Hilton Head, South Carolina, June 16: World Number 1, Rory McIlroy will play with Rickie Fowler and the defending champion, CT Pan in the first two rounds of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links.
The week gains a lot of significance as Brooks Koepka enters the week No. 204 in the FedExCup standings and has been limited to just six starts during the 2019-20 season due to injury. Dustin Johnson is currently No. 115 in the FedExCup standings and has not missed the TOUR Championship since 2008 (his rookie season)
The RBC Heritage, traditionally played the week following the Masters Tournament, was originally scheduled to be played April 13-19, but was announced as cancelled on March 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it was once again back as the PGA re-worked its schedule.
McIlroy, coming into Charles Schwab with a streak of seven consecutive top-fives on TOUR ended T32at last week. Pan earned his first career PGA TOUR victory at the 2019 RBC Heritage, defeating Matt Kuchar by one stroke.
Fowler has two top-10s in seven starts on the season.
Last week’s winner, Daniel Berger is in another feature group with Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed. Berger earned his third career PGA TOUR title at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge and holds the PGA TOUR’s longest active streak of par-or-better scores (28)
Koepka is making his tournament debut and needs to do well to have a chance of making the FedExCup final series. He has been limited to just six starts during the 2019-20 season due to injury. With five top-10s on the season, including a win at the WGC-Mexico Championship, Reed is No. 4 in the FedExCup standings
World No. 2 Jon Rahm will play with former World No. 1s, Justin Rose, and Justin Thomas. Rahm has four top-10s in six starts on the season, but missed cut last week. Rose, competing at the RBC Heritage for the first time since 2008, finished T3 at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge. Thomas enters the week No. 2 in the FedExCup standings as one of two players with multiple wins on the season (THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, Sentry Tournament of Champions)
Dustin Johnson, who missed cut at Charles Schwab, Hideki Matsuyama and Gary Woodland are in another featured group.
Woodland, the reigning U.S. Open champion, has five top-10s on the season, including a ninth-place result at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge
The featured groupings on Thursday-Friday can be followed on the Golf Channel (in US, 3-6 p.m. ET) besides PGA TOUR LIVE, the PGA TOUR’s Over-The-Top subscription service. It is also available on via subscription on NBC Sports Gold (www.nbcsports.com/pgatour) and Amazon Prime Video Channels (amazon.com/video/pgatourlive).
