Hilton Head Golf Blog

DATAW ISLAND, S.C. – Just miles away from historic and beautiful Beaufort is Dataw Island, an effortlessly charming coastal community ideal for casting aside the travails of everyday life. Dataw’s first golf course, Cotton Dike, is a shining example of what Lowcountry golf is all about.
 
This charming layout separates itself from the pack by producing stunning panoramic views of marshland as far as the eye can see. The narrow fairways and prevalent water hazards require accuracy off the tee but leave players with plenty of options when considering how to approach each hole. 

Do you have trouble placing the ball at a proper position when hitting out of a fairway bunker? Would you like to learn a new technique off the tee? Or are you a beginner looking to learn a proper swing?

Next month you’ll have the chance to pick up a valuable pointer or two from a knowledgeable professional in your area, and it won’t cost you a thing.

In an effort to increase participation and create greater interest in the game of golf, PGA Professionals will be offering free 10-minute lessons throughout the month of May.

Boo Weekley's first victory at the Verizon Heritage, which doubled as his first victory on the PGA TOUR, bordered on improbable. Weekley holed out from a greenside bunker on back-to-back holes at 17 and 18 to overtake Ernie Els during a weather-induced Monday finish in 2007. This year was more dominant than dramatic.

Dealing with ideal scoring conditions for the majority of the week, Weekley flirted with the overall scoring record, extended his run of rounds in the 60s to seven, a tie for the second most all-time at South Carolina's only PGA TOUR stop with Nick Price and displayed a knack for getting the ball in the cup despite lacking his best stuff on his way to another Heritage win and another berth in the Masters.

Scores continue to climb on day two of the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links which is celebrating its 40th year anniversary. Five-time champion Davis Love III who shared the lead after Thursday's round and defending champion Boo Weekley are both on the course finishing their morning rounds.

10:40 - Davis Love III just finished his first nine holes of the day; he started on No. 10. Love III missed a couple of short birdie putts on the backside this morning and lipped out a short par putt on No. 3 on his way to a 35 on his way in. He birdied the signature 18th hole to get back to 5-under which is where he began today's round. Playing with Love III, Jim Furyk is also making a move. He is currently tied with Love III at 5-under par and is 2-under for his round. 

Justin Rose, who won last year's Order of Merit on the European Tour and is currently ranked No. 7 in the Official World Golf Rankings, withdrew after an opening round 76 sighting a bad back. 

11:08 - Defending champion Boo Weekley, 2006 champion Aaron Baddley and crowd favorite Jonathan Byrd, who played his college golf at Clemson University, are all 4-under-par for the day and share the lead with three other players at 6-under. Actually scratch that, things are changing quite quickly this morning on the leaderboard. Another former Clemson Tiger, Lucas Glover, just birdied No. 2 to become the first golfer to get to minus-7 and take sole possession of the lead.

12:06 - Boo Weekley is firing on all cylinders today. Weekley's birdie barrage has him at 7-under on the day heading to the par-3 17th hole. He is on pace to shoot a 64 if he pars out. The course record of 61 was set by David Frost in 1961. 

The Verizon Heritage is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and after Thursday's opening round the tournament's most celebrated champion is atop the leaderboard.

Davis Love III, who had his streak of competing in 70 consecutive major championships end last week when he failed to make the field for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, got off to his best start of the '08 season at one of his favorite events on the PGA TOUR. The five-time Heritage champion posted a 5-under-par 67 which included five birdies and no bogies. 

Love III is joined by former British Open champion and 1999 Ryder Cup hero Justin Leonard and local favorite Lucas Glover, who played collegiately at Clemson University.

Leonard is also a past champion in Hilton Head, claiming the Heritage title in 2002. His opening round 66 is his best start ever at the event.

Glover opened with a sub-70 score for the first time in his six starts at the Heritage. His previous best start was a 1-under 70 in 2006 - the only other time he broke par in an opening round. He has now held at least a share of the 18-hole lead four times during his TOUR career, including most recently the 2006 PGA Championship.

When the PGA TOUR last visited Hilton Head Island’s Harbour Town Golf Links dangerous winds forced tournament officials to suspend Sunday’s final round, which resulted in the tournaments’ first Monday finish since 2001.

Winds gusted up to 44-mph, strong enough to snap a limb clear off a tree and onto a marshal who had to be taken off the course and treated at a local hospital. Sand from fairway bunkers blew into the middle of those fairways and flagsticks exposed to Calibogue Sound on No’s 16, 17 and 18 were bent so badly that they nearly touched the putting surface.

The opening round of 2008’s tournament was the complete opposite. 

HILTON HEAD ISLAND – The winners of the Verizon Heritage and The Masters will each be presented with a brand new sports jacket for their accomplishments. At the Heritage the jacket is tartan, a plaid pattern usually seen in Scottish kilts, and at The Masters the coat is Augusta National’s legendary shade of green.

While the coronation at each event is of a similar nature, not much else binds the two tournaments together. 

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Verizon Heritage. The PGA TOUR has been coming to Pete Dye’s Harbour Town Golf Links for four decades. Here is a look at some of the notable groups worth watching during play on Thursday and Friday.

10:37: Just arrived at the media tent and while it's somewhat brisk out on the course, it's an oustanding morning for golf. There is some wind but less gustier than Tuesday. The wind is always the story at Harbour Town and it will be interesting to see how it affects the tournament this week. The scenery is spectacular at Harbour Town with the old, moss-draped oaks lining the course. The only downside to all of the plant life is the pollen it produces. Yesterday some of the cart paths were the same color as Brandt Snedker's mustard yellow slacks. Speaking of Snedeker, his team is off to a good start in the Pro-Am. They have the early lead at 11-under. 

