Grand Strand junior qualifies for a national golf championship

Smith Knaffle of Murrells Inlet, a junior at St. James High, has qualified for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship with future University of South Carolina teammate Skylar Thompson of Buford, Ga.

The duo earned medalist honors in a four-ball qualifier Saturday at Columbia Country Club in Blythewood, shooting a 5-under-par 67.

The national championship is scheduled for next April 28-May 2 at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. Eighteen-hole qualifiers are being conducted at 27 locations around the country.

Knaffle and Thompson, a high school senior, carded a bogey-free round in a best ball format. Last week, Knaffle won her second straight S.C. Class 4A state individual title while helping St. James win its third consecutive team state title.

Knaffle qualified for a couple national junior championships last year, including the U.S. Girls’ Junior, where she qualified for match play and won a match to reach the round of 32, and will be playing against many adults in the 2018 Four-Ball.

Caroline Craig of Sautee Nacoochee, Ga., and Ally Williams of Athens, Ala., finished a stroke back in the qualifier to earn the second available spot from that site.

The 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball was played at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach in late May, and was won by former Furman University teammates Taylor Totland and Alice Chen.

This story was originally published October 30, 2017 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Grand Strand junior qualifies for a national golf championship."