HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Thinking he might have a chance for a playoff, Jordan Spieth rolled in a 10-foot birdie on the 18th hole in regulation. He made an even bigger shot at Habour Town’s signature hole in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage.

Spieth’s 56-foot shot from a greenside bunker stopped 7 inches away and he beat Patrick Cantlay with a tap-in par Sunday on the lighthouse hole for his 13th career PGA Tour title — and second straight on Easter Sunday.

Sometimes, Spieth said, there’s a tournament where you feel you’ve played well, yet not good enough to win. “I honestly felt like this was that week,” he said with a grin. “I needed a lot of things to go right.”

And he got them all.

Spieth, at 13 under after his 5-under 66, finished four groups ahead of Cantlay and waited out the stellar field that had several chances to tie or move in front. But all except Cantlay could not chase down Spieth, who stayed away from watching too much of the action once he finished.

“Every single putt looks like it’s going in,” Spieth said. “It was way more nerve-racking than actually playing.”

Spieth was certain he’d get passed by Cantlay, the FedEx Cup champion; past British Open winner Shane Lowry or third-round leader Harold Varner III. When all three parred the par-5, 15th, the best chance for birdie on the back nine, Spieth felt his chances improve.

When Spieth finished, he was a stroke behind Shane Lowry. But Lowry’s chip on the par-3 14th raced across the green and into the water, leading to double bogey. He finished a stroke back after a 69.

After Cantlay, tied for the lead after a birdie on the 17th, hit his approach on the green on his closing hole of regulation, Spieth headed out to loosen up, certain he’d be called back after Cantley made the winning putt.

Instead, Cantlay slid it by right to set up the playoff.

In the playoff, Cantlay also hit into the front bunker, with his lie looking like a fried egg. He blasted 35 feet past the cup and missed the par putt.

Cantlay was 179 yards from the hole in the playoff and used a 9-iron as he did a short time earlier in regulation. This shot, came up short of the green and in an awful position.

“Obviously, with it plugged like that, it’s darn near impossible to get it close,” Cantlay said.

Three strokes behind Varner entering the round, Spieth eagled both front-nine par 5s to get into the mix.

Spieth had won his last event, the Valero Texas Open, on Easter to end a four-year winless drought.

Next Easter Sunday? The final round of the Masters.

“That’s good vibes,” said Spieth, a three-time major champion.

Cam Davis (63) also was a stroke back with Varner (70), J.T. Poston (64), Cameron Young (66), Sepp Straka (68), Matt Kuchar (68).

Spieth has won from the bunker before. He beat Daniel Berger with greenside bunker shot on first extra hole at the 2017 Travelers Championship.

Others besides Cantlay, who missed a 15-footer for birdie on his 72nd hole, had a chance to catch Spieth. Straka tied Spieth at 13 under with a birdie on the 17th, then bogeyed the final hole after his approach found some gnarly long grass in front of the green. Varner had birdie chances on each of his last four holes, yet could not convert any of them.

Spieth took off with the early eagles. On the second hole, he holed out from a greenside bunker. On the fifth hole, he reached the green in two and rolled in a 24-footer as the gallery erupted in cheers.

Spieth reached 13 under with a birdie on the eighth before falling back to 11 under with bogeys on the ninth and 11th. He moved into striking position with a birdie on the 13th, then struck his approach to the drama-filled lighthouse hole to 10 feet and posted at 13 under.

He came in this week bothered about missing the cut last week at Augusta National. “I hated it,” he said. “It was the worst feeling. It was the worst feeling as a golfer than I can remember.”

That turned around at Harbour Town in front a happy, sold-out crowd that Spieth said was four-deep during his pro-am round Wednesday.

“I was actually very surprised by the amount of support that everyone had this week, and I felt a lot of it personally,” Spieth said. “These crowds were just fantastic for it being a non-major.”

Spieth had only played the tournament three times since 2015 because it falls after the always grueling Masters week.

“What a great tournament to win,” Spieth said. “It’s an amazing golf course.”

THIRD ROUND

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Sometimes, your greatest obstacle isn’t what lies ahead but what rests behind you.

And, yes, we know you hear all the time how professional golfers preach the need to “let it go” and to “focus on the next shot.” Well, guess what? Sometimes they can’t walk the walk without a gentle push.

Or make that a more forceful push because Butch Harmon has been around too long to do a feel-good waltz when your feelings are hurt. So, when one of his newest students, Harold Varner III, sounded angry over the phone Friday afternoon – a ruling had not gone his way and his ball was deemed out-of-bounds at a key juncture in Round 2 of the RBC Heritage – Harmon suggested they strip away the peripheral stuff and get to the bottom line.

“You played a beautiful round,” said Harmon, who had monitored from his home in Las Vegas and knew that Varner had played 14 holes in 3-under in tough conditions before playing the last five holes in 4-over. “Stay positive, that’s your strength.”

If he needed a reminder, Harmon had that, too. The previous week, at the Masters, Harmon told Varner on Saturday night that he’d meet him at 10 a.m. Sunday at the practice area. “He’s going to rip me for shooting 80,” Varner kidded his caddie, Chris Rice.

