Jordan Spieth won the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head after a one-hole playoff when he blasted a shot out of a bunker within inches of the hole to claim his second PGA Tour event on an Easter Sunday.
After 18 holes of golf in the fourth round at Harbour Town Golf Links, three-time major winner Spieth was tied with Patrick Cantlay, a six-time PGA Tour winner, at 13 under par.
Both players ended up in bunkers around the green on the first playoff hole, the 18th, but Spieth hit a spectacular shot out of the sand and tapped in for par for the win, while Cantlay was left with a long putt for par that he missed.
Spieth’s final four-round score was 271, including a 66-shot fourth round in which he had two eagles and three birdies. There were multiple leadership changes during the afternoon, but Spieth’s come-from-behind win left him standing alone in the end.
“It felt like a Sunday on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said later. “You compete. The first three rounds set it up today. Today’s all about trying to close it out.”
Spieth’s wife, Annie, the couple’s young son in her arms, rushed out onto the picturesque 18th green to give her husband a kiss after he claimed the victory.
It was Spieth’s 13th career PGA Tour win and came a week after he failed to make the cut at the Masters.
“It was the worst feeling as a golfer that I can remember,” Spieth said of failing to make the Masters cut. “It’s my favorite tournament in the world.”
He was feeling better after his win in South Carolina, his second Easter Sunday win in two years. He also won the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open on Easter Sunday last year.
Seven players tied for third.
On Thursday, 132 players began the tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort.
Spieth will pocket $1.4 million. Tennis great Stan Smith helped Spieth slip into the Heritage Plaid tartan jacket worn by tournament winners.
Spieth finished earlier than other contenders and had to wait in the clubhouse and figured somebody might surpass him. As he waited, he got to thinking about the tap-in putt he missed Saturday.
“There’s just no excuse,” Spieth said of the missed putt, “for those kinds of brain farts as a professional.”
This year’s Heritage featured a tough field that included 42 players who competed at the Masters the week prior, including seven who finished in the Top 10. Conditions were challenging at times, especially on Friday, when winds gusted to 30 mph. And the tournament was played before a normal crowd of spectators, about 100,000, for the first time since 2019 because of COVID-19.
“These crowds were just fantastic for it being a non-major tournament,” Spieth said.
Cameron Young, a PGA Tour rookie and New York native who lives in Jupiter, Florida, fired an 8-under 63 that put him in the lead Thursday following the first round of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.
Cantlay, a Long Beach, California, native who also lives in Jupiter, was the new leader after Friday’s second round, with a four-under 67 that left him nine under par.
Several players climbed the leaderboard during Saturday’s third round, but it was Harold Varner III of Charlotte who was at 11 under at day’s end after shooting a 63, two off the low 18-hole score for the course, and leading the pack.
That left Sunday’s final round showdown, which saw multiple leadership changes throughout the afternoon.
The last two RBC Heritage champions — Webb Simpson in 2020 and Stewart Cink in 2021 — held the 54-hole lead/co-lead after three rounds, just like Varner did this year. But Varner missed a birdie putt on the 18th and finished 12 under and tied for third. Varner finished in second place last year.
But prior to 2020, the event featured seven consecutive come-from-behind winners who were all trailing by at least two strokes.
Spieth began the day tied for ninth.
Matthew NeSmith of Aiken was the top finishing player with South Carolina ties. He finished 9 under par.
