TOUR slows down one week of the year -- in Hilton Head

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The marina at Harbour Town is the focal point of the course and the week.

How about this for a good day?

Wake up and take a walk on the beach with the kids. Maybe find a couple of sea shells as the rising sun dances on the waves. Then, after breakfast, head to Sea Pines on a perfect spring day and play a round on one of the best tests of golf you will see all year. Hit a pin-point iron to one of those small greens as the Spanish moss waves an ocean breeze across the tree-lined Pete Dye masterpiece. After a little work and fine-tuning the game, perhaps you stroll over to the marina, just a short walk away. Maybe you even have a cocktail on the deck of a yacht.

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Later, you meet the kids under the grand old oak in the marina to listen to Greg Russell sing and play his acoustic guitar. After the show, you ignore the diet that you have been faithful to for weeks and order the shrimp and grits because you are in the Low Country. Early to bed, though, you have a tee time again the next morning. Before you tee off, you might take the kids on a bike ride through the plantation. Or maybe a pony ride in the afternoon.

This is a typical day for PGA TOUR players at the Verizon Heritage this week. A few years ago in PGA TOUR Partner magazine, Tom Lehman wrote this was his favorite week of the year outside of the majors. He is not alone in that assessment.

For those players who played the year's first major last week, the ocean breeze washes away the tension and rejuvenates the soul. The Verizon Heritage sets the standard for laid back on the PGA TOUR. Where every other tournament on the PGA TOUR is associated with a city, the Verizon Heritage stands alone. The nearest major city is Savannah, but it is merely a port to the barrier islands. On Hilton Head Island, big cities seem a thousand miles away.

For the casual golf fan, it must sometimes seem like the lives of PGA TOUR players are one long vacation. In some ways, that is true, but there is plenty of pressure -- pressure that keeps players at the golf course for long hours and away from the inviting attractions at most TOUR stops. You will rarely see a player in Times Square at The Barclays or at Wrigley Field during the BMW Championship. On Hilton Head Island, though, you will see them in the marina and in the local restaurants. You will see them on the beach with their families and riding their rental bikes down the bike paths. This week, the players are closer to the gallery than any other week of the year. The intimacy and attitude of the event remove that invisible buffer between the players and those who help pay their salary.

Ernie Els or Davis Love III can walk through the rollicking crowds at the marina without being hounded for autographs or stopped for conversation. In their shorts and tee shirts, they are just a couple of visitors enjoying the fragrant evening air.

On Friday night, there will be a small contingent of players milling around the marina a little later than normal. Those who miss the cut aren't likely to find a flight out until Sunday night, so they may as well make the most of a bad situation.

If there is another tournament where a PGA TOUR player acts like a tourist this much, I can't think of where it might be. But the prevailing attitude of the Low Country is that there are no tourists, just out-of-town guests.

Every week on the PGA TOUR, the red carpet is rolled out for the best players in the world. This week it is not necessary. The tournament staff may help with dinner reservations on Saturday night, but that is all that is required and more than is needed.

The Verizon Heritage is a perfect combination of time and place on the schedule for the PGA TOUR. It is a respite after the Masters and a prelude to the heat of summer that looms. It is adult spring break for those who make their living playing a game and a collection of fine days that move all too quickly.