Following the Masters Tournament, the PGA Tour is getting ready for its next signature event—the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. And just like Augusta National, the Heritage also provides the champions with a jacket, along with 700 FedEx Cup points and a massive chunk of the $20M purse. But instead of the vibrant green, RBC Heritage winners get to wear a red plaid jacket. 

The history of RBC Heritage dates back to 1969, with Arnold Palmer winning the very first event. That year, Palmer got to wear a canary yellow jacket to mark his win. Yes, it does remind many of Happy Gilmore’s jacket. Later in the 1970s, Charles Fraser, the organizer of the RBC Heritage and founder of the Sea Pines, decided to change that. 

The inspiration came from a 1790 golf print of Sir William Innes. He was the former captain of the Society of Golfers at Blackheath, Scotland. And of course, he was playing in a tartan jacket, highlighting the Scottish tradition. When Mary Fraser, Charles Fraser’s wife, saw the tartan, she believed it would make the heritage more festive. 

However, when the first sample of the jacket came out, Fraser wasn’t impressed. For a few years, the champion at RBC Heritage received only a red jacket. But later, Fraser requested Kinloch Anderson in Edinburgh to make the plaid jackets. And thus, the iconic Heritage Plaids were born. 

The Scottish-made tartans never made it to the public marketplace. Instead, the Scottish Tartan Society accredited it in 1970. So, only the winner of the tournament, a few politicians from South Carolina with an inclination toward golf, amateurs who pay for the Pro-Am, and the organizers get to wear the jacket. 

On top of that, the winner can’t really take the jacket home. Winners wear it only during the ceremony to honor the Scottish legacy. The next year, the reigning champion finally gets his jacket made by Palmettoes’ Dennis Jaworski. And the winners wear it while hitting the first tee shot. This time, Justin Thomas is set to do that. 

But as he gets ready to tee it off at Harbour Town Golf Links, Thomas also noticed a few changes in the course. 

Justin Thomas will face a redesigned course at RBC Heritage

Talking to the media at the pre-tournament press conference, Thomas revealed his thoughts after going through the first nine holes at the course in practice rounds. He claimed that he’d take a look at the back nine the following day. But the redesigned course certainly made an impression on him. 

“I’ll see the back nine tomorrow morning. I think Davis [Love III] and his team did a great job from what I can see. I think a lot of redoes or restorations, to be perfectly honest, I think they screw the course up pretty bad. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous a little bit about it.”

“But knowing that Davis was doing this made me feel a lot better. One, because he is very good at this, but two, he loves, he isn’t going to completely change a golf course at a place that he loves like Harbour Town. I think he won here five times, and this golf course has been great to him. Anything that he was changing or doing was going to be very minor and for the better because a lot of what makes Harbour Town what it is, you need to keep, and that’s the doglegs, the small greens, and the trees where they are.”

As players vie for the exclusive, historic plaid jacket honoring golf’s Scottish roots, they must navigate Harbour Town’s thoughtful redesign. Trusted with the restoration, Davis Love III ensured the course retains its iconic character while offering a fresh, modern challenge.

But the question is, can Justin Thomas win the tournament again and wear the red plaids at Harbour Town again?