11:22: Shortly after remarking that his drive on No. 10 landed in the 15th fairway and that'd certainly be a great spot to be now, an amateur in Justin Rose's group smacked his tee shot on 15 into a crowd of spectators standing near the 10th fairway. To his credit it went pretty far and didn't hit anyone. Ah, the beauty of the Pro-Am 

11:45: D.J. Gregory has arrived on the grounds at Harbour Town. Gregory, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy, is writing a blog for PGATOUR.com this year about his experiences during his quest to walk every hole on the TOUR this year. He picks one player each week and follows them for 72 holes. Last week in Augusta it was first time Masters participant Bubba Watson. This afternoon, Gregory plans to follow defending Heritage Champion Boo Weekley for nine holes. To check out Gregory's blog click here.

12:25: Defending champion Boo Weekley and fan favorite and five-time Heritage champion Davis Love III have both teed off in the Wednesday Pro-Am and are now out on the course. Brandt Snedeker's group posted a 56 for a score of 15-under par and are leading that competition. Dustin Johnson, a 2008 PGA TOUR Rookie, is among a group of local South Carolinians playing this week. Johnson was a two-time All American at Coastal Carolina University (Conway, SC) in 2006 and 2007. He got off to a great start, finishing tied for 7th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and tied for 10th at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Johnson said he has good memories of playing Harbour Town even if he can't remember it all that well. He was 11 or 12 when he won a junior tournament here but hasn't played the course since. He said it ranks as one of his two favorite courses in the state of South Carolina. He is expecting up to 100 members of his family and friends to be on hand this week to cheer him on. 

1:10: Most hideous golfing attire of the day, possibly ever displayed by two entrants into the Pro-Am event. The pair were sporting matching University of Miami golf shirts, black pants and Cincinnati Bengal socks. Let's just say the ensembles weren't much of a hit around the putting green and definitely weren't pleasing to Chris Dimarco who happened to be nearby and is a University of Florida graduate.

1:35: Watching J.B. Holmes drive the golf ball is a thing of beauty. If you've never been to the range at Harbour Town the practice area runs parallel to the 1st fairway and ends with a two-story retaining net supported by steel beams. Holmes' drives happened to smack the top of those beams a few times, sounding the bell. I don't think I would've wanted to trade places with any of the amateur players flanking Holmes when he pulled out his driver.

After his practice session J.B. said he really loves this golf course because it rewards good shots and punishes bad shots. He said you probably won't see him hit drive much if at all this week.

Holmes is coming off his first appearance at the Masters where he finished at 4-over-par and tied for 25th. "It could've been a lot better showing if I had made any putts," Holmes said. "The greens are the teeth of that course and you've got to putt well." As for the big injury news on the Tiger front Holmes said there wasn't any buzz about it among the players in the locker room.

2:25: What a fantastic day and it doesn't get any better than the view from the 18th tee box. The wind, which is probably the biggest factor every year at the Heritage, isn't too bad. However, a number of the amateurs had their tee shots pushed toward the trees on the right hand side of the fairway. Robert Allenby stroked a nice drive that found the middle of the most generous part of the fairway. Any tournament would be happy with a photo finish if the championship hung in the balance when the leaders arrived at the 18th on Sunday but the Heritage would be even sweeter. I'd like to think of this closing hole as the South's equivalent of 18 at Pebble Beach.

In unrelated news, word is that head South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier is taking in the Pro-Am; I guess becoming bowl elligible isn't a requirement for admission to the grounds. I think I also saw highly-touted USC quarterback Stephen Garcia who was dismissed from the team after his latest underage drinking ticket having a few beers at the Wild Wing Party tent behind No. 15.  

5:00: After spending the better part of two days debating who I think will come out on top this week, I'm ready to utter a prediction. Logic and history tells you that plenty of the big names will contend this week at Harbour Town. So expect to see Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Stewart Cink all in contention. Brandt Snedeker is a hot pick right now coming off his impressive Masters performance and I like what I've seen from him early in the week but I'll only pencil him in for a Top 10. I'm going with 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson to win his first Heritage this week. He gained even more confidence by backing up his green jacket with a solid performance last week and he still managed to finish sixth in this event last year. I also like J.B. Holmes and Jonathan Byrd to make some noise. 

HILTON HEAD ISLAND – With his long blond locks securely tucked beneath his Bridgestone Golf visor, Brandt Snedeker flashed his trademark smile that made him a crowd favorite last week at Augusta National. The 27-year-old native of Nashville, Tenn. had finally recharged and put an emotional Masters Sunday behind him.

“Sunday night was tough kind of sitting there having dinner, having a glass of wine trying to decompress and figure out what just happened,” Snedeker said Tuesday at Harbour Town Golf Links the site of the Verizon Heritage. “Monday I couldn’t have felt more refreshed and excited to be coming here. So it’s kind of a complete 180. I don’t know why it was that way. It was just because I got a chance to reflect and realize that life is not really that bad. I still get to play a game for a living. I still get to come here and have a great week.

“If you had told me at the beginning of the week of the Masters I was going to finish tied for third and lose to Tiger Woods and Trevor Immelman, I would have probably said I’d take it right now and watch it on TV,” he added. “You’ve just got to have some perspective.”