After three rounds of the RBC Heritage Classic it is almost refreshing to see a couple of diametrically challenged guys going cheek to cheek for the title.  Neither Carl Pettersson or Colt Knost are candidates for doing Ab Buster infomercials but they are playing some kind of great golf this week at Hilton Head.

This tournament has a history of being won by horses for courses because of the unique character of Pete Dye’s Harbour Town Golf Links.  Guys not known for prodigious length have won here.  Boo Weekly has won twice here and used this stop annually as his personal annuity.  He is in the hunt again.  Brian Gay, Peter Lonard, and Jose Coceres have been winners over the last decade.

With tightly ensconced driving areas and overhanging limbs obscuring access to tiny greens it is all about accurate driving, a great short game, and adept putting if you are going to win here.  Carl is first in Greens In Regulation and Colt is first in Strokes Gained Putting which explains why they are 12 and 11 under respectively.

Pettersson is an accomplished player on the PGA Tour with 4 career wins and over $16 million in lifetime earnings on the tour.  He has won over $1.1 million with two seconds so far this year.  Knost is one of the most celebrated amateurs in recent history.  He won both the U.S. Public Links and U. S. Amateur in 2007 and represented the U.S. on the winning Walker Cup team that year.  The adjustment to this competitive level has been a challenge but Colt has made 6 of 8 cuts and made over $300,000 so far in 2012 for his best showing ever on the PGA Tour.

With the trend to ripped physiques and bulging biceps on the tour, it is great to see a couple of double chin guys who look like they could be in any Saturday foursome at your club in the final group going into Sunday.  They should be comfortable playing in the same group again-probably will share some Toasty Peanut Butter Crackers at the turn.

Hopefully there won’t be any celebratory belly bumps down the stretch-not sure the National Earthquake Control Center would know what to do with those readings.  Good news is no one looks skinny in that halucious Tartan Plaid Blazer they give to the winner.

(For more on Pettersson’s fitness routine see Brian Wacker’s PGATour.com article)

April, 2012