“Rip him? The third round (weather) was brutal,” said Harmon. “He’s so upbeat, so fun to be around with, we just talked about going out and having a great day.”

Varner closed with a 69 at Augusta, finished joint 23rd, and has ridden that momentum – and Harmon’s warm embrace – into the pole position through three rounds of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Bouncing back from that miserable finish Friday, Varner a bogey-free, 8-under 63, pushed to 11-under 202, and owns a one-stroke lead over Ireland’s Shane Lowry (65), South African Erik van Rooyen (67) and second-round leader Patrick Cantlay (70).

Others are very much in the mix, however. Four are tied at 9-under – Hudson Swafford, former champ Matt Kuchar, Stepp Straka, and Aaron Wise. Then there are four more at 8-under – Tommy Fleetwood, Billy Horschel, Joel Dahmen, and Jordan Spieth, whose hiccup at the 18th hole is a perfect segue back to our entry point about putting the bad things out of your mind and pushing forward.

Needing a mere 18 inches to put the bow around a tidy 4-under 67 that had provided plenty of electricity by a 22-foot eagle putt from off the green at the 15th, Spieth sloppily and inexplicably pushed the tap-in wide right. Never did a round of 68 feel so deflating and while Spieth is still just three off the lead, what is always a challenge for golfers at this level is to see how quicky they forget.

The unheralded South African, who missed a 7-foot birdie putt at 15 at about the same time Spieth was getting Jim Nantz to gasp, “Oh, no,” said it comes with the job. “It was easy to move on,” he said of the short putt that would have given him a share of the lead.

“I saw it dead straight, and it broke left to right. I’m human. What are you going to do about it?”

Pretty much, you do what Cantlay did at the 18th – center-stripe a driver 302, stuff a 162-yard wedge to 4 feet and make the putt. It sure helped him forget about bogeys at 11, 12 and 17 that would deny him the lead or even a share of it.

With gold-star nonchalance, Cantlay shrugged his shoulders. The bad happens; go forth.

“I feel like, as long as you’re sticking to your process and you believe in your process, things are going to go in your favor.”

Usually, that’s easy for Varner, but he concedes that the dismal finish to Friday’s round went home with him. “I would say I’m really good at putting things aside, but I did not put that (ruling incident) aside,” he said.

Harmon’s advice helped and so did the arrival of the third round because when he got back to Harbour Town Varner was all business.

His challenge Sunday will be to put aside all the talk that often follows him around, that in seven seasons and 178 PGA TOUR tournaments, Varner has yet to win. (He was second here a year ago, but he started Round 4 eight off the lead and finished four behind Stewart Cink.)

“He’s due,” said Harmon, who will remind his student that his strength is his positivity.

Then again, given that there are 20 players within four of the lead, it’s not as if Varner doesn’t have fierce competition. Cantlay, with four of his six career wins coming last season, would appear to be the most formidable, but van Rooyen made it into the winner’s circle at the Barracuda Championship in the fall and Lowry is playing consistently as well as anyone on the PGA TOUR besides Scottie Scheffler.

Watching to see how Spieth bounces back will be intriguing and there is a parade of players at 9- and 8-under who could shoot 64 and win.

SECOND ROUND

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay birdied the final four holes Friday for a 4-under 67 and take a two-stroke lead over Robert Streb halfway through the RBC Heritage.

After dropping back with bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes, Cantlay turned it around on the most difficult stretch at Harbour Town Golf Links with the late birdie run in strong wind swirling off Calibogue Sound.

Cantlay had a 9-under 133 total.

Streb also had a 67. He appeared to be in position to take the lead into the weekend when he birdied No. 8 — his 17th hole of the day — to reach 7 under.

But Cantlay’s accurate irons and hot putter moved him back on top. The run started with a 13-foot birdie putt on 15. He caught Streb a hole later with a 10-footer. Cantlay stuck his tee shot on the par-3 17th within 8 feet for his go-ahead birdie, then rolled in a 21-footer on the par-4 18th.

“Obviously, that’s a dream finish,” Cantlay said. “I finally rolled in some putts and that was really nice to see going into the weekend.”

TOUR rookie Cameron Young went from his eye-popping debut of 63 on Thursday to a 73 in his second time around Harbour Town. Still, it was good enough to tie for third with Joel Dahmen, Cameron Tringale, Erik van Rooyen and Aaron Wise — three shots behind Cantlay.

Dahmen, Tringale and van Rooyen had 67s to match Cantley and Streb for low round of the day. round. Wise shot a 68.

Among the six another stroke behind at 5 under were three-time major champion Jordan Spieth and past RBC winner Matt Kuchar. Spieth had a 68, and Kuchar shot 69. In all, it looks like a weekend shootout with 33 players within six shots of Cantlay.

Cantlay’s steady and mindful approach to golf seems ready-made for Harbour Town. He’s had two thirds and a seventh in four appearances here and made $878,178.50 — and that’s with missing the cut a year ago.

Cantlay expects more wind and doesn’t expect to play much differently than he’s done so far. “Just staying with my game plan and continue to leave the golf ball in the right spots, which is paramount around this place, I think is the key,” he said.

