HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – South African Dawie Van der Walt didn’t like the fact that Canadian Mike Weir withdrew from the RBC Heritage after a first round 78 on Thursday. And, he didn’t mind complaining about it on Twitter.

Van der Walt, a 33-year-old PGA TOUR rookie who earned his card via the 2015 Web.com Tour Finals, has made seven cuts in 13 starts this season. His best finish is a tie for 17th at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Van der Walt shared this with his small Twitter following; later deleting it.

“Gota (sic) love a guy who gets an invite into a Tour event and then WD after the first round #hangitupmike”

He would backtrack with the following Twitter replies.

@BlairNealGolf @GrahamDeLaet @ahadwingolf @ntaylorgolf59 @HearnDavid I like him great player but he is hurt. I should not have said that

— Dawie van der walt (@Dawie1983) April 15, 2016

@Kooul @baldjoe @GrahamDeLaet I should not have said that its nothing against him it’s just when you hurt and WD and other could have played — Dawie van der walt (@Dawie1983) April 15, 2016

Weir, 45, didn’t immediately give a reason for the WD, but later clarified.

Feel bad about wd yesterday just recovering from bad flu bug that was going around our augusta house! Good luck to all team rbc players!

— Weirsy (@MikeWeir) April 15, 2016

He has not made a cut at an official PGA TOUR event since the 2014 CIMB Classic, where he tied for 21st. The Canadian Golf Hall of Famer received support from Graham DeLaet, Canada’s current top ranked PGA Tour player. The Weyburn, Sask., native commented.

@Dawie1983 classy tweet.

— Graham DeLaet (@GrahamDeLaet) April 15, 2016

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Missing the Masters made Luke Donald’s blood boil. The former world No. 1 channeled that anger to shoot his best round since January, a 5-under 66 at the RBC Heritage that left the Englishman tied with Branden Grace for the first-round lead Thursday.

The two were a stroke ahead of four players, including the world’s current top-ranked player in Jason Day.

Day caught Donald and Grace at the top heading to Harbour Town Golf Links’ closing, lighthouse hole. But he took an unplayable lie in a bunker when his ball bored into the sand and made his lone bogey to fall back.

Donald had been a major tournament mainstay since first playing Augusta National in 2005. However, he has fallen badly the past couple of seasons (he’s 95th in the world ranking) and was forced to watch the Masters at home instead of playing for a green jacket.

Donald shared his frustration on social media, posting on Instagram that not playing the major “quite frankly, it makes my blood boil.”

So Donald turned things around at one of his favorite layouts in Harbour Town Golf Links, posting his best score in three months since consecutive 65s at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

“I feel like I’ve got a few good years ahead of me,” the 38-year-old Donald said. “I don’t want to be sitting at home watching the majors on TV yet.”

He won’t be if he keeps playing like this. Donald got going quickly with birdies on the second and third holes. He moved to 3 under with a birdie on No. 6. After his lone bogey on the par-4 eighth, Donald posted three more birdies on the back nine to break par for the 23rd time in his past 29 rounds at Harbour Town. He has had five top-three finishes the last seven tournaments here.

About the only thing he has not done at Harbour Town is win. A victory this week would put Donald back on the major track.

“I have some good memories and good mojo here,” he said. “It’s nice to continue that with a solid round today.”

Most of the Masters’ main characters took the week off, including new dad and major champion Danny Willett of England and Jordan Speith, whose unexpected collapse over the final nine holes after holding a five-shot lead opened the door for Willett.

Day, who tied for 10th at Augusta National, is the lone top-10 player competing.

Day tied for the lead with a birdie on the par-5 15th and had a chance to move on top by himself a hole later, but slid a 14-footer past the cup. The Australians’ tee shot to the final hole was perfect and his approach seemed destined to strike the putting surface – until it didn’t.

His ball buried into the sand by the bunker’s front edge. Day looked a bit bewildered by the gaffe, then retrieved the ball and hit it close enough to hold off more damage.

Day acknowledged his energy level after last week’s major was low. “But you just have to suck it up and get through the week,” he said.

Grace held the lead at 6 under after his birdie on the 15th. However, the South African missed an 8-foot par putt on the following hole to drop back into a tie.

