ZIMBABWE’S leading amateur golfer Scott Vincent will tee off in the same field with recently-crowned Masters Champion Jordan Spieth when he makes his debut on the US PGA Tour in the RBC Heritage in South Carolina this week.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing which has a prize fund of $ 5 900 000 will be played from tomorrow to next Sunday over the famed Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island.
Vincent, who was yesterday confirmed as one of the sponsor’s exemptions, earned his place in the star-studded field after winning the annual Players Amateur Championship at the Berkeley Hall Golf Club in Bluffton in South Carolina last year.
“Vincent, a native of Zimbabwe, was the winner of the 2014 Players Amateur, held annually in Bluffton. The winner of that tournament is granted a sponsor’s exemption into the RBC Heritage. Vincent is a senior at Virginia Tech, and this will be his first start at Harbour Town,” the RBC Heritage organisers confirmed on their official website yesterday.
The 22-year-old Chapman Golf Club star will join 21-year-old American Spieth, who captured his first major title in historic fashion, matching the 72-hole Augusta National record low of 18-under-par 270 to defeat Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose by four strokes.
Spieth yesterday confirmed his participation in the RBC Heritage, a tournament he has played in each of the past two years. He was granted a sponsor exemption as a 19-year-old in 2013 and tied for ninth, and tied for 12th last year, the week after finishing as runner-up to Bubba Watson in the 78th Masters.
Vincent earned his place in the RBC Heritage after winning the annual Players Amateur Championship held at the Berkeley Hall Golf Club in Bluffton, South Carolina, United States, last year. He finished on 11-under-par 277 to beat a strong field 84 talented young golfers who had journeyed from all over the world for the prestigious Players Amateur tournament.
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The win completed a remarkable year for Vincent, who won three times during last year’s college season before he was named Virginia Tech University’s first ever first-team All-American.
With the country’s leading professional golfer Brendon de Jonge in the field, the RBC Heritage tournament will be the first time Zimbabwe will have two players in a PGA Tour event at the same time in three years.
The last time Zimbabwe had two players in a PGA Tour event at the same time was back in 2012 when de Jonge and Nyasha Mauchaza, who now plays on the Web.com teed it up at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina.
