Island Packet Verizon Heritage 2008 Coverage | Harbour Town, Sea Pines Resort, Hilton Head Island, SC

Now its 35th year of existence, The Heritage tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links has had the biggest names in golf among its champions. With this elite group of past winners, the tournament has established itself as one of the top stops on the PGA Tour. Here is a closer look at the individuals who have worn the plaid jacket that goes to the Heritage champion:

Arnold Palmer
1969 (68-71-70-74--283)
Writers were already talking of the untimely demise of the "King" when Arnold Palmer came to Sea Pines to compete in the inaugural Heritage Classic on Thanksgiving Day in 1969. At the time, Palmer was suffering through a 14-month victory drought -- the longest of his career. But rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. The legend from Latrobe, Pa., led the Heritage wire to wire, holding off Bert Yancey and Rich Crawford to win by three strokes. Palmer pocketed $20,000 for the victory and the Heritage Classic was instantly legitimized by his win. Palmer finished that year by being named the Associated Press Athlete of the Decade. He was the first professional golfer to win the award. Palmer has 60 PGA Tour victories to his credit and has won seven major championships, including four Masters, two British Opens and a U.S. Open.

Bob Goalby
1970 (74-70-70-66--280)
In winning the Heritage Classic in 1970, the veteran Goalby was the only pro to finish the tournament under par, thanks to a final-round 66. Goalby has 11 tour victories to his credit and career earnings of over $645,000. His best year came in 1967 when he won $77,107, good for 10th place on the money list. One of the founders of the Senior PGA Tour, Goalby tied for fourth in the 1982 rain-shortened Senior International at Shipyard Golf Club on Hilton Head Island. He won the Peter Jackson Championship that year and finished as the tour's second-leading money winner.

Hale Irwin
1971 (68-73-68-70--279)
1973 (69-66-65-72--272)
1994 (68-65-65-68--266)
A full 21 years after his last title at Harbour Town, the 48-year-old Irwin amazingly accomplished the feat again in 1994, marking his third Heritage victory. That made him just the second player with three Heritage titles, joining Davis Love III. And he didn't just squeak by. The consistent Irwin shot two 65s and two 68s in his four rounds to set a then-tournament record with a sizzling score of 18-under-par 266 and defeat runner-up Greg Norman by two strokes. His victory was worth $225,000 -- $100,000 more than the total amount of the 1973 Heritage purse. A native of Joplin, Mo., Irwin recorded his first PGA Tour win at the 1971 Heritage. Irwin repeated as Heritage champion in 1973 with a 12-under-par 272 total. His first two Heritage victories were just the beginning of a successful career. Now a dominant player on the Senior PGA Tour, Irwin has 20 PGA Tour wins to his credit and is a three-time U.S. Open champion (1974, 1979 and 1990).

Johnny Miller
1972 (71-65-75-70--281)
1974 (67-67-72-70--276)
A two-time winner of the Heritage Classic, Miller laid claim to 24 tournament titles on the PGA Tour, including a victory in the 1994 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to break a seven-year title drought. Miller won his first tour event at the 1971 Southern Open, followed by the 1972 Heritage Classic and the 1973 U.S. Open, where he gained national attention with a final-round 63. From there, Miller soared to the top of the tour. He won eight times in 1974, including his second Heritage. He won the first three tournaments of the year, finishing 24-under par at Phoenix and 25-under par at Tucson.

Jack Nicklaus
1975 (66-63-74-68--271)
Not much more can be said about the man who has won everything there is to win in professional golf, including 10 titles on the Senior PGA Tour. With 70 PGA Tour wins to his credit, Nicklaus ranks as one of the greatest professional athletes of all time. His win at the 1975 Heritage was capped by a closing-round 68, which gave him a three-stroke victory. That same year, he won the Masters, the PGA Championship, the Doral Eastern Open and the World Open to finish first on the money list, something he did eight different times in his career. It seems appropriate that Nicklaus would claim the U.S. Open title as his first victory as a professional. All in all, he has won six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, three Tournament Players Championships, three British Opens, one World Series of Golf and two U.S. Amateur Championships.

Hubert Green
1976 (68-67-66-73--274)
1978 (70-70-70-67--277)
Hubert Green's 1976 Heritage win capped a three-week period in which he could do no wrong. The 43-year-old Alabamian had won the Doral-Eastern Open and the Greater Jacksonville Open prior to his first win at Harbour Town. A 20-year tour veteran, Green returned in 1978 to capture his second Heritage title. Sandwiched between the two Heritage wins was a victory at the 1977 U.S. Open at Southern Hills in Tulsa. With 19 career wins to his credit, Green won over $2.5 million on the PGA Tour. His 1978 Heritage victory boosted him over the $1 million mark.