Grace said he came to Harbour Town after playing last week in part because of last year when his tie for seventh jump-started his run to full-time membership on the PGA Tour.

Defending RBC Heritage champ Jim Furyk is out this week as he rehabs from wrist surgery.

Jason Bohn, the 42-year-old two-time PGA Tour winner, returned to the game after his heart attack nearly two months ago at the Honda Classic with a 3-over 74. He was regularly greeted by well-wishers along the rope and played with a tiny, red heart on his golf ball, a reminder, he said, of what’s most important.

While frustrated with his play, Bohn believed he achieved what he wanted – a return to normalcy after a frightening health scare.

“The golf wasn’t so joyous. If I could’ve gone out and shot a couple under par, it would’ve been a lot better,” he said. “But this was a big round for me psychologically, just to know I could get back to competition. I could work my body as hard as I want to compete.”

Graham DeLaet was the lead Canadian after a 2-under 69. Adam Hadwin was even (71), David Hearn had a 72 and Nick Taylor had a 73.

Bryson DeChambeau, last year’s NCAA and U.S. Amateur champion, played his first event as a pro at Harbour Town and opened with a 70.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The Royal Bank of Canada will return as title sponsor for the RBC Heritage in 2017.

RBC has sponsored the championship for the past five years. The agreement was extended for one year as all parties work toward a more long-term deal.

The tournament won’t have to go back to the sponsor-less days after Verizon decided to end its deal after the 2010 event. The tournament went a year without a title sponsor before forging the agreement with RBC and Boeing – who also agreed to a 1-year extension.

John Taft, CEO of RBC’s U.S. wealth management unit, announced the agreement earlier this week at Harbour Town Golf Links.

The tournament starts Thursday with the final round Sunday.

RBC is also title sponsor of the RBC Canadian Open.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Danny Willett in a green jacket was hard to believe considering he wasn’t even sure he could play the Masters two weeks ago.

Jordan Spieth was even more stunned.

Nine holes away from history, the defending Masters champion threw it all away in a collapse around Amen Corner that was shocking even by Augusta National standards. He played the opening three holes of the back nine in 6 over par, including a quadruple bogey at the 12th.

Willet, five shots behind with six holes left to play, birdied three of his last six holes to polish off a round that might not get its due because of Spieth’s meltdown. He closed with a 5-under 67, with no bogeys on his card, to match the best score of the weekend.

The 28-year-old Englishman wasn’t even planning to play. His wife was due with their first child on this very day. Their son, Zachariah James, was born on March 30, clearing Willett to a most unlikely path to becoming a major champion.

Willett won in his second Masters, ending Europe’s 17-year drought at Augusta National, and he became the first player from England to win the green jacket since Nick Faldo in 1996.

How fitting. Faldo also shot 67 that day in a final round remembered more for Greg Norman throwing away a six-shot lead.

Spieth, trying to become the first player in history to win wire-to-wire in a major in successive years, ran off four straight birdies to end the front nine and build a five-shot lead.

And then it all fell apart.

A bogey from the bunker on No. 10. A tee shot into the trees on No. 11 that led to another bogey. Willett made birdie on the 14th to get within one shot. Spieth only needed to get past the dangerous par-3 12th hole to settle himself, especially with two par 5s in front of him.

Instead, his tee shot bounced off the slope and into the water. From the drop zone, his wedge was fat and Spieth turned his head. He didn’t even look as it plopped into the water again. He made a quadruple-bogey 7.

On the 10th tee, Spieth was five shots ahead. On the 13th tee, he was three shots behind.

Spieth still had a chance when he birdied both par 5s to get within two shots with three to play. But he missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 16th, and his bogey from the bunker ended all hope. He closed with a 73 and tied for second with Lee Westwood (69).

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Where does Jordan Spieth go from here?

He could have been sailing along on the second act to one of the greatest years in golf history. Instead, the young Texan left Augusta shaking his head, and trying to figure out how to shake off one of the most epic collapses in the history of the game.

It won’t be easy.

“Big picture, this one will hurt,” Spieth said, still sounding in a bit of shock outside the Augusta National clubhouse Sunday evening after it all slipped away. “It will take a while.”