Streb, who last won The RSM Classic in November 2020, has had a terrible experience at Harbour Town, missing the cut in four of his six career appearances. His best showing was a tie for 44th in 2015.

“Haven’t played fantastic around this place, so getting it around in the wind was really good for me,” he said.

Young shot a bogey-free 63 on Thursday in his course debut, the 24-year-old making Pete Dye’s treacherous layout look like a roadside pitch-and-putt. Young kept up his stellar play with a birdie on his first hole, the 10th, to reach 9 under. Then he, like so many others before, felt Harbour Town’s full fury.

Young had bogeys on the 14th, 15th and 18th holes, then a double bogey on the par-3 fourth. Still, the rookie is just another strong round from contention for his first TOUR victory.

“I feel like I’m hitting it really nicely and every chance I have to put myself in the fairway, even if it’s 20 yards farther back, I think I’m going to take a lot of those chances,” Young said.

The wind, with gusts of more than 20 mph much of the round, had a significant impact. After only seven holes played over par Thursday, 11 holes did Friday.

A couple of top draws won’t be around for the weekend.

South Carolina native and world No. 9 Dustin Johnson went 71-72 to shoot 1 over and fall to 0-10 in PGA TOUR events he’s played in his home state.

Cameron Smith, tied for third last week at Augusta National, also finished at 1 over to miss his first cut since the Sony Open in January. He shot 73-70.

Morgan Hoffmann, in his first PGA TOUR event since October 2019 due to his muscular dystrophy, came up a shot short of the cut, too, also finishing at 1 over with rounds of 71 and 72.

FIRST ROUND

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Cameron Young showed it doesn’t always take years of practice to go low at Harbour Town Golf Links, shooting an 8-under 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in his RBC Heritage debut.

The 24-year-old PGA TOUR rookie had eight birdies in a bogey-free round, his first in the 60s in 11 rounds going back to a closing 65 at The Honda Classic more than six weeks ago.

Young was two shots in front of Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and three ahead of seven others, including reigning FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay, Ireland’s Shane Lowry — who tied for third at the Masters last week — and Canada’s Corey Conners — who was sixth at Augusta National.

Mito Pereira, also of Chile, past RBC Heritage winner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, Adam Svensson of Canada and Sepp Straka of Austria also shot 66. There were 10 players at 67, including 48-year-old defending champion Stewart Cink.

Young had only heard of Harbour Town’s treacherous gauntlet of tight, tree-lined fairways and small greens that demand accuracy. Yet, the former Wake Forest player from New York quickly took to the layout with five birdies on the front nine.

Young closed his first Harbour tour with a birdie on the iconic 18th hole — the one with the red-and-white striped lighthouse as backdrop — with an 8-foot putt to finish a shot off his lowest career round in his young PGA TOUR career.

“You have to really pick your spots where you think you can be a little aggressive and places where you just can’t” Young said.

A bit of advice: Stay aggressive, particularly with a loaded RBC Heritage field in pursuit. The tournament features five of the world’s top 10 players, including Masters’ third-place finisher Cameron Smith and Collin Morikawa, who was fifth at Augusta National.

Niemann started slowly with back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes. Then he birdied seven of the last 14 holes to break out of the third-place logjam.

Lowry, the 2019 Open champion, said he couldn’t believe how quickly the round arrived after the pressure cooker at Augusta National. Still, he got his round going with three straight birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th holes along Calibogue Sound. He added two more birdies in his bogey-free round .

“It feels almost like a semi-holiday and you just go and play a bit of golf as well,” said Lowry, who’s had two top 10 finishes here in four previous appearances.

Conners aced the the par-3 seventh hole. He hit a 7-iron to the front of the green where it hopped twice and rolled into the cup. Conners couldn’t see it fall from the tee, but knew from the reaction at the green.

“A bunch of people put their hands up around the green, so I figured it went in,” he said.

Morikawa, second in the world, opened with a 70. Smith, whose triple bogey on the 12th hole at Augusta ended his Masters’ chase, shot a 73.

Webb Simpson, the 2020 winner, was 3 over late in his round when he reeled off five straight birdies (Nos. 14-18) on the difficult back nine for a 69.

Morgan Hoffmann played his first PGA TOUR round since October 2019 after stepping away due to muscular dystrophy. Hoffman shot an enjoyable, easy going, even-par 71. “The game didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as I thought it was, so it was pretty exciting,” he said.

All are chasing Young, who has proven he’s far more than a wide-eyed rookie, but one with a steady game and steely nerves.

He’s had two seconds this season and qualified for the Masters, where he missed the cut after consecutive 77s. Young spent the weekend off with family, decompressing from the Masters and planning for what’s next.

“Honestly, I wanted to play last weekend,” Young said. “But in terms of this week, (missing the cut) is not the end of the world.”

Especially if he can put up a couple more 63s. Don’t bet on it, Young said.

“I know it would be really nice,” he said. “But you have good days and bad days and rarely do you have four good ones in a row. I’m glad it came early and I’m happy I kept myself around for the whole tournament.”