[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 118 (Friday, June 26, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            2020 RBC HERITAGE PRESENTED BY BOEING TOURNAMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 26, 2020

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, on Sunday Webb Simpson 
stunned the golf world with birdies on five of his last seven holes at 
the 2020 RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing Tournament on Hilton Head 
Island, South Carolina, edging Abraham Ancer by one stroke.
  Played over the Harbour Town Golf Links since 1969 the event is 
celebrating its 52nd year envisioned by the late Charles Fraser for Sea 
Pines. The inaugural champion was Arnold Palmer. It created a platform 
of celebration and a marketing tool to introduce Hilton Head Island 
(the second largest island after Long Island on the Atlantic) to the 
world, named the No. 1 Island in the United States by Travel and 
Leisure Magazine.
  With an economic impact of over $102 million now annually, the 
Heritage Classic Foundation with J. Simon Fraser as Chairman and Cary 
Corbitt as 2020 Tournament Chairman; has since 1987, distributed $44.6 
million to persons in need throughout South Carolina and Georgia for 
charitable organizations, the arts, medical institutions, and for 
college scholarships.
  The Island Packet with Stephen Fastenau provided proactive coverage 
with a photo of PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan talking with Heritage 
Classic Foundation President Steve Wilmot, Hilton Head Assistant Town 
Manager Josh Gruber, Town Manager Steve Riley, and Mayor John McCann at 
the Harbour Town Golf Links. The RBC Heritage is broadcast in 23 
languages to 226 countries outside the United States. More than 1 
billion households across the world could see the Harbour Town's famous 
candy cane striped lighthouse.
  The Tournament is traditionally kicked off with a procession from the 
Lighthouse at the Marina led by bagpipers from The Citadel of 
Charleston. The first stroke is by the prior year's winner using an 
antique club from the Course of St. Andrews which had been provided by 
the First Secretary of Scotland (Prime Minister) Alex Salmond during a 
presentation ceremony at the U.S. Capitol steps coordinated by 
Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) who was gratefully wearing the Heritage 
Tartan plaid blazer.
  A highlight of the Tournament is a Saturday flyover of a Boeing 787 
Dreamliner or Dreamlifter over the famed eighteenth fairway. The world-
class jetliner is manufactured at the Boeing facilities in Charleston 
which was toured last month by Boeing President David Calhoun who 
provided three cargo shipments of personal protective equipment to 
Governor Henry McMaster and Medical University of South Caroline 
President David Cole to combat the virus pandemic.
  The Tournament is in recognition of the first golf course in the New 
World established in the Province of South Carolina by immigrants from 
Scotland.

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