Graham Marsh
1977 (65-72-67-69--273)
Graham Marsh's Heritage win in 1977 was the first PGA Tour victory for the native of Kalgoorie, Australia. Although he has 31 tournament wins to his credit, the Heritage is his only PGA Tour triumph. But Marsh has enjoyed a rebirth on the Senior PGA Tour, where he has five career victories and has finished in the top 10 on the money list several times. Among his other titles are two Swiss Opens, two India Opens, German, Scottish, Thailand and Malaysian Opens and the 1976 Dunlap Masters.

Tom Watson
1979 (65-65-69-71--270)
1982 (69-68-72-71--280)
More than any other player on the PGA Tour, Watson dominated the professional golf world during the late 1970s and early 1980s. From 1977 through 1980, he was the leading money winner on the tour. His Heritage victory in 1979 was one of five wins during that campaign. In 1980, Watson made history by winning six tour events and a British Open crown. He has won five British Opens and two Masters but he will most likely be remembered for his dramatic birdie pitch-in in 1982 at Pebble Beach which led to his first U.S. Open title. At the 1982 Heritage Classic, Watson trailed Frank Conner by one shot entering the final round. Watson battled back to tie Conner by the 72nd hole and won on the third playoff hole on a bitter cold, windy day. In addition to his Heritage and U.S. Open crowns in 1982, Watson also won the Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open in a playoff over Johnny Miller. Watson broke a nine-year tour victory drought in 1996, when he won the Memorial Tournament the first week of June. He also had three other top-10 finishes that year, including a tie for fifth at the Heritage, giving him his best season since 1987.

Doug Tewell
1980 (69-66-72-73--280)
The 1980 Heritage was not only the first PGA Tour victory for the 40-year-old Louisiana native, it may have saved his career. In 1979, he was ready to pack it in and look for another job after a dismal start. But a friend encouraged him to stick with the game and re-evaluate the situation by the end of the year. By year's end, he had won $84,500. In 1980, he missed the cut at the Players Championship but came back to win the Heritage the next week in a playoff with Jerry Pate. From then on, he continued to play well. In 1980, he captured the IVB-Philadelphia Classic on his way to earning $161,684 to place 17th on the money list. In 1986, he broke a six-year dry spell by laying claim to the Los Angeles Open and finished 18th on the money list. In 1987, he won again, at the Pensacola Open.

Bill Rogers
1981 (71-69-68-70--278)
Rogers was named PGA Player of the Year in 1981 after winning the Heritage, the World Series of Golf and the Texas Open. He won $315,411 that year, fifth on the money list. After missing the cut in five of the first six tournaments in 1981 and finishing in a tie for 51st at the Players Championship, Rogers was hardly a favorite among the 120 players at the Heritage. But a six-under par 278 edged Hale Irwin by one shot, and Rogers went on to have the best year of his career. Rogers' last victory was in the 1983 USF&G Classic in New Orleans.

Fuzzy Zoeller
1983 (67-72-65-71--275)
1986 (68-68-69-71--276)
Zoeller, one of the most colorful figures on the PGA Tour, scored one of the most popular Heritage victories ever in 1986 in winning with a closing birdie at the 18th hole. Zoeller went on to have a banner year with three wins and $358,000. His career seemed at an end following back surgery performed just after his 1984 U.S. Open victory. In typical Zoeller fashion, he promptly erased those doubts by winning the third tournament he entered after resuming play in 1985. Zoeller celebrated his 10th season on the circuit in 1983 with his finest year ever. In addition to his win at the 15th Heritage Classic, Zoeller won the Las Vegas Celebrity Pro-Am and lost to Jim Colbert in a sudden-death playoff at the Colonial National. All in all, Zoeller chalked up 12 top-10 finishes for a cool $417,597, second only to Hal Sutton on the money list. At the Heritage in 1983, Zoeller opened with a 67 to trail leaders Jodie Mudd, Lee Trevino and Mark McNulty by one shot. After a 72 on Friday, Zoeller fired a blazing six-under par 65 in the third round to take a one-shot lead over Bob Eastwood. His final round of even-par 71 edged Jim Nelford by two shots, while Eastwood and Mac O'Grady finished four back. Zoeller enjoyed a revival in 1994, playing some of the best golf of his career. Although he didn't win a tournament, he finished second or tied for second in five events, including The Players Championship and The Tour Championship. Overall, he was fifth on the 1994 money list with $1,016,804.

