Stars shine bright in memorable final round at Harbour Town

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Soft course conditions gave the best players in the world the chance to go pin stalking all week long at Harbour Town Golf Links at the 52nd annual RBC Heritage.

Coming into Sunday's final round, there were 35 players at 10-under par or better, and it was anyone's game. CBS and Golf Channel producers had their hands full trying to keep up with players making runs — setting things up for an entertaining Father's Day shootout on the classic layout designed by Pete Dye.

Webb Simpson won it with a 64, as he set a tournament record at 22-under par with a 262, two strokes better than Brian Gay's score in 2009. It was the seventh win of Simpson's career, and his first at Harbour Town. Sixteen players in the field shot 16-under or better.

Dylan Frittelli made his run early in as the University of Texas alum from South Africa birdied six of nine holes on the back side en route to a sizzling 62, just a stroke off the course record 61 shared by Troy Merritt (2015) and David Frost (1994).

Frittelli hit 15 of 18 greens and climbed from a tie for 47th to a tie for eighth.

"My putting was solid. I missed, I guess, one shortish one and one medium range one on 16. Besides that, I felt like everything was pretty much a tap-in, didn't feel like I had to make too many," the 30-year-old Frittelli said. "That's kind of the strength of my game anyway. So I look back and think, oh, it's just a normal round of golf, hit it where I saw it and make the odd putt, but I'm extremely proud of the way I played today."

He was the leader in the clubhouse when he finished his round, but knew that wouldn't stand.

"The course setup is not very tough today. With the top players in the world playing here, there's going to be someone that's going to shoot 4- or 5-under. I'm going to go home and pack my bags," Frittelli said. "I'll probably be sipping something cold by the time they're finishing."

Justin Thomas, No. 3 in the World Golf Ranking, had his best round of the tournament with a 63 that had him in a tie for the lead. He finished his last two holes after a weather delay caused by lightning shut things down for two hours and 46 minutes.

He had eight birdies and an eagle on the par-5 fifth, where he drained a putt of 36 feet, to counter a pair of bogeys.

After opening with a 72, Thomas climbed from a tie for 101st on Thursday to a tie for eighth. He was asked if he thought he could get back into contention after the poor start.

"You wouldn't think so," Thomas said. "But I know I have the firepower to do so, especially on a course like this, short with so many wedges and short irons. I think that's a strength of mine. To be honest, if I had putted worth a crap the last three days, I would have been about 30 under."

Thomas made 136 feet, 3 inches of putts Sunday. His second-best day on the greens in that category was Friday, when he made just over 84 feet on his way to a 66.

"I was glad to see some putts fall today. I kind of changed a little bit up in the setup," said the 27-year-old, who has 12 wins on Tour. "It was just nice to finally see some good shots work."

Brooks Koepka provided the shot of the tournament as the No. 4 golfer in the world made a run of his own with a 65.

Koepka eagled the par-5 fifth with a putt from 25 feet. But the one that went viral came on the 329-yard par-4 ninth, when he unleashed a driver with an epic shot that nestled about 3 feet from the hole for a kick-in eagle.

"I'm surprised it ended up there. I got a nice little hop left, kind of killed it on that upslope," Koepka said. "It looks like it hit the back of the sprinkler — not the sprinkler head, but just kind of the slope on it to kill it just enough to hit it 3 feet. So I'll take that."

He followed with consecutive birdies at No. 10 and No. 11, but fell back to a seventh-place finish with just one birdie down the stretch.

"Yeah, I thought if I birdied out the whole back nine (he would have a chance to win)," Koepka said. "This golf course, for whatever reason ... everybody is tearing it up. It's kind of frustrating because you feel like you make a couple birdies in a row and don't feel like you go anywhere.

"I was trying to get to 21 (under par). That was the goal, but I didn't putt very well today. It was as disappointing of a 65, I guess, I could have had."