HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — RBC Heritage will serve as a testing ground for the second straight season, as the PGA Tour debuts new measures they hope will increase the pace of play on the PGA Tour.

On Tuesday, the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer Scootie Scheffler met with the media for about 30 minutes after the opening ceremony just off the 18th green. The press conference was wide-ranging for the defending champion touching on subjects from being tired physically, defending this RBC Heritage title and how the PGA Tour can improve pace of play.

One of the big topics in golf right now is pace of play. The game is trying to attract more viewers, but the time needed to complete a round is perceived as a hindering to the growth of the sport.

This week, for the first time, the PGA Tour will allow players to use range finders to get exact distances on upcoming shots in competition. They hope this allowance will speed up the pace of play.

Scheffler said he forgot the Tour’s new rule started this week. However, he did say he did not think it would affect pace of play that much.

asked Scottie Scheffler what he felt the game could do to improve pace of play.

“The pace of play debate is funny,” Scheffler said. “I think people want to watch exciting golf. I think that’s what it’s all about. And let’s say if we do all these changes and we save 20 minutes off of a round of golf. Is somebody going to sit down on the couch on Sunday and be like, “Well, I didn’t have five hours to watch a round of golf, I only got 4 hours and 40 minutes like.'”

Jordan Spieth, who is ranked 58th in the world and won this event in 2022, agreed that distance-finders will not make a big difference in pace of play.

“On this [course] it’s going to be hard to tell,” Spieth said. ” Yeah, yeah. “You’re just going to have to compare to last year. That will be your only chance. But I mean it’ll be nice because out here you do get people shooting bunker carries more than they will pins because the pins are pretty obvious on what they are.”

Spieth said he will use a range finder for the RBC Heritage.

This week is a limited field with only 72 players and no cuts. Also, players are grouped in twosomes all week.

On Thursday, the defending champ starts at 10:15 a.m. He is paired with Viktor Hovland. In the second round, their round starts at 1:30 p.m.

As for Spieth, he is paired with Shane Lowry in the first two rounds. They will tee off at 10:50 a.m. in the first round and 1:50 p.m. in the second round.