Columbia City Championship has special connections with Spring Valley Country Club
If players in the Midlands Chevy Dealers Columbia City Championship encounter some tough luck at Spring Valley Country Club over next weekend, they should not expect sympathy from Bobby Foster, a man who is synonymous with the tournament
A ball stopping in a divot in the middle of the fairway? A crazy bounce sending a drive out of bounds? A lie in a footprint in a poorly raked bunker?
Those are mere annoyances compared to Foster’s this-can’t-be-happening tale of woe over the Spring Valley layout in a tournament long ago.
Fact: He made two birdies and an eagle on par-5 holes in the match-play finals of the 1964 club championship — and lost all three holes in a battle with Jimmy Pulliam.
“I played those three holes 4-under par and lost all three,” Foster recounted in looking back at some scenarios at the George Cobb design in Northeast Columbia. “Jimmy made two eagles and double-eagle. I played them in 4-under; he played them in 7-under. Unbelievable. You just tip your cap and say, ‘Well done.’ ”
Unbelievable, yes, but memorable — and Foster hopes for more memories with the tournament’s return to Spring Valley for the first time in 10 years.
The division winners from the 2022 tournament at The Spur at Northwoods — Patrick Stephenson (champion), Bill Rabon (senior), Tim Babb (super senior) and Rohan Allwood (professional) — return to defend their titles in the event that runs Thursday to Saturday.
Foster, who won the city title three times, has been fixture in operating the event since 1985, first as tournament director and now a consultant to director Allen Knight. He is particularly pleased to see the tourney at Spring Valley. In addition to the improbable scenario in the 1964 club championship, he enjoyed some outstanding personal performances there and later would be the club’s head professional.
The club dates to the early 1960s and played a role in Columbia’s march to suburbia.
“What really set Spring Valley apart then was they used a hybrid bermudagrass instead of common bermuda on the fairways,” Foster said. “Clubs just didn’t do that back then.”
His junior achievements earned Foster an honorary membership and thus the championship match with Pulliam, a highly accomplished amateur who played a key role in the club’s development.
Then, the 1965 Carolinas Amateur brought a stellar field to Spring Valley. The tee sheet included the likes of Bill Harvey, Billy Womack, Jack Lewis Jr., Leonard Thompson, Billy Joe Patton, Dillard Traynham and Foster.
“Leonard, Jack and I were the three (outstanding) juniors, and I beat Leonard in the morning and Jack, my chief rival, in the afternoon of my 18th birthday,” Foster said of the match-play event. “That was one of my best days on the golf course. Both of them went on to play on the PGA Tour, and beating them was pretty special.”
Pretty special, too, was the event that really began Foster’s love affair with the Spring Valley layout. Then, the year before in 36-hole local qualifying for the U.S. Open and before his 17th birthday, he earned medalist honors by four strokes over the field that included both professionals and amateurs.
“The Open qualifying was a week before the club championship match, so lots of good memories,” said Foster, now 76. “And maybe there will be some more in the city tournament.
“We’ve had two players (Dustin Johnson and Joe Inman) win the city who went on to win on the PGA Tour. We had Steve Liebler’s great run of 11 championships. Think about that; winning the same tournament 11 times. Patrick (Stephenson) played for the first time last year and won.”
This year? Answers must wait. But Foster’s this-can’t-be-happening experience? No way that can occur again. Or can it?
Chip shots. Three college players — Andrew Swanson (Clemson), Max Dupree (College of Charleston) and Jackson Buchanan (Illinois) — joined high school stars Jackson Byrd (St. Simons Island, Georgia) and Ethan Paschal (Fayetteville, North Carolina) in advancing to the U.S. Amateur in qualifying at Dataw Island Club’s Cotton Dike Course. Byrd is the son of PGA Tour professional Jonathan Byrd and nephew of Clemson coach Jordan Byrd. ... Isabella Rawl (Lexington/Clemson) earned a place in the U.S. Women’s Amateur in qualifying at Salisbury, North Carolina. Jensen Castle (West Columbia/Kentucky), the 2021 champion, is exempt into the Women’s Amateur, set for Aug. 7-13 in Los Angeles. ... South Carolinians in the field for the U.S. Junior Amateur, which will be played July 24-29 at Daniel Island Club, include Tip Price (Greenville), Rowan Sullivan (Charleston), Davis Neal (North Augusta) and Matt Moloney (Daniel Island). ... Harry Reynolds (Greenville), the 2021 South Carolina Amateur winner, qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Sissonville, West Virginia. ... Ford Goldasich (Homewood, Alabama) cruised to a four-shot win in the 48th Palmetto Amateur in Aiken.
