TheSunNews.com: Myrtle Beach Golf

Friday’s area sports briefs

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:43 EDT

Coastal Carolina’s Erica Peake advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 200 meters Friday, posting a time of 23.58 seconds to finish 14th out of 48 runners in the first round of the NCAA East Preliminary.

Peake, who ran a personal best, will compete in the quarterfinals Saturday with a chance to advance to the national semifinals on the line.

The Chants’ Kierra Gabe tied a personal best of 5 feet, 93/4 inches in the high jump to finish tied for 16th, but failed to advance to the national meet. CCU’s Mary Lawrence ended her season with a tie for 38th in the pole vault (11-113/4).

On Grand Strand Golf: Local tour absent in 2012

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:17 EDT

Grand Strand touring pros playing mini-tours this year have fewer options and will likely have to travel more this summer to play a full schedule compared to the past six seasons.

The Grand Strand Pro Golf Tour isn’t staging tournaments in 2012 for the first year since its inception in 2006.

Tour founder and co-owner Steve Clark has returned to pursuing his PGA of America Class A status and has taken a full-time job at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club.

Wells Fargo Championship a breed apart on tour

Sun, 06 May 2012 13:47 EDT

Wells Fargo Championship tournament director Kym Hougham was told by a player earlier this week that “tournaments have these boxes we need to check, and you’re the only tournament we know that checks all the boxes,” Hougham said.

The tournament at Quail Hollow Club is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this week and doesn’t have near the history of many mainstays on the PGA Tour.

Yet in just a decade, the event has cemented itself on the tour schedule and surpassed most others in prestige to become perhaps the top tournament among regular tour events.

Glen Dornoch takes advantage of nature’s gifts

Sat, 05 May 2012 22:43 EDT

Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf Links has some natural features that any course on the Grand Strand would love to have, particularly the Intracoastal Waterway, and it makes full use of them.

Course architect Clyde Johnston enhanced those features in creating what may be one of his top designs.

“You have holes along the waterway, and on the holes more inland you have some elevation changes, so it’s not like a lot of other courses in the Myrtle Beach market,” said Rick Mitchell of Myrtle Beach, who took part of a review of the course in late April. “I loved the course.”

Classic Golf Group to add Wedgefield

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:18 EDT

Classic Golf Group will add a golf course to its stable for the first time in nearly a decade when it takes over operation of Wedgefield Plantation Country Club in Georgetown on July 1.

The management company, which operated as many as eight courses in the mid-2000s, will be back up to five as Wedgefield joins Founders Club of Pawleys Island, Burning Ridge Golf Club, Black Bear Golf Club and Indian Wells Golf Club.

“After being in the Georgetown area and surveying the market down there I’m very confident we can make that golf course profitable and operate it the way it should have always been operated,” Classic Golf Group general manager Tommy Smothers said.

On Grand Strand Golf: Changes in store at Meadowlands

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:20 EDT

Meadowlands Golf Club is joining a handful of other public courses on the Grand Strand and closing this summer to install an ultradwarf Bermudagrass on its greens.

Significant changes to the course don’t end there, however.

The top two handicapped holes on the front nine are being redesigned, sections of cart path will be rebuilt and repaired, a few new tee boxes may be added, and aesthetics will be improved by adding and sprucing up landscaping.

Saunders’ many Brunswick County properties involved in lawsuit, including Ocean Ridge Plantation

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:27 EDT

The future of numerous developments and tracts of land in Brunswick County, including the four-course Ocean Ridge Plantation and Rivers Edge Golf Club, are in question because of a lawsuit filed by Bank of America against the properties’ owner.

The lawsuit, which is in North Carolina Business Court, is against Mark Saunders and developments and businesses under his umbrella company The Coastal Companies.

Defendants named in the suit, in addition to Saunders, his wife Sibyl, Rivers Edge and Ocean Ridge Plantation, include limited liability corporations Coastal Communities Development, SeaScape at Holden Plantation, Seawatch at Sunset Harbor, Eagle Point, Ocean Isle Palms, Eastern Carolinas Construction & Development, MAS Properties, Bate Land & Timber, Mills Land & Timber, Coastal Construction of Eastern N.C., and the disolved Pointe West.

On Grand Strand Golf: First Tee aiming for record event

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:03 EDT

The First Tee of Brunswick County wants another record.

The organization, which teaches golf and life lessons to area youth and also oversees operation of the First Tee of the Grand Strand, staged the largest fundraising golf tournament in the history of Brunswick County last year with 512 players.

With an extra nine holes at St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C., available, the organization has spots for 576 players this year in the second annual Future Generations Tournament. It will be held June 2 on St. James’ four courses – the 18-hole Reserve Club, Players Club and Founders Club, and 27-hole Members Club.

Know Your Score Golf and Gala gaining some recognition

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:58 EDT

With another successful Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am in the books, attention can now turn to another celebrity pro-am on the Grand Strand that is gaining in stature.

The fifth annual Know Your Score Golf and Gala, benefitting Zero – The Project To End Prostate Cancer, will be held Aug. 18 at Pawleys Plantation. The event is amassing quite an impressive list of celebrity participants.

Former NBA player Gus Williams scrapped a planned celebrity pro-am last year and opted to merge his event with Know Your Score, and he is the celebrity host for a second year.

Heritage fills special place on PGA tour

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:45 EDT

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has played in five pro-ams on the eve of tournaments in his 18 years overseeing the tour.

Two of those have been at Harbour Town Golf Links in the past three years, including Wednesday.

That’s an indication of how important Finchem believes the RBC Heritage is to the PGA Tour.

World No. 1 Donald headlines solid Heritage field

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:14 EDT

Luke Donald, the No. 1 player in the world, highlights a solid field this week at the PGA Tour’s 44th annual RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island.

Players had until 5 p.m. Friday to commit to the $5.7 million tournament, and organizers received commitments in the final two days from South Africans Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini, as well as David Duval and Joe Durant, who both received sponsor’s exemptions to compete Thursday through Sunday.

Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, Matt Kuchar, Jason Dufner, Henrik Stenson and Sean O’Hair are all in the Heritage field after spending part if not much of the weekend on the Masters leaderboard at Augusta National Golf Club.

Monday After the Masters continues to grow into star-studded Myrtle Beach event

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:59 EDT

As ESPN’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” show wrapped up behind the first tee box at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club on Monday morning, Darius Rucker settled into his familiar role as Monday After the Masters host.

The award-winning country music artist and Hootie & the Blowfish front man sang the national anthem for the fans who had crowded around the tee box hours earlier and then took the first swings in the celebrity long-drive competition.

And before he officially got his round started, he marveled at the vitality of the event he and his band mates got involved with nearly two decades ago.

S.C. Court of Appeals rules in favor of Deer Track course owners

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:25 EDT

The S.C. Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the owners of the former Deer Track North Course, perhaps finally enabling the owners to redevelop the land.

A lawsuit was filed in 2006 by homeowners around the golf course in Deerfield Plantation, attempting to prohibit redevelopment of the property. The case reached the appeals court in Columbia on Jan. 24.

The three-judge court released its ruling Thursday.

Dustin Johnson withdraws from Masters with back injury

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:10 EDT

Former Coastal Carolina All-American and Myrtle Beach resident Dustin Johnson withdrew Tuesday from the 76th Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club because of a back injury.

“With heartfelt regret, I won’t be playing in the Masters due to a tweaked back,” Johnson said on Twitter. “You have no idea how much I wanted to walk the fairways at Augusta and fulfill what I’ve been practicing for!”

Johnson’s agent, David Winkle of Hambric Sports Management, said Johnson aggravated a lingering back injury while lifting a jet ski last week.

Transaction fee has been a boon for Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:56 EDT

Assessing the transaction fee attached to most paid golf rounds played on the Grand Strand five years after its implementation, the $1.50 fee imposed by Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday has served its intended purpose.

The marketing cooperative’s membership is as strong as it has been in many years, and its coffers have benefitted.

There are 98 combined hotels and package companies involved, which Golf Holiday president Bill Golden said is within a few of the organization’s all-time high. He said prior to the initial year of the fee in 2007 the number had dipped below 60.

Golf course review: Caledonia Golf & Fish Club

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:38 EDT

Golf clubs aren’t required to appreciate and enjoy the grounds of Caledonia Golf & Fish Club.

From the drive into the clubhouse under a canopy of moss-draped live oak trees, through the layout’s marshland and multitude of well-kept flower beds, the former rice plantation seamlessly weds golf with nature.

“Even if you’re not a golfer you could walk around and appreciate the beauty and arrangement of the flowers. It’s a beautiful place,” said David DuRant of Garden City Beach, an attorney with a 16 handicap who participated in a review of the course in late March.

Area golf column | Horry-Georgetown Technical College cranking out successful graduates

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:16 EDT

Scott Bordner is the latest graduate of Horry-Georgetown Technical College’s Golf Course and Sports Turf Management Program to land a big-time gig in the golf business.

Bordner, a 2002 HGTC graduate, has been named the head golf course superintendent at Chicago Golf Club. The classic C.B. Macdonald design is one of the oldest courses in the U.S., having moved to its current location in Wheaton, Ill., in 1894. It is one of five founding members of the United States Golf Association.

Bordner was told he’s just the sixth superintendent in the 117-year history of the very exclusive private course. Bordner had been an assistant superintendent at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., where the club’s East Course has hosted more USGA championships than any other layout.

Conway’s McPherson settling in with two-time NCAA champion Augusta State

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:42 EDT

When Kevin McPherson used to play the course at DeBordieu Colony Club, he was still working as an assistant golf pro in Myrtle Beach. Those were good times, he says now with just a tinge of wistfulness.

He had started down that career path at the age of 19 soon after graduating from Conway High School, and back then he thought he’d eventually make a living for himself as a tour professional one day. Why not?

He wasn’t lacking for confidence, and he’d keep that thought in the back of his mind for the next several years as he eventually decided to head to college on a golf scholarship when he was 22.

Panther Invitational high school golf tournament setting the bar high

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:51 EST

When the Carolina Forest Panther Invitational boys golf tournament started three years ago, it had 12 teams in the field and was held at the layout then known as Quail Creek Golf Course at Coastal Carolina University.

Carolina Forest coach Vil Caroso probably didn’t imagine the tournament would get as big as it did this year.

This 2012 event – won by defending Class AAA state champ Blythewood (311) at the original layout now called the General Hackler Course – had 24 teams when there was originally going to be a cut-off at the first 20 registered. All of the area schools were in the tournament this year as well as some state powers like Blythewood and defending Class AAAA champ Fort Dorchester.

Carolina Shores, Palmetto Greens move past foreclosure threat

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:35 EST

Foreclosure proceedings on Palmetto Greens Golf & Country Club and Carolina Shores Golf & Country Club were dismissed Monday, and the courses are moving forward with renovation projects under the management of Philippe Bureau.

Both courses are owned by Mike Matheny of Cary, N.C., and were used as collateral for Palmetto Greens Development Co., which is selling lots around the Palmetto Greens layout, the 2007-08 redesign of the former Colonial Charters Country Club in North Myrtle Beach.

With real estate sales stagnant in a slumping economy, the courses became subject to foreclosures by Waccamaw Bank when Matheny defaulted on the development company’s $8.2 million loan.

On Grand Strand Golf: CCU men hope advantage in Hackler follows them to DeBordieu

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:13 EST

The Coastal Carolina men’s golf team has had its own private indoor and outdoor practice facility at the TPC of Myrtle Beach for several years, and has long considered the TPC its home course.

The Murrells Inlet layout has hosted CCU’s General Hackler Championship for the past nine years after the inaugural event at the Grande Dunes Resort Course in 2002.

But to do so, course operators have sacrificed significant revenue early in the spring golf season.

Golf course review: Barefoot Resort & Golf Love Course

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:31 EST

There is a lot of quality golf to choose from at Barefoot Resort & Golf, with four courses designed by well-known architects.

Davis Love III had the smallest budget, but he held his own with the 7,047-yard Love Course. The 12-year-old layout provides alternating scoring opportunities and challenges, highlighted by a great disparity in par-4 length and difficulty.

“This is my type of course,” said Nissen Osterneck, a mixed martial arts fighter who splits time between Myrtle Beach and Maui, Hawaii, and took part in a review of the course in late February. “I love the Love. It’s more fun than the others.

Golf management goliath created by merger tees off Thursday

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:08 EST

The merger of the two largest golf course ownership and management companies on the Grand Strand takes effect Thursday, when the combination of Myrtle Beach National Co., and Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management begins doing business as National Golf Management.

The new company is one of the 15 largest course management companies in the nation with 23 combined courses, and dwarfs competitors in the Myrtle Beach market.

“We are setting out to become an industry leading company,” said company president Bob Mauragas, who held the same position with Myrtle Beach National. “… I think we’re all very interested in being one of the top profitable golf management companies in the country.”

On Grand Strand Golf: Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday takes new public relations approach

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:08 EST

Looking to increase the exposure of Myrtle Beach golf throughout North America, marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday has switched from Myrtle Beach’s The Brandon Agency to the more national Buffalo Communications for its public relations needs.

Buffalo has more than 20 public relations specialists who focus entirely on golf clients, while Brandon is a full marketing, advertising and public relations agency with some golf clients.

The Brandon Agency and Golf Holiday have been affiliated for nearly five decades, and Brandon will continue to handle Golf Holiday’s other marketing duties, including the development of brand and marketing plans, ad creation and placement, and video production.

Friday’s area sports briefs: Coastal’s Carolina Gabe wins Big South indoor title

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:41 EST

BLACKSBURG, Va. Kierra Gabe became the Big South indoors champion in the triple jump with a leap of 40 feet, 5 inches Friday to highlight the Chanticleers’ finishes on the first day of the conference tournament.

Coastal scored 31.5 points on the first day to sit in second behind Liberty (81).

Mary Lawrence (pole vault, fourth, 11-101/2), Shantelle Patterson (weight throw, fourth, 55-11), Letitia Saayman (3,000 meters, sixth, 10:19.66) and Caitlin Baker (pentathlon, eighth, 2,916 points) each had top-10s for the Chants on Day 1.

Former Myrtle Beach resident Johnson, Tiger move on in Match Play

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:25 EST

Luke Donald won’t be playing the 18th hole at Dove Mountain this year, either.

Donald, so dominant in winning the Match Play Championship last year that he closed out every match before the 18th hole, became only the third No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round Wednesday in another predictably crazy day on Dove Mountain.

Ernie Els, who only got into the 64-man field when Phil Mickelson took his family on a ski vacation, delivered the biggest shocker in the first round with a 5-and-4 victory.

PGA’s Love III among early entries for Hootie’s Monday After the Masters

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:03 EST

Davis Love III, a winner of 20 PGA Tour events and the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup Team captain, has committed to make his first appearance this year in the Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am.

He is among the early commitments to participate in the 18th annual tournament – the 10th consecutive on the Grand Strand – April 9 at Barefoot Resort & Golf’s Dye Club.

Other commitments include tournament regulars John Daly and Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey of the PGA Tour, and Conway native and LPGA member Kristy McPherson.

Golf column: Vendors vie for industry supremacy at merchandise show

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:45 EST

A pair of companies at different ends of the golf equipment spectrum that are both producing metalwoods in demand by touring pros and consumers alike are at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center this week.

They are among the 140 vendors displaying and touting their new products for 2012 Monday and Tuesday at the 19th Carolinas PGA Merchandise Show, which is open only to those in the golf industry.

TaylorMade and Tour Edge have vastly different approaches and budgets, yet are both atop the metalwood market in some regard.

Myrtle Beach area golf pros playing on various tours this year

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:34 EST

More than a dozen professional golfers will be representing the Grand Strand on mini-tours in 2012, as most of them are following their aspirations to reach the top levels of the game.

Murrells Inlet residents Zack Byrd and Ryan Tyndall, Pawleys Island resident Jeremy Pope, Myrtle Beach residents Sam Lyons, Kellen Altman, Josh Jackson, Roberto Diaz and Yoshio Yamamoto, Aynor High grad Michael Maness, Coastal Carolina alums Tripp McAllister and Drew Ernst, and Little River residents Patrick Lundy and Lauren Hunt will all be playing full or limited schedules this year.

Most hope to join PGA Tour member and Coastal Carolina alum Dustin Johnson and LPGA member and Conway native Kristy McPherson on the world’s most lucrative tours.

Golf course review: Sea Trail Resort Maples Course

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:29 EST

There are birdies to be had on the Maples Course at Sea Trail Resort, but they’re not likely to come on par-5s, where they typically do on many par-72 courses.

Dan Maples’ 1985 design is far from overwhelming in distance at just under 6,800 yards, but the course’s four par-5s account for 2,225 of those yards. The par-5s are monsters, measuring between 545 and 575 yards, and three are at least 525 from the white tees.

“The par-5s are long but fair, with wide fairways and good landing areas,” said Dan Sine of Surfside Beach, a Dunes Realty realtor with a 15 handicap who took part in a review of the course in late January. “From the [back] blue tees they’re extremely challenging to reach in two. You’re able to use the driver at will, and some holes are driver-driver.”

Former Myrtle Beach resident Johnson tied for lead at Pebble Pro-Am

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:54 EST

Twenty months later, Dustin Johnson finally hit the drive he wanted at Pebble Beach. Ten years later, Tiger Woods must have wondered what kept him away from the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

On a spectacular day of scenery and scoring, Johnson – a former Myrtle Beach resident and Coastal Carolina golfer – blasted a tee shot on the third hole at Pebble Beach and then pitched in for eagle from 41 yards in front of the green. He added another eagle on his way to a 9-under 63 and a three-way tie atop the leaderboard Thursday.

Woods was five shots to par out of the lead, a solid start to his PGA Tour season. He had six birdies in a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill, the fourth-best score on that course. Spyglass was hardest of the three courses, though not by much. The weather was so pure that all three courses played about one shot under par.

Area golf column: Sunbelt Senior Tour outlasts competitors

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:30 EST

The Grand Strand-based Cancun Sunbelt Senior Tour presented by Palace Resorts begins its 17th season on Feb. 20, and it has outlasted all other senior developmental and mini-tours.

According to founder and director Don Barnes of Longs, there is no longer another senior tour in the country aside from the PGA Tour-run Champions Tour that stages a schedule of multi-round tournaments. The Heartland Players Senior Tour based in Texas had been its most recent competitor for players.

“The health of the tour is fine because of what we’re willing to do for little financial reward,” Barnes said. “That’s why all the others have gone out of business.”

Zack Byrd wins NGA golf tourney at Barefoot Dye Club

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:30 EST

After missing back-to-back cuts for the first time in his career, Zack Byrd of Murrells Inlet returned to form, winning the NGA Pro Golf Tour’s Carolina Winter Series event at Barefoot Dye Club on Thursday.

Byrd started the final round one shot behind Darron Stiles, but the Grand Strand resident fired a 3-under 69 to come from behind and win by one shot over a hard-charging Roberto Diaz.

Diaz of Myrtle Beach started the day tied for 13th but shot a tournament-low 8-under 64 to finish second.

Grand Strand golf: Coastal Carolina men look to regain Big South title

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:03 EST

The Coastal Carolina men’s golf team began the spring season Monday with an empty feeling. The trophy case is bare.

For the first spring in eight years, the Chanticleers are not the defending Big South Conference champions.

The Chants, winners of the conference tournament from 2004-10, tied for third last spring, 32 shots behind reigning Big South champion Liberty. So their top priority as a team over the next three-plus months is evident.

Deer Track North appeal set for Tuesday

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:06 EST

A lawsuit filed in 2006 attempting to prohibit the redevelopment of the former Deer Track North Course has perhaps reached its final appeal Tuesday.

Homeowners around the course in the Deerfield Plantation development have a class-action suit against the course owners arguing that there is an easement on the property preventing redevelopment.

Oral arguments will be heard at 10:40 a.m. by the three-judge South Carolina Court of Appeals in Columbia.

Dustin Johnson withdraws from Humana Challenge

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:59 EST

Dustin Johnson apparently attempted to come back from minor surgery on his right knee a little too soon.

He withdrew from the Humana Challenge presented by the Clinton Foundation on Friday, citing back pain, after playing nine holes of the second round at La Quinta Country Club.

It doesn’t appear the former Coastal Carolina University All-American and Myrtle Beach resident put much of his season in jeopardy, however. He said he still intends to play the Farmers Insurance Open next week at Torrey Pines.

Return of Mike & Mike in the Morning Show part of Golf Holiday marketing plans

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:38 EST

The Mike & Mike in the Morning Show will be broadcasting live for the second consecutive year from the Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am on April 9 at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club.

Attracting the popular show that airs from 6-10 a.m. each weekday on ESPN Radio and the ESPN2 television network is a small part of Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday’s spring marketing campaign.

The marketing cooperative, which has more than 75 golf courses and nearly 100 combined hotels and package providers among its membership, will spend the bulk of its $4.2 million marketing budget in 2012 through the first few months of the year.

Paid golf rounds in Myrtle Beach area remained flat in 2011

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:52 EST

Paid golf rounds played on the Grand Strand remained relatively flat in 2011, continuing a trend of stabilization in the market over the past three years.

After significant decreases in paid rounds for several years, rounds fell less than 2 percent in 2011 for the third consecutive year, according to a per-round transaction fee collected by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday.

The Strand appears to be ahead of national averages. According to the National Golf Foundation, rounds played in the U.S. in 2011 were down 3.5 percent through November compared to 2010. That followed a decrease of 2.3 percent in 2010 compared to 2009.

Former club pro Spangler aims for comeback after near-fatal crash

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:47 EST

There’s a good chance you haven’t seen or heard anything from longtime area head pro Robert Spangler since his last course, Island Green Golf Club, closed in August.

It closed under Signature Golf’s management, and is expected to reopen no later than Sunday under new management that doesn’t involve Spangler.

But unemployment hasn’t been Spangler’s greatest concern over the past few months.

Golf course review: Oak Island Golf Club

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:52 EST

CASWELL BEACH, N.C.

Opportunities to see and hear the ocean along the Grand Strand with a golf club in your hand are limited.

Oak Island Golf Club at the northern end of the Strand golf market offers one of them, with a serene entrance along the Atlantic.

Dustin Johnson intends to return to PGA Tour in late January

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:15 EST

Dustin Johnson expects to return to the PGA Tour at the $6 million Farmers Insurance Open, from Jan. 26-29 at Torrey Pines outside San Diego, according to his agent.

David Winkle of Hambric Sports Management said Friday that the Coastal Carolina alumnus and former Myrtle Beach resident would be skipping the first three events of the year as he recovers from knee surgery.

Johnson had arthroscopic surgery on Nov. 29 to repair damaged cartilage in his right knee. He had reportedly been experiencing pain since July, when he was a runner-up to Darren Clarke in the British Open.

World Amateur Handicap Championship golf event extends with title sponsor

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:51 EST

The financial stability of the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship has been secured for another two years, as the Sports Illustrated Golf Group has agreed to continue its title sponsorship of the tournament in 2012 and 2013.

The 29th and 30th editions of the tournament will again have the Golf.com World Am title.

SI Golf Group, a media company with the primary assets of Golf Magazine, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus and Golf.com, became the title sponsor in 2010. The 2012 event was written into the sponsorship contract with tournament operator and marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday as an option year.

Instructor Bradley creates Myrtle Beach Junior Elite Training Course

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:08 EST

Junior golfers on the Grand Strand haven’t been winning many tournaments in the past few years, and golf instructor Nick Bradley of Sunset Beach, N.C., is among those who have taken notice.

Bradley would like to see that change, and has designed a junior golf instruction series he believes can do something about it.

Through the Myrtle Beach Junior Elite Training Course, Bradley hopes to develop champions like Justin Rose, who he was instructing when Rose won the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit.

First Tee looks forward to bright future

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:18 EST

The future for The First Tee of Myrtle Beach has never looked more promising, and it includes a new name, broader reach and new leadership.

