Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – PGA TOUR – RBC HERITAGE, Harbour Town
Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina – New Masters champion Jordan Spieth
heads to Hilton Head this week to headline the field at the RBC Heritage.
Spieth becomes the first Masters winner to play the Heritage the following
week since Zach Johnson in 2007. Spieth will be joined at Harbour Town by
defending champion Matt Kuchar and reigning FedExCup winner Billy Horschel.
Those three are among 10 of the top-30 players in the world competing this
week.
Also teeing it up this week are World Golf Hall of Fame members Tom Watson and
Ernie Els. Watson is making his 25th appearance at this tournament. Els, who
has never won this title, finished second to Boo Weekley in 2007.
U.S. Amateur champion Gunn Yang and runner-up Corey Connors are also in the
field. Both missed the cut at the Masters last week.
Kuchar rallied to win last year thanks to a final-round 64. He holed a bunker
shot for birdie at the last to seal the victory. The win was his seventh on
the PGA Tour. Kuchar toppled third-round leader Luke Donald with that late
birdie.
Donald has finished inside top-3 in five of the last six years and has gone
47-under par in that span.
Kuchar will look to join Payne Stewart, Davis Love III and Weekley as the only
back-to-back winners of this tournament.
Golf Channel will have coverage of the first two rounds and early coverage on
Saturday and Sunday before handing off to CBS.
The PGA Tour heads to Louisiana next week for the Zurich Classic of New
Orleans, where Seung-Yul Noh hung on for his first tour title.
EUROPEAN TOUR
SHENZHEN INTERNATIONAL, Genzon Golf Club, Shenzhen, China – The European Tour
heads to China for the next two weeks, and first up is the Shenzhen
International, which is a new event on the schedule.
Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson will headline the field. Watson won the
WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November when he holed a bunker shot on the
72nd hole to force a playoff before making birdie on the first extra hole to
beat Tim Clark.
Among the other big names in the field are former PGA Champion Y.E. Yang,
Robert Karlsson, Matteo Manassero and Alvaro Quiros.
The field is comprised of 100 European Tour members, 50 players from the China
Golf Association and six sponsor invites.
Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.
The European Tour shifts to Shanghai next week for the Volvo China Open. Last
year, Alexander Levy cruised to a 4-stroke win thanks in part to a second-
round, 10-under 62.
LPGA TOUR
LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP, Ko Olina Golf Club, Oahu, Hawaii – The LPGA Tour is in
Hawaii this week for the LOTTE Championship, where Hawaii’s own Michelle Wie
won the title last year.
Wie went 70-67-70-67 to win the title by two strokes. She trailed by four
shots entering the final round, but rallied past Angela Stanford for the
title.
She went on to win the U.S. Women’s Open later last year for her first major
championship title.
Wie will be joined at Ko Olina by ANA Inspiration winner Brittany Lincicome.
They are among the headliners this week as seven of the top-10 players in the
world will be on hand for the Wednesday-to-Saturday event. World No. 1 Lydia
Ko and No. 2 Stacy Lewis are skipping the event.
Golf Channel has live coverage all four days.
The LPGA Tour returns to California next week for the Swinging Skirts LPGA
Classic, where Ko overtook Lewis in the final round last year to win her third
tour title.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
GREATER GWINNETT CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia – The Champions
Tour returns to action Georgia this week with the Greater Gwinnett
Championship.
Last year, Miguel Angel Jimenez won in his Champions Tour debut as he closed
with a 5-under 67 to beat 2013 champion Bernhard Langer by two strokes. Langer
carded three straight 68s in his title defense, but it wasn’t enough to beat
his former Ryder Cup teammate.
Langer grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie on the fourth, but he bogeyed
the eighth while Jimenez made birdie. Jimenez pushed his lead to three with a
birdie at the 12th and he cruised home from there.
Those two are both in the field this week as is Mark O’Meara, who shared 22nd
place last week at the Masters.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all three rounds.
Next week, the Champions Tour heads to Missouri for the Bass Pro Shops Legends
of Golf. Fred Funk and Jeff Sluman teamed to beat Jay Haas and Peter Jacobsen
at that event last year.
WEB.COM TOUR
EL BOSQUE MEXICO CHAMPIONSHIP, El Bosque Golf Club, Guanajuato, Mexico – The
Web.com Tour leaves the United States again this week as the tour travels to
Mexico for the El Bosque Mexico Championship.
Carlos Ortiz picked up his second win of the season at this event last year.
Ortiz struggled to a 2-over 74 in the opening round, but went 15-under par the
rest of the way to beat Justin Thomas by two.
Ortiz later won the WinCo Foods Portland Open to earn the battlefield
promotion to the PGA Tour with three wins in one season.
Each of the first six winners this season are in the field this week.
There is no television this week.
After two weeks off, the Web.com Tour returns to action in Indiana with the
United Leasing Championship, where Greg Owen beat Ryan Armour and Mark Hubbard
by one shot last year.
