Tilghman, Burroughs selected to join Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame

Edward Burroughs helped Myrtle Beach become a famous international golf destination. Kelly Tilghman made herself famous.

For their contributions to the Myrtle Beach golf market, the former chairman of Burroughs & Chapin Co. who encouraged the company’s involvement in golf, and the Golf Channel personality comprise the 2016 class of the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony will be held at the Hall of Fame Garden behind the clubhouse at Pine Lakes Country Club at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14.

Burroughs is deceased, and Tilghman, 46, intends to be at the ceremony and have her father, Phil, the former owner of Gator Hole Golf Course and mayor of North Myrtle Beach, be her presenter.

“My goal is to be there,” said Tilghman, who was present in October for her induction into the North Myrtle Beach High School Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class. “Everything is schedule-pending, but my goal is to be there, for sure.”

Tilghman was one of the early hires for Golf Channel, first appearing in front of the camera in 1997, and she became a trailblazer for women in golf media as the first full-time female play-by-play announcer for PGA Tour tournaments beginning in 2007.

She is still an anchor and show host for the network, and in the coming months she will be involved in its coverage of men’s and women’s golf in the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup.

Tilghman has remained committed to the area golf industry, and will be returning for the fourth consecutive year to host the Future Generations Tournament on July 19 at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, a fundraiser for the First Tee of the Grand Strand nonprofit youth development organization.

“I’m extremely honored,” Tilghman said of her HOF selection. “The whole area was such a tremendous platform for me in the game of golf. It provided a foundation for me to go very far. Myrtle Beach has a lot to do with the success I’ve had in the golf world. You could argue it had everything to do with my success, because of the opportunities and people involved.”

One of the most decorated junior golfers in Grand Strand history, Tilghman grew up in a home on the third hole at the Surf Golf and Beach Club, regularly worked, played and practiced at the now-redeveloped Gator Hole and benefited from the Myrtle Beach Junior Golf Program started by inaugural Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame class member Carolyn Cudone.

“It stokes some nostalgia for sure,” Tilghman said. “I have deep family ties to the area and I’m familiar with some of the names in the hall, some of them very influential in my life like Carolyn Cudone, who encouraged me as a young golfer to keep getting after it. She was a strong role model for me as a young golfer.”

Tilghman played on scholarship and graduated from Duke University, then played professionally for a few years. She was approached on a driving range by a former television executive who was impressed by her swing and voice and asked if she was interested in television.

He helped get Tilghman a position as an intern at an NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 1996, within six weeks she was in the library of the fledgling Golf Channel and by November 1997 she was on air. Her play-by-play work eventually extended to NBC’s coverage of the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

Tilghman’s mother, Kathryn, who worked for the tourist publication Sunny Day Guide for about three decades, still lives in North Myrtle Beach.

Burroughs’ legacy in the area extends well beyond golf.

As a leader of the Burroughs family and longtime chairman of B&C, Edward Burroughs was involved in the donation of land that is now Myrtle Beach State Park, helped start Coastal Carolina University, and was vital to the development of Highway 17 Bypass.

Among his golf contributions through an early incarnation of B&C called Myrtle Beach Farms, Burroughs and the company supplied land for the building of The Dunes Golf and Beach Club and developed the lots around it, built its first course at Myrtlewood Golf Club in 1966 and added a second course there in 1973, and participated in the early days of golf packages, which are credited with building the Strand golf market.

B&C went on to build two more courses in the Grande Dunes Resort Course and private Members Club at Grande Dunes and refurbished Pine Lakes in the mid-2000s. It also leased land to other course developers and operators, and had a course management company that grew to 10 courses before merging into National Golf Management in 2012.

Burroughs was an avid player, and reportedly had a tree cut down every time he hit one at Myrtlewood, resulting in the enhanced playability of the courses. He was known by many for his work ethic and humility, and he and his wife, Elizabeth, had two children, Franklin and Ann Burroughs.

Burroughs is the second member of his family in the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame, joining fellow former B&C chairman J. Egerton Burroughs.

Other members of the now 21-member hall are General James Hackler, Cecil Brandon, Clay Brittain, Jimmy D’Angelo, Robert White, George ‘Buster’ Bryan, Charlie Byers, Paul Himmelsbach, Gary Schaal, J. Bryan Floyd, Edward Jerdon, Casper Leon Benton, George Hilliard, Critt Gore, Russell ‘Doc’ Burgess, Phillip Goings and Sandy Miles.

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Tilghman, Burroughs selected to join Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame."