Demand to play in amateur golf tournaments surges across South Carolina
Recreational golfers who want their preferred tee time know that planning well in advance is a must. The demand is that great at courses around South Carolina.
Now, look at high-level opportunities to the more skilled players and, yes, the desire to compete is outpacing the available slots.
“Not that long ago, I had to beg left-handers to find a partner to play in our Lefty-Righty championship,” South Carolina Golf Association executive director Biff Lathrop said. “This year, we have 64 teams entered.”
That full-field scenario and sometimes over-subscribed entries have become the rule rather than the exception, and Lathrop said, “That’s a great problem to have.”
Indeed, combine tournament golf with recreational play and seldom, if ever, has the game enjoyed this level of participation.
“The interest is such that we had to have two qualifiers for the for the State Juniors” that ended Thursday, Lathrop said. “We’re using both courses at Greenville Country Club for the Father-Son tournament. We have four qualifiers scheduled for the State Amateur, and the field is full in three of them.
“We plan for events and adjust if we need to. We’re busy, and that’s a good way to be.”
The tournament schedules offer a challenge for all ages, and for men and women. Over the past few days, the docket included the WSCGA’s Women’s State Amateur, the SCGA’s State Juniors and Father-Son, and the CGA’s South Carolina Match-Play.
The juniors move on the SCJGA’s Grant Bennett Florence junior championship next week, and girls will compete in the U.S. Junior Girls qualifier later this month. The State Amateur qualifying events begin June 26, the SCJGA’s Players Series stops at Cheraw and high-level amateurs will vie at the Rice Planters Invitational next week in Mount Pleasant.
The State Amateur at Musgrove Mill and the South Carolina Women’s Open highlight the August calendar, and ... the list is almost endless.
“People rediscovered golf during the COVID outbreak, and they’re continuing to play,” Lathrop noted. “We get reports about courses having full tee sheets every weekend and have a lot of play during the week.”
Those full tee sheets create a dilemma for Lathrop and his staff. Clubs are reluctant to give up their courses for tournament play.
“Another good problem,” he said. “Clubs are rocking and rolling with the demand, but we’re working with them and we will have great venues for our events.”
South Carolina leaders promote the game endlessly and recently linked with the PGA Tour to keep the Palmetto State in the golf world’s consciousness. The five-year marketing deal designates the state’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism at the tour’s official tourism sponsor.
“That’s important for the state,” Lathrop said. “Duane Parrish (director of PRT) makes sure the world knows about golf in South Carolina.”
The state staged relocated PGA Tour events in 2021 and ’22, and a fledgling PGA Tour event at Myrtle Beach will take a place on the Tour schedule next year. Add the entrenched RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island and the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am in the Upstate, and professional golf owns a prominent place in South Carolina golf.
For good measure, a couple of USGA championships — the just-completed U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Kiawah Island Resort and the July U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club — complete the picture.
Safe to say that Lathrop will not have to beg for tournament entries any time soon.
Sophia Burnett wins SC Women’s Am
USC golfer Sophia Burnett added another chapter of excellence in the South Carolina Women’s Amateur to her resume’, capturing the championship for the second time in three years.
Burnett, from Hilton Head, fended off a challenge from College of Charleston golfer Raegan Propes to earn the title by one stroke at Fripp Island Resort’s Ocean Creek Course.
Burnett, who began her college career at Furman before transferring to USC, won the 2021 State Women’s Amateur at Columbia Country Club and finished second a year ago at Fort Jackson Golf Club after her birdie putt on the final hole to force a playoff lipped out.
The champion finished at 2-over-par 218, a shot better than Propes. Camila Burnett, Sophia’s sister who joined the Gamecocks’ women’s team for the spring semester, finished third, at 222.
Catherine Shealy edged Pam Prescott to win the tournament’s State Division, Laura Davis led the Palmetto Division and Anne Washington prevailed in the Super Senior Division.
