2023 RBC Heritage begins tournament play Thursday

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - The first golfers will tee off to begin the 55th RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island on Thursday.

Fans have been getting a look at some of the best golfers in the world the past couple of days. Patrons got a sneak peek at what’s in store for Thursday’s first round during Wednesday’s pro-am.

Amateurs got to play alongside the pros with several big names like world number two Scottie Scheffler and Masters champ Jon Rahm taking part.

This tournament has been sold out each day leading up to Thursday’s first round. That’s unusual says patrons who have come to this tournament for years.

But the big names here this year are drawing people out even during events early in the week like the pro-am. Even first timers say they couldn’t wait to get out.

“Very nice. It’s absolutely beautiful course,” said Lorraine Estrada.

“The number of people that are here I mean the number of golfers that are here because its purse is huge the um and all the players are going to be here. It’s just makes it more impressive,” said Rick Gilmer.

A fun day Wednesday for those amateurs but also for the pros who said they used the pro-am to study the course to prepare for Thursday’s first round.

This year’s tournament is a designated PGA Tour event, meaning an elevated purse with $20 million up for grabs. Just over $3.5 million will go to the winner.

That elevated status has also drawn in some top players, with several top 20 commits here this week.

Several of the Top 10 golfers will be playing one after the other Thursday morning. Golfers teeing off between 12:55 p.m. and 1:20 p.m. includes Masters Champ John Rahm and defending Heritage champ Jordan Spieth playing together.

World Number 2 Scottie Scheffler is in this bunch and Patrick Cantlay, who has played really well here.

“Just trying to learn something about the golf course. I mean learn how it plays kind of where to hit it where not to hit it and a lot of it you can pick up on it for the first time but just trying to do as much studying as I can,” Scheffler said.

The first golfers tee off at 7 a.m.

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