Hilton Head Sports

The RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing always attracts a strong field, but it has been rare for the world’s top-ranked golfer to appear at Harbour Town Golf Links the week after the Masters.

It looks as though that trend will change this April, as world No. 1 Dustin Johnson has committed to play in the 50th annual tournament. A 17-time PGA Tour winner and the 2016 PGA Tour Player of the Year, Johnson was born in Columbia and attended Coastal Carolina, but he has not played in the Palmetto State’s only PGA Tour event since 2009.

GET OUT THERE: 6 OUTDOOR ADVENTURES YOU HAVE TO TRY

In the ordinary run of things, when we talk about the end of winter and the beginning of spring in the Lowcountry, we do so with tongue planted firmly in cheek. After all, this is the subtropics. What winter do we have to complain about?

This year was not the ordinary run of things. For crying out loud, it snowed. Like, actual snow that didn’t come from a machine.

EXPERT TO ADDRESS THE ISLAND’S BIKING FUTURE

During his three decades shaping national and international bicycle and pedestrian policy, Andy Clarke has seen cycling become an important economic driver and a growing response to concerns about the environment and public health. The planning and policy expert has helped lead the revolution of bike-friendly communities. One of the leaders of the Bicycle Friendly Community program — Hilton Head Island enjoys gold-level status — Clarke will serve as keynote speaker for the the Southeast Biking Symposium.

Bluffton auto racer Gus Dean speeds into the future

Since he started racing go-karts at age 6, Gus Dean has had a one-track mind — or, you might say, a racetrack mind.

The Bluffton native captured the American Kart Racing Association’s Junior II national championship in 2007, before he even became a teenager, and he’s been roaring through the auto racing ranks ever since.

USCB TRACK STAR HOPES TO SLED HIS WAY TO THE GAMES

It took some time for Darryl Dunham to warm up to the idea of skeleton racing because, well, sliding down a frozen track head first on a tiny sled sounded awfully cold to someone who has lived his entire life on the coast.

How cold? Try 20 degrees below zero.

The University of Alabama won the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Golf Tournament last year. Cheyenne Knight was the individual champion in 2016 and 2017. The University of South Carolina's women's team hosted the event.

Long Cove Club, in partnership with Darius Rucker and the University of South Carolina, is hosting the seventh annual Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Golf Tournament from March 2-4, featuring feature top women’s collegiate teams from around the country.

Long Cove Club headed a group of six Beaufort County courses included in Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Courses for 2018.

The acclaimed Pete Dye layout at Long Cove ranked 19th – the highest-rated South Carolina course on the list. Old Tabby Links on Spring Island came in at 36th, while both Colleton River courses made the top 100 (Nicklaus at 71st and Dye at 95th). Haig Point on Daufuskie Island was ranked 90th, and Belfair’s West Course was 100th.

THE WEXFORD INTERCOLLEGIATE WILL RETURN TO WEXFORD GOLF CLUB FROM FEB. 25-27.

This year’s field of 18 NCAA Division I and II teams is highlighted by the University of Georgia and Texas Christian University. Other NCAA Division I teams in the field include Akron, Charleston Southern, Cleveland State, Davidson, Dartmouth, Dayton, Furman, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Memphis, Mercer, Presbyterian, Radford, and Wofford. Host Francis Marion and fellow NCAA Division II power USC Aiken round out the field. The tournament is open to spectators.

Doug Weaver, longtime director of golf instruction at Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort, was named the 2017 Palmer Maples Teacher of the Year by the Carolinas Professional Golf Association.

Weaver hosts private and group lessons, conducts weekly clinics, gives lessons to children while using songs to help them remember how to play, assists with Special Olympics programming, and serves as the Hilton Head Island High School golf team’s assistant coach.