Bryson Nimmer — a native of Bluffton, South Carolina, just a few miles up the road for Hilton Head —has an intimate knowledge of Harbour Town Golf Links.
The 24-year-old has worked at the tournament, serving as an attendant on the range and even caddying last year for his good friend Spencer Ralston, a University of Georgia product who qualified as the champion of the Players Amateur tournament.
Now Nimmer, who starred on the Clemson golf team, is getting a chance to tee it up with the best in the world on Hilton Head Island. He’s making his first appearance at the RBC Heritage this week, having received a sponsor exemption.
“Obviously being a local, I’ve played the place a good bit, so tried to help (Ralston) out last year as best I could,” said Nimmer, who estimated he’s played Harbour Town close to 50 times.
RBC Heritage: Tee times, TV info | Yardage book | Fantasy picks
“I like a lot of the holes. It’s just such a good layout. It makes you hit golf shots. It makes you shape the ball. You’ve always going to be thinking. I’m really happy that the greens are firm and fast this year because it makes it play a lot different,” Nimmer said.
“You’re always kind of having to game plan and figure out where you want to land it, where it’s trying to finish. There’s no holes in particular that really stand out to me. But the par-3s are very important this week. You just have to really make good swings on those holes and try to just play them the best you can. Those are going to be really key this week for really any guy in the field.”
The former Tigers All-America is trying to make his way to the big time through playing smaller tours like the Mackenzie Tour, based in Canada.
He said he hopes his familiarity with Harbour Town helps him this week, but he realizes it’s going to be a whole different ballgame. He expects to have a huge contingent of friends and family following him starting Thursday, when he tees off with the last group of the day — playing with John Augenstein of Kentucky and Tommy Gibson of North Carolina. The group goes off at 1:51 p.m. Thursday and 9:01 a.m. Friday.
“I can’t even imagine how many people are coming. I’ve had a lot of text messages and a lot of people reaching out,” Nimmer said. “I know it’s obviously tough this year with the limited amount of fans, but I’d say there will be anywhere from 100, 200 people at least out there following, which is awesome. I can’t thank everybody enough that’s willing to come out and follow me.”
Savannah native Brian Harman, coming off a tie for 12th at Augusta National, is set to tee off with Bo Van Pelt and Will Gordon at 1:29 p.m. Thursday and 8:29 a.m. Friday.
Harman, a UGA and Savannah Christian alumnus residing on St. Simons Island, has top-12 finishes in four of his last seven starts, including a tie for third at The Players Championship.
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN