20H
RBC Heritage
THURSDAY APRIL 13 2017 ISLANDPACKET.COM BEAUFORTGAZETTE.COM
Everything you’ve ever wondered about the Heritage jackets BY KELLY MEYERHOFER
kmeyerhofer@islandpacket.com
W
atch the closing ceremony of the RBC Heritage golf tournament this year. Not to find out who won. Not to listen to the winner’s speech. Not even to see the shiny trophy. Watch it for the jacket. “If you look really closely, it doesn’t fit him perfectly,” said Heritage Classic Foundation
spokeswoman Angela McSwain. For the few hours when all eyes are on the winner, he wears the iconic red tartan plaid jacket. But it’s not his to keep. After the tournament ends, a coat is made specifically for the winner. The jacket temporarily bestowed upon him by a representative of Boeing, the tournament’s presenting sponsor, is one of usually three or four backups — what Heritage officials call “locker stock” — that hang on plastic hangers in a locked storage closet at Heritage Classic Foundation headquarters in the Sea Pines Shopping Center.
A year passes, and another tournament begins. Foundation officials move the jackets to the tournament office trailer in the Harbour Town Golf Links parking lot during competition week. The jacket rack remains untouched until the 18th hole when a staffer, depending on which golfer is leading, plucks one or two coats off the hanger and has it ready for closing ceremonies. The “locker stock” is never discontinued, meaning champions of the same coat size share not just the distinction of being a Heritage tournament winner, but also, for a few brief moments, the very same plaid jacket.
HOW DO I GET ONE? It’s the most common question Heritage Classic Foundation president Steve Wilmot said he fields about the plaid jackets he and other board members wear at Heritage-related events. “You got to win it,” he tells them. The most frequent followup question Wilmot receives — Can I get a picture with you wearing it? — is one that he happily obliges. Winning the Heritage is the most widely known way to acquire the jacket, though it isn’t the only path to plaid. Between last year’s tournament and this one, at least 18 jackets were cut, said Dennis Jaworski, president of Palmettoes, a clothing and accessories shop in the Sea Pines Shopping Center, which oversees construction of the coats. So who else gets the coveted plaid jackets? Amateur golfers who pay to compete in the pro-am event, held earlier on during tournament week, can earn a tartan jacket if they have competed in the event for 20 or more years. As of 2017, 10 amateurs have received such
DELAYNA EARLEY dearley@islandpacket.com
Heritage plaid differs from Royal Stewart plaid in that the Heritage design has one fewer yellow bar.
distinction, McSwain said. Having certain business connections to the tournament could also help you secure a Heritage jacket. All new board members of the Heritage Classic Foundation receive a jacket. So do sponsor representatives, McSwain said. There’s also a political path to a plaid jacket. Become governor of South Carolina or mayor of the town of Hilton Head Island, and you’ll receive a jacket. At the Statehouse in Columbia a couple of weekends ago, Wilmot presented a Heritage coat to Gov. Henry McMaster, who took over gubernatorial duties in late January for Nikki Haley after her appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Some state senators, Wilmot noted, inquired about the jacket after the presentation. “Here, people know the jacket and what the tartan stands for,” he said. “Around the state, it’s not as recognized.” (But now) it’s starting to get truly recognized like the green at Augusta,” Wilmot continued, referring to the jacket that winners of the annual Masters golf tournament receive.