Nick Faldo
1984 (66-67-68-69--270)
Faldo became the first player in the history of the Heritage to record four sub-70 rounds, tying Tom Watson's then-tournament record 270 in the process. A native of Hertfordshire, England, Faldo had played the American PGA Tour part-time for three years prior to coming to the Heritage in 1984 but had shown indifferent results in the United States while still playing well on the European Tour. The Heritage win was his first on American soil. He has won six major championships, including the 1987, 1990 and 1992 British Opens, and the Masters in 1989, 1990 and 1996.

Bernhard Langer
1985 (68-66-69-70--273)
An international star before joining the U.S. tour in 1984, Langer rose to the ranks of superstar in 1985, first claiming the Masters title and then taking the Heritage championship the following week. Langer came from six strokes back in the Masters to close with a pair of 68s and take the title, but he was never far off the lead at Harbour Town. He finally took a one-stroke lead going into the final round and scrambled to a 70 and into a playoff with luckless Bobby Wadkins. Langer won on the first hole of sudden death with a routine par after Wadkins bogeyed. Surprisingly, the two wins in 1985 were the only victories for Langer on the U.S. tour until he won his second Masters crown in 1993.

Davis Love III
1987 (70-67-67-67--271)
1991 (65-68-68-70--271)
1992 (67-68-68-68--269)
1998 (67-68-66-65--266)
2003 (66-69-69-67-271)
Davis Love III accomplished what no golfer ever had by winning the 1998 MCI Heritage Classic — claiming the coveted title for a fourth time with a record seven-stroke victory. But he didn’t stop there.
Flying as low under radar as would be possible for a four-time champion shooting four rounds in the 60s, Love added a fifth tartan jacket in 2003, when he made a dramatic chip-in birdie on the 72nd hole, then out-dueled Woody Austin in a playoff.
Love also was the first to capture three titles with his 1992 win, in which he led or shared the lead wire-to-wire in joining Payne Stewart as the only golfers to win back-to-back Heritage titles. Love fired three straight 67s to take a three-stroke lead into the final round and was never seriously threatened, going on for a four-stroke win over Chip Beck. In 1991, Love took a three-stroke lead going into the final round and boosted it to four strokes before a triple bogey on the eighth hole set up a duel with Ian Baker-Finch down the stretch. Tied with Baker-Finch on No. 16, Love punched out from behind a tree and wound up with birdie, and Baker-Finch nailed a 15-foot putt to match him. The pair, playing in the tournament’s final twosome, fought the Calibogue Sound wind on 17 and 18. Baker-Finch fell victim to the swirling breezes, finishing with a bogey on each hole, while Love saved par on 17 and parred the final hole for a two-stroke win. Love finished with 271, the same total as when he won the tournament in 1987. In 1987, at the age of 23, Love became the youngest player ever to win the Heritage when leader Steve Jones hit his tee shot out-of-bounds on 18 and made a double-bogey, giving Love the title by a stroke. But Love’s Heritage victory was earned. His third straight 67 gave him a 13-under par 271 total. Love’s 1987 Heritage title was his first PGA Tour win.

Greg Norman
1988 (65-69-71-66--271)
In one of the most emotional moments in Heritage history, Australian Norman made a final round charge to make up four strokes and claim victory for a 17-year-old boy with leukemia. Jamie Hutton, a 17-year-old from Monona, Wis., was brought to the Heritage to meet Norman by a group that grants the wishes of seriously ill children. Hutton's wish was to meet Norman at a golf tournament. While Hutton watched from the gallery, Norman fired a bogey-less 66 to eclipse challenger David Frost by one stroke and put an end to a two-year American PGA Tour victory drought. Norman tied the tournament record for the best closing round set by Bob Goalby, who shot a 66 to win the second Heritage in 1970. Norman -- regarded as one of the finest players in the world -- has won two British Open championships and also won The Players Championship in 1994.

Payne Stewart
1989 (65-67-67-69--268)
1990 (70-69-66-71--276)
Payne Stewart landed his second Heritage title, achieving unprecedented back-to-back championships, in winning the 1990 event. It took a playoff to do it -- the fourth in tournament history and the first to involve three players. Stewart had led the entire final day, but found himself tied with Larry Mize and Steve Jones after 72 holes. In the playoff, Stewart birdied No. 17 along with Mize as Jones missed the green and was eliminated. Stewart sank an 18-foot putt for birdie on 18 and Mize missed his 20-footer, giving Stewart the championship. In 1989, Stewart quieted criticism of his lack of titles by claiming both the Heritage title and his first major championship, the PGA. Stewart's 16-under par 268 broke the tournament record in winning at Harbour Town two years ago. Stewart led or shared the lead throughout the tournament and tied the tournament record for biggest winning margin, five strokes. Stewart came back that October and nearly claimed his second victory of the year at Harbour Town in the Nabisco Championships. A bogey on the 72nd hole dropped Stewart back into a tie with Tom Kite, who edged Stewart in a sudden-death playoff. Stewart wound up second to Kite on the money list with $1,201,301 for the year. Stewart followed his 1989 PGA victory by winning the U.S. Open in 1991.

