Top moments in recent Verizon Heritage memory

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Though it's pretty tough to top Arnold Palmer winning the inaugural event, or Greg Norman walking the final round with (and dedicating his 1988 victory to) a 17-year-old battling leukemia, there's a long list of special "achievements" that could only happen in Hilton Head. Here are 5 recent ones (in chronological order) --

1. 1997. Before he became "Aquaman", Woody Austin was probably best known for his pre-YouTube moment, banging himself in the head five times and eventually bending his putter shaft after being bedeviled by the green at the par-3 14th hole. He would miss the cut that year, but nearly win in 2003 when....

2. Davis Love III chipped in at the 72nd hole from about 30 yards out, gesturing to his caddy/brother Mark after telling him he'd make the chip and force a playoff that resulted in his 5th Verizon Heritage victory.

3. 2004. On the fifth hole of his playoff with Ted Purdy, Stewart Cink drives his tee ball into the sand on the dogleg left 16th and removes tiny coquina shells behind the ball, throwing rules-aficionados into a tizzy. Removal of loose impediments in waste areas was allowed, Cink went on to win, but now the sand at the 16th is considered a regular bunker, with rakes and all.

4. 2006. Aaron Baddeley, carrying the image of the swash-buckling heartthrob Australian, does a 180-degree turn on that marketing reputation, and his career, by giving a testimony at the Easter sunrise service at the 18th green, then hours later dropping a 6-footer to beat Jim Furyk and win his first TOUR title.

5. 2007. After 40 mile-an-hour winds blow the sand out of the bunkers on Sunday, suspending play, Boo Weekley chips in for par at the 17th and 18th holes on Monday to edge Ernie Els by one stroke, though Ernie nearly holed out from the 18th fairway to force a playoff.

(There's a sixth one here that should be forever etched into Heritage lore -- in 2005, Darren Clarke closed one of the late-night local gathering places at 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning, made his tee time just after 7 o'clock and fired a 6-under 65, one of the great rounds anyone can remember under the circumstances and was still on the lead until finally paying the price with a disastrous double-bogey at the final hole that handed the tourney to Peter Lonard. Only in Hilton Head.)