Not only will Spieth have to erase the memory of his splashdown on No. 12 – a quadruple-bogey 7 that included two water balls and turned a one-time five-shot lead into a three-shot deficit to the eventual champion, Danny Willett.

Spieth will also have to clear all the bad thoughts out of his head. Over the weekend, he played 31 holes of good-to-great golf and put himself in position for a second green jacket at the tender age of 22. Those other five holes were 17 and 18 on Saturday, then 10, 11 and 12 on Sunday. He went a cumulative 9 over on those and had bad swing thoughts that he simply couldn’t overcome.

“The wheels kind of came off the last … holes on Saturday,” said Spieth, who brought his coach, Cameron McCormick, back into Augusta for a quick tuneup before tee time in the final round.

It helped. For a while.

My confidence going into the first hole was fantastic,” said Spieth, who made four straight birdies to hit the turn at 7 under, in the lead by five strokes. “But listen, I had my ‘B-minus’ game tee to green. Ultimately, you have to have your ‘A’ game every single part, and I just didn’t have those iron swings, as it showed on the back nine.”

All of which set up an awkward award presentation in Butler Cabin, which was then replicated on the practice green in front of the clubhouse.

First, Spieth had to present the green jacket to Willett in front of the television cameras.

Then, he had to do it again for the patrons.

Willett earned the honor by shooting a bogey-free round of 67 that left him three ahead of Spieth and Lee Westwood. Willett finished at 5-under 283.

Still looking a bit shocked, Spieth managed to muddle through.

“I can’t imagine that was fun for anyone to experience,” he said, “other than maybe Danny’s team and those who are fans of him.”

He fully expected to be taking home his own green jacket for another year, as is the custom for the Masters champion.

“I can’t think of anybody else who may have had a tougher ceremony to experience,” said Spieth, who now has to leave his jacket at the club.

For Willett, this is a career-changing victory that almost never got started. His first child was due Sunday. But Zachariah James Willett came early, on March 30, which allowed the new dad to rebook his ticket to Augusta and play in his second Masters.

Now, Willett can be mentioned in the same sentence with none other than Nick Faldo – the only other Englishman to wear the green jacket.

Faldo’s third and final victory at Augusta came courtesy of Greg Norman’s epic collapse back in 1996. Willett’s came courtesy of Spieth, though the 28-year-old Englishman, who will move up to ninth in world ranking, did plenty to earn the victory, as well.

He went bogey-free through the last 18 holes, which looks all the more impressive considering the shaky play going on around him.

Westwood, still 0-for-the-majors, chipped in for an eagle on 15 to get within one shot of the lead, only to miss a 4-footer to save par at the 16th – right after Willett had drained a longer birdie putt.

The two-shot swing finished off Westwood, who at least showed he’s still got game at age 42 after enduring a winless 2015, when his focus was clearly distracted by a divorce and a move back to his native England to be closer to his kids.

“Obviously, I must be doing something right,” Westwood said.

Dustin Johnson, another extremely talented player who has dealt with personal issues, also got within a shot of the lead but couldn’t pull out his first major title.

For Johnson, it was a familiar story – plenty of good shots, but some shaky putting and mistakes at the most inopportune times. He double-bogeyed the fifth and was all done after another double-bogey at the 17th. He finished in a tie for fourth with J.B. Holmes and Paul Casey, four shots back.

“I think my game’s exactly where it needs to be,” Johnson said, not looking at it as another one he let get away. “I feel like I’ve got control of my game. I’m looking forward to the year for sure.”

For Spieth, the next major can’t come soon enough.

But he has to wait two painful months for the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Time to clear his head, and try to move past the one he gave away.

“I’m very confident in the way that we play the game of golf,” Spieth said. “I think that when we’re on, I believe we’re the best in the world.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – What looked to be another march to the Masters for Jordan Spieth suddenly turned into a walk on the wild side Saturday.

Ultimately, Spieth was still in the lead for the seventh straight round at Augusta National, one round away from another green jacket.

But he sure made it hard on himself.

Leading by four shots with two holes to play, having handled the worst of the wicked wind, Spieth hit two wild tee shots and two poor wedges that led to a bogey and a double bogey for a 1-over 73.

