FanPost

'Dawgs on Tour: Make it Plaid Edition! (aka RBC Heritage)

The Masters is over. I normally put up end of round updates in the comments of my respective fanposts, but I was driving on I-20 too much this weekend to do that. But MaconDawg threw up some threads that kept everyone up to date. Before moving on to this week's tourney, here's a recap of the Masters for our boys in Red & Black (alas, not green):

Brendon Todd: 80-71. Missed Cut.
Brian Harman: 76-72. Missed Cut.
Erik Compton: 73-72-74-74. +5 Total, and 51st place. Check=$24,600
Bubba Watson: 71-71-73-74. +3 Total, and T38. Check=$40,000
Chris Kirk: 72-73-72-71. Even Par Total, and T33. Check=$54,000
Russell Henley: 68-74-72-71, -3 Total, and solo 21st place. Check=$120,000

As you may have heard, Jordan Spieth won the Green Jacket and the accompanying $1,800,000.00. I incorrectly said that a young American would give it a run but fall short. Crow tastes great by the way. I did say Euros would be in the mix, and it turns out Justin Rose tied for 2nd, Rory finished 4th, and Poulter and Casey tied for 6th (Hello, Great Britain!). I also said Tiger would make a charge before falling back, and I'll just count Saturday's round as his charge and his 73 on Sunday as falling back.

We now hit I-20 West and I-26 South to the island of Hilton Head. They have a neat old course called Harbour Town at the southern end of the island, and an iconic lighthouse to boot, and here is where they play the RBC Heritage (known by many names, but also called "Harbour Town" for convenience). They also award a jacket to the winner, but it's a tartan plaid (now my title makes sense, right?). Being the week after The Masters, they have a "the little tourney that could" mentality and put on a first rate show for those who make it down to the SC coast. Faldo, Nicklaus, Palmer, Norman,Stewart are all past champions. And oh yeah, Davis Love won here 5 times. It's a smallish course, wound very tightly through oaks and palms alike, with small grainy greens and tons of doglegs. You cannot overpower this course, you have to matriculate your way through it. But it's a great test and provides some high drama as the players avoid brackish water and overhanging limbs on the weekends. And some here say it's better to visit than going to The Masters (heresy, mind you, but fun nonetheless). Here's who is competing as a former Georgia Bulldog (World ranking and Fed Ex Cup ranking in parentheses):

Brian Harman (94,116). After a missed cut, Brian could use a good finish to move up the FedEx rankings. Remember that players want the top 70 or so to know they're going to advance past the first round of the playoffs this fall.

Russell Henley (46,32). He's top 50 in the world, and hasn't missed a cut this year. Over $1.2M in earnings as well, and all without a win. He's been consistently on the 2nd page of the leaderboard. So he's doing fine, but this course suits his swashbuckling style and I think he gets another Top 20.

Chris Kirk (24, 50). Kirk is very solid, but he's also known to get hot over the warmer months. He's at sea level this week, and hopefully he starts his seasonal upward trend.

Kevin Kisner (257, 103). If you notice his rankings, he's done well in recent weeks to be near the Top 100 in FedEx Cup. But his world ranking shows he's only playing on the US Tour and is in the middle of the pack. A high finish would do wonders for his Tour status for future years. He made 4 cuts in a row, but missed the cut 2 weeks ago in Houston. Did not play last week.

Hudson Swafford (263,76). Like Kisner, his game is rounding into form but he still could use some Top 20s to secure his status and not have to go to Q-school or the Web.com Tour. Three top 35s including a T11 has helped, but he's missed more cuts than he's made.

Brendon Todd (52,65). Has only missed two cuts, but last week was ugly. Thursday included a 42 on the second nine, with a double bogey at 13 and a triple bogey at 15. That equates to losing about 6 shots to the field just on those two holes. He's in very good shape for the year, and has almost $700k of earnings, so its hard to quibble. But we've had no UGA wins on Tour this year, and he's one of the most likely candidates to break through.

No Bubba, no Harris English, no Erik Compton, no Imada. Bubba not showing up is no surprise, as he was planning on taking an emotional week off (he's emotional about a lot these days), but I am surprised Harris English isn't playing. English didn't qualify for The Masters, and this is a great tournament for families and bachelors alike, not to mention The Players Championship at Sawgrass in only a month away. But your defending Masters Champion Jordan Spieth is in the field along with tons of other big names

But there's still plenty to root on. And its carried on CBS Sat/Sun 3:00-6:00 pm ET and on The Golf Channel from 4:00-6:00 Thu/Fri. So if you like players forced to shape the ball, and hit 3-wood or less off the tee, and hitting punch shots through the trees, you'll love this week. And here's hoping we see a Bulldog don a hideous plaid jacket come Sunday evening!!!

Go 'Dawgs!!!

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