Hilton Head Sports

JOHN FARRELL TALKS SEA PINES, HERITAGE PREP AND MORE

Spend time with John Farrell and you’ll quickly see that more than three decades in the Lowcountry have loosened the soil around this sharp-witted jokester’s Yankee roots.

But if the conversation turns to Sea Pines Resort, where Farrell has been employed as a golf professional since 1989, the tone turns more earnest.

HILTON HEAD CREW IS GROWING YOUTH SPORT

Teamwork is key in the sport of crew, because cooperation is the only way to move forward — or, in this case, backward. On Hilton Head Island in the spring, teenagers turn up for crew practice at the Rowing and Sailing Center knowing that if anybody on their squad is missing, they’ll be stuck on land. To practice on the water, every member of their team must be in the boat.

“I love that crew is a true team effort,” said Rhonda Rose, treasurer of Hilton Head Island Crew. “It’s a beautiful sport.”

A GUIDE TO THE LANGUAGE OF GOLF

Do you find yourself nodding along in vague agreement whenever golf fans get together? Tired of pretending like you know what they’re talking about?

Here are a few golf terms that might help you fake your way through Heritage week with at least a little more authority.

THE ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR BEGINS MARCH 13TH

For the win

Here's some terminology to help you better understand what March Madness is really all about.

Your chance to run in one of America’s top resort communities is close to slipping away. Registration for the 2018 Palmetto Bluffton Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10K on March 4 is close to selling out.

The Palmetto Bluff Marathon is run on a USATF-certified course and is a Boston Marathon qualifier, the Half Marathon course is USATF certified, and the 10K course is stroller-friendly. Each course winds throughout the beautiful Lowcountry community of Palmetto Bluff and is a complete loop. Race shirts are guaranteed to the first 750 registrants and beautiful medals are awarded to all marathon and half marathon finishers.

The Heritage Classic Foundation has extended its contract with Berkeley Hall Golf Club to host the Players Amateur through 2019. The event will be celebrating its 19th anniversary July 10-15.  This one-of-a-kind amateur golf tournament was created by players for the players and is made possible by generous contributions and donations from sponsors, volunteers and the host club. The Players Amateur has been played at Berkeley Hall since 2012.

The Heritage Classic Foundation has announced a new golf opportunity during this year’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing with the addition of the Tartan Invitational at Atlantic Dunes.

The Tartan Invitational is an exclusive 80-player event pairing each group with a special South Carolina personality. Honorary guests may be a PGA Tour professional, a musician, an athlete, an actor, or a politician. The event will take place on Wednesday, April 11, at Atlantic Dunes by Davis Love III, which was voted the 2017 Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association.

RBC Heritage presented by Boeing tournament director Steve Wilmot recently was elected to be the vice chairman of the PGA Tour’s Tournament Advisory Council.

The Tournament Advisory Council’s (TAC) mission is to improve the business conditions for all PGA Tour tournaments by establishing and maintaining relationships between tournaments, the PGA Tour and PGA Tour players. The TAC is made up of PGA Tour tournament directors. Wilmot will serve a two-year term as vice chairman and then will become chairman during the PGA Tour Annual Meeting in December 2019.

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.