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The recently concluded Heritage Classic was the last one with Verizon as the title sponsor.  The company decided not to renew its contract.  No immediate worries though.  The show will go on in 2011.

The Heritage Classic Foundation has will cover the roughly $8 million it will take to put on the tournament in 2011.  They have some backup too — in the form of a $10 million loan that was approved by South Carolina’s Legislature.  According to statistics, 48 percent of spectators attend for four or more days, so it is understandable why they got involved.  The money would come out of the state’s insurance reserve fund.

Five-time Heritage winner Davis Love III, along with several PGA Tour pros with ties to South Carolina and the Heritage, have stepped forward to help.

Charles Warren, a former Clemson golfer and Columbia native who received a sponsor’s exemption to play in this year’s tournament told John Boyette of The Augusta Chronicle:

“A great purse, one of the best golf courses, a great field and you’ve got a great date the week after the Masters. If you were to tell any other tournament they could have that, it’s the perfect storm for a great event. I just think someone’s going to see the value in that and the future’s got to look great for this tournament. It’s got so much to offer.”

Many Tour Pros and spectators would agree.

[Via: The Augusta Chronicle]

Harbour Town, a part of the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, is where the PGA Tour pros are headed next.  The Verizon Heritage Classic offers a different kind of challenge.  To start, this Pete Dye designed course has the smallest greens on the tour  (55% of norm).  It is also the shortest course on the PGA Tour (a 6973-yard, Par 71).  Plus, it is very narrow with most holes requiring precision driving accuracy.

John Farrell, Harbour Town’s Head Golf Pro, has been quoted saying that it is the course’s “target nature” that makes it play so difficult:

“You have to be real precise with your iron play to score well here, and you’d better be able to drive it to a certain part of the fairway to set up your next shot.  It’s a real position golf course that favors accuracy over brawn, and that’s why so many tour players like it.”

Harbour Town is probably best known for the signature candy-cane striped lighthouse which can be seen on the approach to the 18th green.  Interestingly enough, this  lighthouse that was never actually used for seafaring vessels.

About this year’s field:

Some of the golfers playing this weekend include returning champion, Brian Gay, Paul Casey, K.J. Choi, John Daly, Luke Donald, Jim Furyk,  Lucas Glover, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Camilo Villegas.

You can find the tee times here:

To learn more about the course, go here.

The total purse this week is $5.7 million with the winner getting $1,026,000 plus a very stylish plaid jacket.

Looks like CBS should raise a toast to Phil Mickelson and an “in the mix at the start of the fourth round” Tiger Woods for their roles in boosting television ratings 36% from last year’s win by Angel Cabrera in a two-hole playoff.

Sunday’s final round on CBS earned a 12.0 overnight rating and 25 share. The 2009 Masters was 8.8/21. The “off the charts” ratings of 15.8/32, occurred in 1997, when Tiger Woods won for the first time.

According to published reports, the 2010 Masters had the third highest overnight rating for a final round of any golf tournament since at least 1986, which is as far back as the records go.

So how did the 3-D broadcast do?  Check out the thoughts of this columnist, Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star.

For a technical overview of the 3-D broadcast, check out what James Pikover had to say at Tom’s Guide.

“Once I settled in to watch, I decided that the Masters in 3D was surprisingly good. The picture was clean, and the extra depth afforded by 3D imagery helped me to see slopes and distances. I believe the 3D actually added to the golf-watching experience. As someone who’s been on the course but doesn’t play, the importance of understanding a distance or a slope can’t be emphasized enough. Those distances and angles get lost during regular broadcasts. 3D fills that gap very well.”

It was the eye of the tiger.  I saw it on Sunday during the Masters broadcast.  However, it wasn’t the tiger many expected.  Rather, it was Phil Mickelson who hit a phenomenal second shot on No. 13 – off of pine needles, between two trees, over the creek, onto the green, four feet from the hole, sailing 207-yards.

Photo: David Cannon / Getty Images

He swung with determination and, I sensed, the confidence of a tiger going for a kill.

This report from Ron Kroichick  of the San Francisco Chronicle describes what happened on that dogleg-left par-5 where Mickelson’s tee shot drifted into the trees on the right. The ball ended up a few feet behind one tree, with another close by.

“Remember, he led the Masters by two shots (after Choi made bogey ahead on the green) and mostly needed to avoid costly mistakes. His swing coach, Butch Harmon, hoped Mickelson would lay up short of the creek. His caddie, Mackay, vigorously asked him to lay up short of the creek.

Jack Nicklaus probably lays up short of the creek. So does Woods.

Arnold Palmer and his modern-day descendant? No way.

“I tried to talk him into laying it up and he said no,” caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay  said. “Then we found out Choi had made 6, and I went at it again. He said, ‘Definitely no.’ He basically said, ‘Listen, there’s an opening in the trees and it’s a 6-iron into a big ole’ green. All I have to do is execute.’ Fair enough. I got out of the way, and you saw what he did.”

Said Mickelson of the opening in the trees: “The gap wasn’t huge, but it was big enough for a ball to fit through.”

So he brilliantly plopped he ball on the green, in what CBS analyst Nick Faldo called “the shot of his life.”

It doesn’t matter that he missed the short eagle putt and settled for birdie.  What mattered was the conquering attitude he had when he hit that shot.  You could see it and hear it.

At that point, I knew he had his third green jacket.  The bogey-free 67 was extra icing on the cake.

That’s the question that is on the minds of folks who purchased  one of three new Callaway drivers – the Diablo Edge(TM), FT-Tour(TM) or FT-iZ(TM) – at any Golfsmith store across the country between March 12 and April 7 (reported here).

>> UPDATE: Looks like the link has been fixed.  Here are the details:

IF YOU PURCHASED A PROMOTIONAL ITEM: If Phil Mickelson wins the 2010 Masters Tournament designated to take place April 8-11, 2010 or as may be officially rescheduled at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, GA (the “2010 Masters”), you will be eligible to receive a refund (the “Refund”) payable by check in the amount of the total purchase price of one (1) Promotional Item you purchased during the Promotional Period, based on date and amount shown on your original receipt. To obtain a Refund, you must mail your original receipt for a qualifying Promotional Item (which must clearly show the date of purchase) along with a 3×5 card with your name, mailing address, daytime telephone number, and e-mail address to Win With Phil Promotion; PO Box 8427; Melrose Park, IL 60161-8427. No copies of receipts will be accepted. Refund requests must be postmarked between April 12, 2010 and April 30, 2010 (the “Refund Period”).

… Refund checks will be mailed within 8 to 10 weeks after verification.

Complete details are available here.

>> UPDATE #2:  Announcement by Golfsmith

Golfsmith made an insurance investment that eliminated any financial risk associated (estimated to be $1 million) with the promotion.

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A quick look at the Golfsmith website has a link for those looking to have the purchase price of their Callaway driver fully refunded by Golfsmith.  However, it seems to be steering people into the rules for winning a chance to play with Phil — another promotion Golfsmith was doing.

No doubt that by Monday, the Austin-based Golfsmith will have this straightened out plus an announcement.  Because they are a public company (Golfsmith International Holdings, Inc. /NASDAQ: GOLF), investors will want to know the financial impact.  When Golfsmith announced the promotion back on March 12, they said they estimated “thousands of people will take advantage of the promotion, which is available through more than seventy stores from coast to coast.”

Stay tuned.