David Edwards
1993 (68-66-70-69--273)
David Edwards gave himself one of the nicest birthday presents anyone could hope for, firing a final-round 2-under-par 69 to claim his first-ever Heritage victory at the age of 37. Edwards finished with an 11-under 273 total, two shots ahead of David Frost, whose hopes for victory ended with a bogey on Harbour Town's famed 18th hole. Five golfers -- Paul Azinger, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark McCumber, Don Pooley and Fuzzy Zoeller -- tied for third, although none made much of a charge. Edwards, a former NCAA champion out of Oklahoma State, flies his own airplane from tournament to tournament, and was no doubt flying high after his 1993 Heritage win, his fourth career PGA Tour victory. He finished 1993 20th on the money list with $653,086.

Bob Tway
1995 (67-69-72-67--275)
Bob Tway, who hadn't won a PGA Tour title since 1990, finally ended his victory drought of more than 4 1/2 years at Harbour Town, winning a playoff with Nolan Henke and David Frost. Frost was eliminated on the first extra hole, leaving Henke and Tway to do battle on Harbour Town's par-3 17th, where Tway hit a 7-iron to within 2 1/2 feet of the cup. When Henke bogeyed the hole, Tway lagged his birdie putt just to be safe, then tapped in for par and the win, his first since the 1990 Las Vegas Invitational. Ironically, Tway had earlier chipped in for a birdie on the 17th, getting him into the playoff and bringing back memories of his chip-in from a bunker on the final hole of the 1986 PGA Championship, a shot that gave him a two-shot victory over Greg Norman. After his Heritage victory, Tway said his win at Harbour Town meant more to him than his PGA title, just because of how low he had been the previous few years. Thanks in large part to his win on Hilton Head, Tway was named PGA Comeback Player of the Year for 1995.

Loren Roberts
1996 (66-69-63-67--265)
Loren Roberts, called the "Boss of the Moss" for his putting prowess, lived up to his name and let his putter do most of his work in taking the 1996 Heritage title and setting a tournament record in the process. Roberts needed only 21 putts during a brilliant third-round 63, then followed it up with a 67 in the final round to easily win by three strokes over runnerup Mark O'Meara. Roberts led O'Meara by four strokes entering the last round and was never seriously challenged the final day. He broke Hale Irwin's 1994 tournament record score by snaking in a twisting 35-foot putt on the 18th hole, adding an exclamation point to his victory, which was the third of his career and the first that came somewhere other than Bay Hill, where he won in 1994 and 1995. Roberts won the Greater Milwaukee Open later in 1996.

Nick Price
1997 (65-69-69-66--265)
Nick Price knew he was getting his game back, and with his wire-to-wire victory at Harbour Town, he proved it to everybody else. With an impressive 5-under-par 66 in the final round, Price routed the field by six strokes, a new tournament record. The Heritage title was the first PGA Tour victory in more than 2 1/2 years for the world's former No. 1 player, who had a combined 10 wins in 1993 and 1994 to win back-to-back PGA Tour Player of the Year awards. On Hilton Head, Price looked every bit the player he used to be, playing brilliant golf all week to become just the third Heritage champion -- and the first since Tom Watson in 1979 -- to lead in every round. Price also had a second-place finish and two thirds to go over the $1 million mark for 1997.

Glen Day
1999 (70-68-70-66-274)
Day made his debut into the PGA Tour's winner circle for the first time last April with a come-from-behind rally that got him into a three-way playoff with Payne Stewart and Jeff Sluman. Then Day, who shot a brilliant five-under-par 66 on his last round to force the playoff, birdied the first hole of sudden death by drilling a 35-foot putt that found the bottom of the hole. Many in the gallery had forgotten he had played Harbour Town superbly a year earlier, finishing as runner-up to Davis Love III.