He had a one-shot lead over Smylie Kaufman, Spieth’s junior golf buddy who is playing in his first Masters. And Spieth gave plenty of hope to a cast of challengers that range from 58-year-old Bernhard Langer to world No. 1 Jason Day. Hideki Matsuyama was tied with Langer at 1 under, hoping to become the first man from Japan to win a major.

Spieth was at 3-under 213.

“Understand this is the position I wanted to be in after 54 holes and not think about the finish to today’s round,” Spieth said.

Kaufman, who qualified for his first Masters by closing with a 61 to win in Las Vegas in October, kept stress to a minimum and rolled in one last birdie down the hill on the 16th for a 69, the low score of the day.

The biggest surprise was Langer, who won the first of his two Masters in 1993, three months before Spieth was born. On the 30th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus becoming the oldest Masters champion at 46, Langer is two shots behind in his quest to become the oldest major champion by 10 years. Langer ran off three straight birdies on the back nine and posted a 70.

He even beat Day, who was hitting it some 60 yards by him. Day managed a 71, and thanks to Spieth’s late implosion, goes into the final round just three shots behind.

Day was tied with Dustin Johnson, who had a 72, and Danny Willett (72), the Englishman who didn’t think he was going to be able to play his first Masters until his wife gave birth to their first child.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – On the 30th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’ final Masters victory, another ageless blond is making a run at the green jacket.

This one would be even more remarkable.

Fifty-eight-year-old Bernhard Langer used all his wits and guile to shoot a 2-under 70 on another challenging day at Augusta National, giving himself a shot Sunday at becoming the oldest major champion in golf history.

Leader Jordan Spieth – who was born almost four months after the second of Langer’s Masters victories in 1993 – was still on the course when the German finished out his stunning round on a bit of a downer, making a bogey at the 18th after an errant drive left him behind a giant magnolia tree.

Still, Langer walked off Saturday just three shots out of the lead, assured of playing in one of the final groups Sunday. He flipped his ball to a fan and headed off to ponder the idea of beating the record for the oldest major winner by a full decade.

“I’ll put my feet up, get some rest, and hopefully have a late tee time,” Langer said with a smile.

Julius Boros was 48 when he captured the PGA Championship in 1968. Nicklaus remains the oldest Masters champ, taking his sixth title at 46. And it was Nicklaus who contended again one final time at Augusta in 1998, at roughly the same age as Langer, before settling for sixth.

“I’ve been saying it’s going to happen sooner or later,” said Langer, mindful that two other players over 50 – Davis Love III and Larry Mize – also made the Masters cut. “Guys like Davis Love and Vijay Singh and Fred Couples are long enough to win the majors. I’m not quite at their distance, but I try to make up for it in other areas.”

Playing alongside the world’s top-ranked player,
less-than-half-his-age Jason Day, Langer showed that there are many
ways to get around Augusta National.

At the eighth hole, the 28-year-old Day drove it nearly 300 yards, and then left his approach about 40 yards from the flag. Langer’s drive was some 50 yards behind the young Aussie’s, which was pretty much par for the course all day, and he was still some 100 yards away after his second shot drifted off to the right.

But Langer stuck his third shot to 4 feet and made the birdie putt. Day left his much-shorter approach shot 7 feet off the flag – and missed the putt.

“Jason was outdriving me by many, many yards,” Langer said. “That was a big difference to make up. But so far, so good.”

Day was certainly impressed.

“When you consider some of the positions he is playing from compared to where I was, it was unbelievable,” said Day, who shot 71 and was one stroke behind Langer’s 1-under 215 total. “He plods along and knows his strengths and weaknesses. I had a lot of fun playing with him. I could tell how gritty he is and how much of a competitor he is.”

Langer, who will turn 59 in August, used a run of three straight birdies through the middle of the back side to charge up the leaderboard, highlighted by a chip-in at the 14th after Day sank a long putt of his own.

Can Langer pull off such shots one more day and actually win?

“I believe I can,” he said. “If I play my best, I can shoot 4 or 5 under.”

