Boo Weekley reflects on contrasting victories in back-to-back years at RBC Heritage… click now to view more details đđ
The first time I stepped foot on Harbour Town Golf Links, I fell in love with the place. I think itâs because it reminds me so much of the golf course I grew up on in Milton, Florida â Tanglewood Golf Club.
The thing about both courses is they have a lot of tight fairways and small greens, and you gotta hit it to a certain distance to be able to get the next shot because of the tree limbs overhanging the fairways.
Maybe thatâs why the first two tournaments I played at Harbour Town, I won.
In 2007, I was coming off my final season on what was then known as the Nationwide Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour). I had played a full PGA TOUR season in 2002 but didnât keep my card, so I went back to the Nationwide Tour from 2003 to 2006. Two second-place and two third-place finishes in 2006 got me to seventh on the money list, and back to the PGA TOUR I went for 2007.
With the RBC Heritage tournament an invitational, I didnât get to play in 2002, but I was eligible when I returned to the TOUR. Thatâs right: The first time I ever stepped foot on the property was when I arrived for the 2007 tournament.
Of my two Hilton Head wins, the first one is probably more memorable basically because of what had happened a few weeks earlier in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. I had a chance to win the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches in regulation, but I three-putted the 72nd hole â missing a 4-footer that would have won me the title. I then lost in a four-man playoff the next morning. As soon as I tapped in for bogey Sunday night, my son, who was not quite 6, came running onto the green saying, âYou won, you won.â I had to explain to him that I didnât. After I signed my scorecard, I picked him up again and met with the media. All I could say, and I wanted my son to hear it, was that I choked, and thatâs what makes golf great â that sometimes you do choke, and itâs frustrating that you donât hit every shot perfectly.