Stewart Cink
2000 (71-68-66-65-270)
Stewart Cink joined Arnold Palmer and Bob Goalby -- the event's first two winners -- to capture the Heritage title in his first appearance. The final round looked to be a showdown between four-time champion Davis Love III and Ernie Els, but Love could muster only an even-par 71, and Els, up by two strokes at one point in his final round, slumped to a 74 with a disastrous back nine. Meanwhile, Tom Lehman slipped into contention and actually led the tournament when he left the course with a fourth-round 65. But Cink matched Lehman's 65 with birdies on three of the last four holes and beat the former British Open champion by a single shot.

Jose Coceres
2001 (68-70-64-71-273)
For the second-straight year and the fourth time overall, the Heritage winner was making his first appearance at Harbour Town Golf Links. Jose Coceres, a 37-year-old European Tour player from Argentina, hadn't made a PGA Tour cut until the Friday of the 2001 Heritage after posting scores of 68-70. Coceres, who grew up poor in Argentina and learned to play by hitting rocks with tree limbs his older brothers fashioned into clubs, vaulted into contention with a 64 in the third round. He entered the final round two behind Vijay Singh, who was at 13-under after three rounds. Singh responded with his worst round of the PGA Tour season, a 3-over 71. No one else makes much of a run, though, and a rain-delayed Sunday ends with a tie for the lead among two golfers who closed with even-par rounds: Billy Mayfair and Coceres. They exchange pars on two playoff holes before darkness stops play for the day. Coceres lips out from three feet on the day's first playoff hole, missing a putt that would have given him the victory. The Heritage is about to embark upon the longest playoff in its 33-year history. Coceres needs up-and-downs on the next two holes -- from the left bunker on No. 17 and from the marsh below the 18th green -- but wins his first PGA Tour title when Mayfair three-putts from the right fringe on No. 18, the fifth playoff hole.

Justin Leonard
2002 (67-64-66-73-270)
His wedge and his putter, they were his staff. Justin Leonard hit only six greens in regulation and shot a 2-over-par 73 on Sunday, but that was enough to edge Heath Slocum by a single shot. At one point in the final round, Leonard was four strokes ahead of the field, but Slocum's series of birdies gained him a share of the lead at hole 14. But Slocum faltered in the sand on the dogleg 16th, taking a double bogey and allowing Leonard to retake the lead. Leonard capped his victory in front of the candy-striped lighthouse by banging home a par save to seal the title.

Peter Lonard
2005 (62-74-66-75—277)
The Australian Peter Lonard won one of the more bizarre Heritages ever played. The weather was unseasonably cold and very windy, and scores were among the highest in the event’s history. Lonard and Darren Clarke traded the lead over the first three rounds — with Lonard opening with a blistering 62, only to shoot a 3-over 74 the next day, then get back into contention with a 66 in the third round.) Clarke shot a pair of 65s to fall just one stroke off the tournament’s 36-hole scoring record, and although Lonard held the 54-hole lead, Clarke breezed past him by making birdie on four of the first five holes in the final round. But that was just the set-up to one of the most monumental collapses in golf history — up four shots with 13 to play, Clarke made bogey or worse on seven holes, including a double bogey 6 on the the 18th, where he pulled his approach shot into the marsh. That gave Lonard the tournament record for the low start and high finish by a winner.

Aaron Baddeley
2006 (66-67-66-70—269)
Aaron Baddeley’s career was considered mildly disappointing, given the hype of his amateur and early professional days, but that changed after 2006, when the Aussie won for the first time on the PGA Tour at Harbour Town. It was an eventful week in more ways than one — made the first eagle on No. 18 in seven years by holing out from the fairway on Friday, claimed a share of the lead with Jim Furyk while celebrating his wedding anniversary with wife Richelle on Saturday then dropped in a 7-foot, par-saving putt on the event’s final hole to secure the championship.

Boo Weekley
2006 (67-69-66-68—270)
Wretched weather — wind blew sand out of bunkers and kept balls from coming to rest on the greens — forced postponment of the final round before the leaders finished the first hole on Sunday. When play resumed Monday, it took a while for eyes to fall upon Weekley, who gained a promotion from the Nationwide Tour in 2007, five years after missing 18 of 24 cuts in his first stab at the PGA Tour in 2002.
A few weeks earlier, Weekley had blown a chance for his first PGA Tour win when he missed a 2 1/2-foot putt on the final hole of the Honda Classic. Perhaps learning from that experience, Weekley clinched the Heritage without needing the flatstick — he made par-saving chip-ins on both the 17th and 18th holes in the final round and avoided a playoff when hard-charging Ernie Els nearly holed out from the 18th fairway, a shot that would have forced a playoffs.