How Pros Manage Post-Masters Energy for the RBC Heritage

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00:00How do the best golfers in the world play at Augusta and then turn it around and keep that

00:04energy high for a new week on the PGA Tour? Ben, it's a fantastic question, and it leads me right

00:10into Keith's Keys for this week for Harbortown Golf Links and for this signature event. Now,

00:15they have a no cut, so that gives them a little time, an extra time with which to kind of carry

00:20their game through. You know, Thursday, round one, manage your energy, and then by the time

00:25you get to the weekend, I'm sure they're all recovered. But as you know, when I look at the

00:29keys for this week, number one is how much energy did you spend at Augusta National? Like,

00:34what is your deficit? And a lot of these guys, although some played well, like a Xander Shoffley,

00:40he finished T8, but he was never really in contention. So he saved some energy. And Scotty

00:45talked about this in his press conference yesterday. He goes, you know, I was in it for a while,

00:48and when I was in it, you know, I am expending a lot of mental and physical strain. And I'm glad

00:54that at the end, well, if it wasn't going to work out that, you know, I could kind of cruise. Teddy

00:58and I were like, we're just going to cruise, you know, in here, get done and get out of here and

01:01get on to Hilton Head. So it is a major concern. Another thing, though, is that it's kind of ironic,

01:06but 10 of the last 13 winners here at the RBC have played in the Masters. So maybe the strain and

01:14stress of the whole thing, if you're not in contention, is a very good warmup for what they

01:18need to do down here, which gets me to my third Keith's Keys, which is that you have to be an

01:22absolutely stellar iron player. We know Augusta National is a second shot golf course, and these guys are

01:28skilled down here. The greens are the second smallest on the PGA Tour behind Pebble Beach at

01:32an average of 3,700 square feet. You got to be good with your targets coming from the fairways

01:37and maybe just off on the side. Yeah, it's a beautiful golf course. I've walked it before,

01:42but I do like the PGA Tour also, Keith. Back in the day, it was like, okay, you're playing the

01:46Masters, you take the next week off, which was the RBC. Now being one of those preeminent golf courses

01:51that they sort of upped the ante, we get some really good guys on the leaderboard just to start the

01:55week. But as you said, it's a unique golf course. It has some iconic images like the lighthouse

01:59there. How's the weather this weekend and maybe an impact on that advantage? Well, Donnie, as you

02:04can see, it's a little breezy this morning. Now it's 10 a.m. Eastern time that yesterday afternoon,

02:09I did a hit and it was really windy and it's going to be windy this afternoon when I'm with Carver

02:13and the guys. We are at the tip of the island. We're at the southern tip of Hilton Head. So even if

02:18you're using your weather apps and you're trying to bet from home and you're like, oh, it doesn't look

02:21that windy eight to 10 miles an hour, you know what? The weather app's not sitting here. My hair

02:26is okay. Guys, it's blowing. It's going to be beautiful out here. But the fact of the matter

02:31is, is that sunny and 65 degrees at the tip of this island is going to be a little bit of a challenge

02:37because these are corridors here and guys are going to have to hit their targets and manage

02:41their trajectory with that golf ball with the wind that we're going to feel all weekend.