The RBC Heritage

The Masters is undoubtedly one of the best events on the calendar, but the buzz of the year’s first major shouldn’t overshadow the prestige of the tournament that follows it. Moving down from the heart of Atlanta to South Carolina’s coastline, the RBC Heritage took place at the Harbour Town Links on Hilton Head Island.

Matt Fitzpatrick emerged as this year’s champion once all was said and done, and he played a tremendous tournament from start to finish. He carded three impressive opening rounds that included a stellar 63 on Friday. Come the end of Round 3, he was leading on 17-under-par with Scottie Scheffler in second place on 14-under.

Fitzpatrick started his final effort in a promising position, making birdies on the 1^st and 3^rd holes. He played constantly level after that, making par on every hole ahead of the 18^th tee. He missed his approach shot on his final hole, and failing to make an up-and-down save, he dropped a shot on the 18^th green, finishing on 18-under.

Scheffler doing what he does best, he overcame any final round pressure and charged up the leaderboard. He secured 2 birdies on both his front and back 9. An excellent chip onto and putt holed on the 18^th green had him finish on a par, level with the Englishman on 18-under.

The pair returned to the 18^th tee to begin their tense sudden-death playoff. Both players found the fairway from the tee, but while Scheffler’s approach shot ballooned in the air to miss the green, Fitzpatrick targeted the flag with expert precision, landing him a matter of feet from the hole.

Scheffler again made an up-and-down to save par, but Fitzpatrick was red-hot with his putter. His slight left-to-right putt slipped into the hole, and he bested the American with a birdie to win the playoff and the tournament.

It was the second time Matt Fitzpatrick won the RBC Heritage with a playoff, having defeated Jordan Spieth at the 2023 tournament. He was understandably thrilled to have won again “To win it twice means the world. To go toe-to-toe with Scottie and get over the line at the 73^rd hole is special.”

Scheffler had to settle with being a runner-up back-to-back after Rory denied him another green jacket the previous week. He showed exemplary sportsmanship and praised his opponent's winning form “I put up a good fight this week. It was just one of those deals where I played three out of four days with Fitzy, and every time he needed something, he made something happen. You name it, he was doing it, so he earned this one for sure.”

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