Down the road from Augusta, the show goes on

The Verizon Heritage, formerly the MCI Classic and the Heritage Classic, has been played the week after the Masters since 1983, so it is used to playing in the shadow of the year's first major championship. This year that act -- Phil Mickelson's heartwarming victory at Augusta National Golf Club -- is an even tougher one to follow.

But defending champion Brian Gay and a talented-if-not-high-powered field will tee off just the same today at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C., in pursuit of their share of the $5.7 million purse and more FedEx Cup points. The field won't include Mickelson. For the eighth time in the last nine years the Masters champion won't compete in an event that could use some support. But Mickelson and Tiger Woods aren't the only ones refusing to cooperate. In fact, just six of last week’s top 23 at Augusta National -- K.J. Choi, Ricky Barnes, Jerry Kelly, Trevor Immelman, Heath Slocum and Scott Verplank -- plan to tee it up today.

It's sad in a way because this is the last year that Verizon will sponsor the event and so far no one has offered to do so in the future. It would be a shame to see the Heritage become a casualty of our recent recession.

Harbour Town Golf Links is a Pete Dye designed course that favors ball placement over power. Interestingly, Jack Nicklaus got his start in golf course architecture when he assisted Dye on the design and building of Harbour Town. Its greens are some of the smallest on the PGA Tour and its fairways are lined with mature trees. Over the last eight years, only the U.S. Open's greens rank harder to hit than the greens at Harbour Town, making the ability to scramble a very important element in one's chances to win. Last year Gay was first in that category, getting it up and down 22 of 24 tries on his way to setting a tournament record for low score of 20-under 264.

Though many of golf's bigger names haven't taken part in the tournament in recent years, the Heritage has produced a lot of dramatic finishes, with the exception of last year when Gay won by 10 shots. Eight of the last 11 Heritages have been close, four decided in playoffs, three by one shot and one by two. In 2007 Boo Weekley edged Ernie Els by a shot by chipping in on Nos. 17 and 18.

For a closer look at Harbour Town Golf Links, check out this link:
http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r012/course.html

Information from GolfObserver.com contributed to this post.