Among many RBC Heritage stories, Jordan Spieth was most important

 

The 47th RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing can be summed up in these four words: "Thank you, Jordan Spieth."

Fan favorite Jim Furyk won it in a thriller. It took birdies on two playoff holes for the old grinder to win. He edged young Kevin Kisner from Aiken, who kissed his 10-month-old baby after knocking in a birdie on the 18th hole to force the playoff.

But this year belonged to Spieth.

The 21-year-old gave the tournament energy it hasn't seen in years. By simply living up to his commitment to play, he attracted the largest gallery that Henry Pratt has seen in almost 20 years of announcing the touring pros on the first tee.

"From the get-go, I was always planning on coming here," Spieth said in a packed interview room Wednesday.

That came three days after his life changed forever with a wire-to-wire win at the Masters. It came after what he said was 25 or 26 different stops in 25 hours in the Big Apple.

"This tournament has been very good to me," Spieth said. "I had a start here in 2013 when I didn't have full PGA Tour status, (got a) top-10, and it helped with job security. And so it's a tournament that's close to me, and I love it here."

Since everybody else is piling the weight of golf's future on the tall kid from Texas, I will too. His appearance on Hilton Head at this moment in time gave the Heritage attention like the day Arnold Palmer won the first one in 1969.

This was the year of the brand new Harbour Town Clubhouse. It stands like the smaller building it replaced, and the tournament it was built for, as a new symbol that Hilton Head will aim high.

It was a year of large galleries, even though chances of rain reached at least 70 percent every day, according to a weather forecast that was wrong all week.

Such dire weather was forecast for Sunday afternoon that the whole final round was jammed into the morning, finishing minutes after 3 p.m., when CBS Sports usually starts its live broadcast.

But in reality, it was a nice day for as long as it needed to be.

And it was so pretty on Saturday that Harbour Town once again was the site of South Carolina's finest party. The Headliners got people dancing at the 18th tee, and Cranford Hollow played the "RBC Heritage Party at the Pier" by the Quarterdeck, as the marina rocked into the muggy night.

Furyk's praise for the tournament included this tip of his cap to the fans: "I think the folks here are so fun. There's a lot of events that feel like a party atmosphere, but this is kind of a classier party than some of the other ones we see."

It was a year with a new CEO of the title sponsor, Royal Bank of Canada, and an outgoing leader of the presenting sponsor, Boeing. Jack Jones, retiring as head of Boeing's South Carolina operations, said again in the closing ceremony that Boeing plans to be here for a long, long time.

It was the year that Ray Angell retired as head of the 1,000 or so volunteers who are the true grinders of the tournament. He said the key right now is recruiting, and that Sun City Hilton Head has gone in recent years from 30 volunteers to 300.

It was the first year that general parking was placed on the island's north end for the full tournament. It did not all go well, and local shops are having to digest what this means to their Christmas in April.

It was a year that more fans came by bicycle.

It was a year that the money-making pro-ams on Monday and Wednesday were booked, with waiting lists. A soft-spoken doctor whose family calls him "Golf Daddy," teed off for another pro-am. Dr. Nelson Carswell of Dublin, Ga., can once again say he's played in every one of them.

It was the year CBS Sports marked 40 years of coming to the island, with anchor Jim Nantz and reporter Gary McCord marking 30th anniversaries.

It was the year of the Internet, with this newspaper, the PGA Tour and many in the full media center scrambling to push out images, videos, vignettes and heroics in live time.

It was a year that Troy Merritt, a kid in an eye-peeling plaid shirt, tied the course record with a 61. It was a year that golfing legend Tom Watson, a two-time Heritage champion, made the cut and finished well for a man of 65.

It was the year that champion Furyk was in a Sunday threesome with a kid who turned all eyes to Hilton Head. Thank you, Jordan Spieth.

This article was written by David Lauderdale from The Island Packet Online and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.