The local chapter of the youth development organization will merge Sunday with The First Tee of Brunswick County, which will take over operational control of its southern neighbor.

The board members and volunteers of the Myrtle Beach chapter believe Carol and Rusty Petrea can do for the local chapter what they’ve done for the First Tee of Brunswick County. It has become a model of success for the 200-chapter First Tee organization in less than six years of existence.

Hugh Royer III building golf learning facility

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:48 EST

With his playing career encore behind him, former PGA Tour member Hugh Royer III of Myrtle Beach is fully immersed in teaching again, to the point of building a comprehensive learning facility on the east side of Conway.

Royer and a few investors plan to build the South Carolina Golf Center, a driving range, practice facility and learning center on approximately 13.5 acres, with the clubhouse entrance off East Cox Ferry Road in Conway between U.S. 501 and S.C. 90.

Royer and primary investor Al Hogan are in the process of receiving the necessary zoning from Horry County and permits for the approximate $500,000 project. They hope to have them by late January to facilitate a possible opening by early April when the property’s warm-weather Bermuda grows in with the rising temperatures.

The state of the golf industry in the Myrtle Beach area: Consolidating

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:25 EST

The Myrtle Beach golf industry was built on cooperation, evidenced by the pooling of money to fund marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday to promote the market in its entirety for the past four-plus decades, and the combined efforts necessary in golf packages.

Along with that, however, there has always been intense competition for play inside the market, each course attempting to outdo the other for rounds and revenue.

The competition within the market has been shifting in recent years, and it has evolved into a group effort in itself.

Dustin Johnson teams up with old caddie Brown

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:08 EST

Dustin Johnson has hired a new caddie – his old one.

The former Coastal Carolina All-American said Tuesday that he has rehired Bobby Brown, who was on his bag for four of his five PGA Tour wins.

Brown also was at his side when Johnson shot 82 in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and when Johnson was given a two-shot penalty in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits for not realizing he was in a bunker on the final hole and grounding his club in the sand.

Film crew on Grand Strand for new Golf Channel show

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:00 EST

River Hills Golf and Country Club general manager Harris D’Antignac is getting more than he bargained for when he booked an NGA Hooters Tour Carolina Winter Series event being played on his course Tuesday through Thursday.

He’s getting a film crew on the Little River layout for at least the first two rounds, and his course will receive some national exposure on Golf Channel as early as May.

The same independent film crew that shot the Pipe Dream series for Golf Channel is filming tournament participant Robbie Biershenk of Greenville for a nine-episode Golf Channel series that is scheduled to begin airing in May titled “Chasing the Dream.”

Chapel Hill’s Hocker II, North Augusta’s Talbert win Tilghman Junior titles

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:54 EST

After three-putting nine greens, four-putting two greens and five-putting one at the George Holliday Memorial Junior at Myrtle Beach National two weeks ago, Michael Hocker II went to Martin’s PGA Tour Superstore after the final round and picked out a belly putter.

He had never used one in competition before.

“I was struggling with short putts and my confidence was a little down, and I had a couple people suggest it to me so I figured I’d go out and get one,” said Hocker, who finished 12th at the Holliday despite the putting woes.

Saturday’s area sports briefs

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:33 EST

Two-time defending champion McKenzie Talbert got off to a solid start in the 22nd Charles Tilghman Junior Championship Saturday, shooting a 2-under 70 at Surf Golf & Beach Club to take a three-shot lead in the girls division into Saturday’s final round.

Three players – Charlotte, N.C.’s Mitchell Schneider, Daniel Island’s Jeremy Grab and Townville, S.C.’s Austin Langdale were tied for the boys lead after shooting 2-under 70s.

Myrtle Beach’s Lyle Ciardi (6 over) was the highest area boys player in a tie for 26th. Myrtle Beach’s Anthony Caroso (81) and Aynor’s Johnson Holliday (81) were in a tie for 36th, Myrtle Beach’s Cole Swezey (82) was tied for 40th, Myrtle Beach’s Mark Karavan (89) was in 53rd and Galivants Ferry’s Chase Johnson (96) was in 57th.