RBC Heritage


The RBC Heritage, known for much of its history as the Heritage Classic or simply The Heritage, is a PGA Tour event in South Carolina, first played in 1969. It is currently played in mid-April, the week after The Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
The venue for its entire existence has been the Harbour Town Golf Links at the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton [Head Island, South Carolina|Hilton Head Island]. The Harbour Town course, which frequently appears on several "Best Courses" lists, was designed by famed golf course architect Pete Dye, with assistance from Jack Nicklaus. In 1972, the first two rounds were played on both the Harbour Town Golf Links and the Ocean course at Sea Pines, with the final two rounds at Harbour Town.
Originally played in late November, it moved to mid-September in 1973, March in 1974, and April in 1983. The inaugural champion in 1969 was forty-year-old Arnold Palmer, his first win in over a year. Course co-designer Nicklaus won in 1975, two weeks before his fifth Masters Tournament|Masters] win. Davis Love III leads with five victories in the event, Hale Irwin and Stewart Cink have three, while seven others have won twice.
From 1987 through 2010, it was sponsored either by MCI or its eventual purchaser, Verizon. The tournament operated without a title sponsor in 2011, and the Royal Bank of Canada has been the title sponsor of The Heritage since 2012. It is currently organized by The Heritage Classic Foundation.

Course

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4105024692005494191954733323,5494514364303731925884341744723,5507,099
Par454354344364444354343571

  • The course length at the inaugural event in 1969 was.

Invitational status

The Heritage is one of only five tournaments given "invitational" status by the PGA Tour, and consequently it has a reduced field of only 69 players in 2024. The other four tournaments with invitational status are the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Charles Schwab Challenge, the Memorial Tournament, and the Genesis Invitational. Invitational tournaments have smaller fields, and have more freedom than full-field open tournaments in determining which players are eligible to participate in their event, as invitational tournaments are not required to fill their fields using the PGA Tour Priority Ranking System. Furthermore, unlike full-field open tournaments, invitational tournaments do not offer open qualifying.
For the 2026 tournament, it will serve as the Tournament of Champions featuring all 2025 calendar year PGA Tour winners.

Field

The field consists of 70 or more invited using the following criteria:
  1. Top 50 in the previous year's FedEx Cup Standings.
  2. Top 10 in the current year PGA Tour FedEx Cup standings as of the Masters Tournament that were not in the previous year's Top 50.
  3. Aon Swing 5
  4. Current year PGA Tour full FedEx Cup points tournament winners.
  5. Top 30 Official World Golf Rankings
  6. ''2026 Only – All 2025 calendar year winners on the PGA Tour will participate.''

Playing history

The tournament has been played in the month of

Winners

Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Sources:

Multiple winners

Ten men have won this tournament more than once through 2024.

Highlights