors continue to pay the big bucks for “Signature” status and the $20 million purses? Will the “other” tournaments with payouts in the $8-9 million range wither from the lack of star power? Can the PGA Tour and LIV Tour find harmony?

“Some business decisions will have to be made,” said Charlie Rountree III, a member of the Heritage Classic Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “It’s like, does Mercedes-Benz put its name on a stadium (in Atlanta) or a golf tournament?”

Indeed, already Honda has ended its long-time tournament sponsorship, AT&T has cut its sponsorship from two tournaments to one and Wells Fargo has announced its decision to leave the PGA Tour at the end of its contract.

Bob Harig, writing in Sports Illustrated, reported that tournament officials have told sponsors that they will be expected to pay a larger portion of PGA Tour tournament purses beginning in 2025. “Tournaments are not happy at all,” he quoted some officials.

That means . . . what? “Nobody knows,” Rountree said.

Likewise, no one knows for the two tiers of tournaments will impact television ratings. Will views tune in only for the “Signature” events? What if a “Signature” event, say, the Wells Fargo, has a run-away leader and the opposite-field tournament in Myrtle Beach has a crowded leaderboard? Will viewers go for drama at Myrtle Beach over names at Wells Fargo?

“You don’t really know what to expect,” Rountree said.

But Parrish, the director of the state’s tourism promotion arm, believes the calendar will be a significant factor. Even if viewership suffered during the 2023 FedEx Fall tournaments, “the spring is different,” he said. “The playoffs aren’t over, the Fedex Cup is heating up and you’re not competing with football. People see the Masters, then they want to see more golf.”

Still, the Tour will be battling perception with its two-tier system, one Heritage official noted. Former Tour official Ty Votaw touted the depth of quality players in promoting a tournament at Congaree Golf Club a couple of years ago, and he’s right. The Tour’s old slogan, “These Guys Are Good” is spot on. Yet . . . perception matters.

Some big names - among them Adam Scott, Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry - will not start the season eligible for the “Signature” events. Thomas almost certainly will receive sponsor’s exemptions to the high-profile tournaments, but the others?

“There’s no guarantee they would play in the opposite field events, but playing in them is the way to qualify for the ‘Signature’ tournaments,” Rountree pointed out.

So, on the eve of a new season, the winds of change continue to blow in the professional golf world. Questions linger. Is a hurricane in the forecast or just a zephyr?

Whatever, all’s good at the RBC Heritage. The formula of socializing and mixing business with pleasure and better-than-ever golf always will be in style. And South Carolina scenes still sell. Those assets never will change.