RBC Heritage Review

PGA Tour players who were either off last week after not qualifying for the Masters or those that competed in the year's first major look forward to the RBC Heritage. The $5.8 million event starts Thursday at the low-key Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C.

This year's field has been increased from the usual 132 players to 144 as the Tour is attempting to mitigate the transition to a split-calendar that kicks in this fall. The locker room, which measures a mere 1,000 square feet in size and has only 146 lockers, will feel a bit squeezed for the 2013 tournament.

Returning to defend his title is Carl Pettersson. The big Swede, who now makes his home in North Carolina, strolled to a five-stroke victory for his fifth title on the PGA Tour, which tied him with Jesper Parnevik for the most wins by a Swedish-born player.

With a win this week, Pettersson will be the fourth player to win back-to-back titles at Harbour Town, joining Payne Stewart, Davis Love III and Boo Weekley.

Weekley's only two wins on Tour came in the Heritage. Love won't be in the field for the second straight year. In 2012 the North Carolinian was busy with his captain's duties for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and this year he's still recovering from neck surgery in February.

One of the more intriguing entrants is Australia's Jason Day, who made a great run at his first major title in the Masters. He was tied for the lead on Sunday with three holes to go but carded birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to fall into solo third at 7-under 281, two strokes behind eventual champion Adam Scott, who beat Angel Cabrera on the second sudden-death playoff hole.

Day will be paired in the first round with fellow Aussie Marc Leishman - who finished the Masters tied for fourth at 283 - and reigning U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson. They start play at 8:00 a.m. on the 10th tee. Teeing off 10 minutes ahead of that group is another marquee pairing featuring Pettersson, Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk.

After getting a share of the lead through 54 holes at Augusta National, Snedeker closed with a 3-over 75 to settle for a tie for sixth at 284. Furyk tied for 25th.

For all the pairings, visit http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/rbc-heritage/tee-times.html.

The first two rounds will be broadcast on the Golf Channel from 3-6 p.m., with CBS Sports taking over the weekend coverage from 3-6 p.m.

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