Tomorrow marks the start of the RBC Heritage, the fifth of the eight Signature Events scheduled in the PGA Tour season. As you know: reduced participant list, prize fund of twenty million, and in this case, a no-cut tournament. The relative novelty of these types of tournaments means we still too often forget one of their most interesting peculiarities, which is the significant impact they already have on the formation of the US Ryder Cup team. The explanation is very simple, in a Ryder year, a US player earns one point for every thousand dollars won in a PGA Tour tournament (and 1.5 points for every thousand dollars won in the Majors), so this week’s winner, who pockets 3.6 million dollars, would also add 3,600 Ryder points, a figure that is more than double what is earned in regular events.
The US Ryder classification list, therefore, is really wide open, and each of the Signature Events can cause real upheavals, even more so than in the Majors, which distribute more points, but where it is much more challenging to finish in the top positions (and even to play them).
So much so that this week, up to 31 Americans are playing the RBC Heritage who, with a win, would provisionally place themselves among the top six in that classification (those who secure a direct spot for Bethpage), depending in some cases on other results. Those 31, it is understood, are not currently in the team. And in that broad list, we find many players who were not considered in any predictions to enter Keegan Bradley’s squad. Specific examples: J. J. Spaun, Tom Hoge, Michael Kim, Andrew Novak, Joe Highsmith, Jacob Bridgeman, Ryan Gerard, Sam Stevens, or Brian Campbell, among others. In fact, right now, Russell Henley or Maverick McNealy are among the top six, extraordinary players, of course, but not initially counted on. For some like Hoge or Kim, even a second-place finish in Hilton Head this week could suffice…
In the end, of course, it is understood that those other big names that every fan has in mind, and who are not even close to the top six right now, have the same or more opportunities to prove themselves. We refer to the likes of Thomas, Finau, Clark, Homa, Spieth, or Burns, to name just a few. But it is undeniable that the presence of these Signature Events and their millionaire prize funds are going to cause more than one surprise, as is already happening. On the other hand, these tournaments reduce opportunities for LIV players, who cannot play them and need excellent performances in the Majors, if they can play them, to compensate. The clear case is Patrick Reed, who with his third-place finish in the Masters has gained a huge number of points and positions, but is still more than two thousand points behind the sixth, which sets the benchmark.
The intrigue this week is once again provided by Keegan Bradley, the captain of the stars and stripes squad, who is willing to act as a captain-player if he earns the spot. Honestly, he usually doesn’t feature in any predictions in the Majors (he missed the cut at the Masters, for instance), but he does in these other tournaments (he was fifth in the past Arnold Palmer), and a win at Harbour Town this week would place him among the top six. Even a second-place finish would put him very close to the top six positions.