Tom Watson was 59 when he lost in a playoff at the 2009 British Open, but that was on the links of Turnberry – a manageable layout for a senior still on his game. But Augusta is a young man’s course, which is why Watson played the Masters for the final time this year and Ian Woosnam, who is actually a few months younger than Langer, announced Friday he was done after shooting two rounds in the 80s.

But Langer is still trim with a full head of wavy air, albeit with a bit of grey around the edges. He doesn’t concede anything to the younger guys.

“There are different ways to get around out there,” he said.

Langer leaves nothing to chance. As he stepped to the ninth hole, he kicked away a magnolia leaf, carefully paced off where he wanted to tee it up from, then brushed off a couple of more leaves.

He is steady and persistent, a professor of the fairways, taking full advantage of the vast knowledge accumulated over 33 Masters appearances. He won the tournament in 1985, while playing the final day in the next-to-last group with the late Seve Ballesteros, and it was Langer who awarded Nicklaus the last of his six green jackets the following year.

Langer won again at Augusta in ’93 for his only other major.

Now, he’s got a shot at one for the ages.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jordan Spieth set a Masters record on Friday by leading the tournament for the sixth straight round.

He sure didn’t seem to be in a mood to celebrate.

Spieth led by as many as five shots after a fast start, and then, just like everyone else on this wickedly windy day, he had to hang on for dear life. Spieth holed a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole for a 2-over 74 that gave him a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy.

“I’m still in the lead. I couldn’t ask for much better than leading,” Spieth said. “I’m a bit disappointed right now, fresh off the round. Two over on the last three holes will leave you that way.”

McIlroy, who needs a green jacket to complete the Grand Slam, played the last six holes in 3 under for a 71 to match the low round of the day. Conditions were so brutal that it was the first time since the third round in 2007 that no one broke 70.

“I know I’m in a good position going into the weekend,” McIlroy said. “And I’m happy with that.”

The prospects of Spieth and McIlroy in the final group at any major, much less the Masters, is tantalizing. Both of them realize that this is far from the duel. With more wind expected on Saturday, it feels more like everyone against Augusta National. And right now, the odds are with the golf course.

The way Spieth came back to the field, the Masters is wide open.

He was at 4-under 140, the highest 36-hole lead since that frigid, windy Masters in 2007.

Danny Lee bogeyed his last two holes for a 72 and was two shots behind, along with Scott Piercy (72). The only other players who remained under par were Hideki Matsuyama (72), Brandt Snedeker (72) and Soren Kjeldsen (74).

Dustin Johnson birdied all the par 5s for a 71 and was in the group at even par that included U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau, who felt the sting of Augusta on the final hole. DeChambeau was playing the best round of the day at 3 under and just one shot out of the lead. But he hooked his tee shot into the trees and had to return to the tee, hooked the next one and made triple bogey for a 72.

Still in the mix was Jason Day, who sputtered along to a 73 but was only five shots behind.

“It almost feels like a U.S. Open where you need to survive,” Day said. “And I’m trying my best to survive right now.”

Spieth finished a round over par at Augusta for the first time in his three Masters appearances. Coming off his wire-to-wire victory last year, that par save from the bunker on the 18th allowed him to set a record for most consecutive rounds in the lead. Arnold Palmer was atop the leaderboard for six straight rounds in 1960 and the opening two rounds in 1961, though he shared in those last two rounds.

Even so, it was hard to get past Spieth’s mistakes – a four-putt double bogey on No. 5, a three-putt bogey on No. 16. Frustration began to set in on the 10th when Spieth posed over his approach until it came up short of the green. “How is that into the wind?” he said, before turning and having a stern conversation with himself.

McIlroy was as many as eight shots behind and never lost sight of the difficult conditions. He picked up birdies on the two par 5s on the back, and holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th before finishing with a par save out of the trees.

“I was at 8 under and you finish at 4. That’s kind of tough,” Spieth said. “I felt like I played better than 4 over from the fourth hole on.”

The gusts topped out at 30 mph on Friday, and it’s not expected to get easier. Throw in the pressure on Spieth to become only the fourth back-to-back winner at the Masters, and a burden on McIlroy to finish off the Grand Slam, and this could be theater at its finest.

“Tomorrow is going to be more difficult than today,” Spieth said. “Even par is one heck of a score tomorrow.”

He said anyone breaking par Saturday could move into the lead from as far back as 25th place.

Spieth’s par on the last hole not only kept him in the lead, it sent Phil Mickelson home for the weekend because of the 10-shot rule. Mickelson shot a career-high 79 and finished at 7-over to miss the cut.

Tom Watson missed the cut by two shots in his final Masters appearance, walking up the 18th fairway to a standing ovation and warm applause. He parred his last four holes for a 78 and said later, “I’m glad I don’t have to play that 18th hole anymore.”

Spieth, McIlroy and everyone else have two more days to endure to see who claims the green jacket.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jordan Spieth was frustrated Friday when Masters officials put his group on the clock ahead of the toughest stretch at Augusta National.

Spieth, Paul Casey and Bryson DeChambeau were told on the 11th hole – the toughest in the second round – that they were being timed for being out of position. Spieth hit his approach some 75 feet from the hole and was heard saying to his caddie, “I’m being … timed. I want to take my time, wait out the gusts.”

He two-putted for par, escaped with a par from the bunker short of the 12th green and the group was back in position a short time later.

Under pace-of-place guidelines, a player is warned if he goes over his allotted time while on the clock, and the second violation is a one-shot penalty.

Spieth chose his words carefully when asked if it was fair for his group to be put on the clock.

“I wouldn’t say it was unfair,” he said. “I would say that … have fun getting put on the clock at 11 of Augusta, and then play 11 and 12 rushing with gusting wind. It’s not fun. It’s not fun at all.”

He said the group also was put on the clock at the 17th.

Spieth had a 2-over 74 and had a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy.

Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old amateur from China, was given two bad times in 2013 and assessed a penalty shot in the second round. He still made the cut.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Bryson DeChambeau says he didn’t get flustered when his tee shot on the 18th hole went into a holly bush, or when his do-over was even worse.

The U.S. Amateur and NCAA champion put his philosophy of execution over emotion to a strenuous test on a disastrous finish at Augusta National Friday. One shot off the Masters lead and trying to polish off the day’s best round, DeChambeau went for a low drive so it wouldn’t get waylaid by the wind.

Instead, the ball went left into the shrubbery and was unplayable. He went back to the tee and sent it even farther to the left, near a green fence and well off the fairway.

He and a rules official had to hike through a woodsy area and weave their way through tables to take a drop next to a road, some 40 yards from where the errant ball landed. The end result was a closing triple bogey and an even par round left the 22-year-old tied for eighth, four shots behind playing partner Jordan Spieth.

A par on the 18th would have had left him one shot off the lead, tied with Rory McIlroy for second.

DeChambeau’s said he never lost his cool.

“Even when I duck-hooked it twice, I was like, ‘You know what, it’s just a good opportunity to show my character and good grace as well,'” he said.

In other words, be professional when it would be easy to behave otherwise. A professional is exactly what DeChambeau will be after the Masters, his final event as an amateur.

He’s already in select company with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ryan Moore as the only players to pull off the NCAA/U.S. Amateur double.

DeChambeau, playing in a Ben Hogan-style cap, had six birdies in his second straight even-par round, including two on Amen Corner. He did that in front of huge throngs of fans following his group, which included Spieth.

“He’s not scared of the moment,” Spieth said. “Doesn’t matter what the moment is. It was just one bad swing away on 18 from being the one that’s (tied for second) or even tied for first… Look for him on the weekend to be a contender.”

DeChambeau insisted nerves weren’t an issue in the end.

“I’m comfortable. I’m loving it out here,” the former SMU star said. “It’s a great experience. I’m learning a lot from it. There’s nothing bad that I can take away from today. I mean, I may go bang my head a couple of times against the wall. No, I’m just kidding.

“Thirty-six holes of golf left, and anything can happen.”

Even before that final hole, DeChambeau said the round wasn’t the best he’s played. He cited the U.S. Amateur, which he won by the widest margin in a title match since 2009.

“It was great golf,” he said. “There’s no doubt, it was beautiful golf. It just wasn’t my A-plus-plus.”

He said what went through his mind when he saw his name on the leaderboard was simply: “I belong.”