On Grand Strand Golf: Four area players set to tee it up on PGA Tour Canada

The Grand Strand will be well represented on Great White North golf courses this summer.

The recent qualification of Thaddeus Wier III and Tyler Light – two players who moved to the Strand in the past year for the benefit of their golf games and careers – gives the area four players who will be competing on PGA Tour Canada beginning next week.

They join Wachesaw Plantation members Zack Byrd of Murrells Inlet and Ricky McDonald of Pawleys Island on the circuit, which is one of three subsidiaries of the Web.com Tour in the PGA Tour’s hierarchy of tours. It is on par with PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour China.

The PGA Tour Canada schedule consists of 12 predominantly $175,000 events beginning next Thursday with the PC Financial Open at Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver and concluding Sept. 20.

The top five players on the money list at season’s end earn 2016 Web.com Tour status, with the money title winner earning fully exempt status. The Web.com features events with between $500,000 and $1 million purses and is the stepping stone to the PGA Tour.

“It’s nice that it actually feels real now, I guess,” Light said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity and I’m blessed to see it actually take place. I’m looking forward to going up there and making my dream come true.”

Light, 24, a native of Massillon, Ohio, who moved to Little River last July, tied for fifth in the California qualifying tournament from April 21-24 at La Purisima Golf Club in Lompoc, Calif., with a 1-under-par 287 and was three shots behind medalist Julien Brun.

Wier, 24, who moved back to Myrtle Beach last September after five years away from the area, tied for 16th at the British Columbia qualifying tournament from May 5-8 at Crown Isle Resort & Golf Community in Courtenay, BC. He shot a 2-under 286 and finished 12 shots behind medalist Eric Onesi.

Byrd, a Coastal Carolina alumnus and former resident of Calabash, N.C., tied for ninth in the Florida qualifying tournament from April 14-17. McDonald, who moved from Washington state to Pawleys Island early in 2013, retained PGA Tour Canada membership from 2014.

The top 60 from the 2014 PGA Tour Canada money list have full exempt status for the 2015 season. McDonald had a pair of runner-up finishes last season and finished 12th on the money list with $32,558 in Canadian dollars. The medalists in the three Q-School events this spring also earned full status in 2015.

The remaining top 18 players in the three Q-School events all earned conditional membership that guarantees them starts in the first six tournaments of the season through the July 16-19 Staal Foundation Open at Whitewater Golf Club in Thunder Bay, Ontario. After that tournament, a status reshuffle will determine the status of those players.

Light shot steady rounds of 73, 71, 73 and 70 in his qualifier.

Light’s family regularly vacationed on the Strand from Ohio, and he was attracted to the area for its “good golf and good weather that allows you to play year-round,” he said. “That was really the game plan since I was a kid getting into golf.”

He graduated last May from Malone University, a Division II school near the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It was an NAIA program when he enrolled and rose to Division II by the time he graduated. Light and two teammates redshirted as seniors in order to play one year of Division II golf and the team finished third in the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship.

Light said a few of his teammates have turned pro, including Ben Smith, who moved with Light to Little River and has won a Swingthought.com Tour Carolina Series event on the Strand. ‘You play with good players in those. It has been a good learning experience,” Light said.

Light’s first pro event was a SwingThought.com Pro Series event in June.

Former Malone teammate Nathan Tarter also tied for fifth in Light’s qualifier and they’ll travel together and split expenses. Light is still seeking help to fund his golf this summer. “My uncle is helping me out right now but I’m contacting people now to try to get the ball rolling,” Light said.

Light said his 10 months on the Strand have aided his career and the move has served its purpose. “It’s only been a year but I feel like I’ve learned a lot and changed a lot,” he said.

He has been working with Barefoot Resort instructor Alasdair Dyer on his game for about six months. “He’s helped me get the game to the next level,” Light said.

He has also received help from Dr. Michael Gambacorta of the Myrtle Beach Spine Center. Light has had two knee surgeries and has a vertebrae issue, and Gambacorta has helped him with both as he diagnosed the back issue and has relieved pressure on the knees by recommending orthotic shoe inserts for Light’s extremely flat feet.

“They’ve figured that out and they’ve helped me out quite a bit,” Light said. “My body’s feeling a lot better.”

Light often plays and practices at Barefoot, Farmstead Golf Links, Possum Trot or TPC Myrtle Beach.

“Being able to take swings all year round and not have three or four months off has been nice,” Light said. “This winter was a little rough though. I might need to head a little further south. Playing in winter events when it’s 30 to 40 and rainy, it felt like college again.”

In Light’s California qualifier, Coastal Carolina alum Charlie Winegardner shot a final-round 72 and bogeyed the 18th hole to tie for 20th and miss out on status by a shot.

Wier, who lives at River Oaks Golf Club, needed to rally to attain his status. He closed with a clutch 67 after opening with rounds of 74, 71 and 74.

“I figured I’d have to get it to 1 under for the tournament to get in the top 18,” said Wier, who bogeyed the first hole with a bad drive, then played his final nine 4 under. “I wasn’t driving it very well but I was hitting it close and made a good amount of those, probably had about 8-10 putts inside 10 feet, made six of them.”

Wier traveled to British Columbia because the U.S. qualifiers were full when he attempted to enter them.

Wier took lessons from area instructor Hugh Royer III for a year following high school before attending Lander University and Division III St. John Fisher College outside Rochester, N.Y. He returned to Myrtle Beach from East Aurora, N.Y., last year to reunite with Royer, who is now at Possum Trot, and work on his game for a pro career.

He has been practicing at Legends Resort a lot but now that he has tour status he plans to practice more at TPC Myrtle Beach. He has been playing predominantly SwingThought.com Carolina Series and Pro Series events.

“I just can’t wait,” Wier said. “It will be very cool to see what the competition is like at a level that’s PGA Tour affiliated. I’m excited that I have at least six events to go out and compete every week. I’m looking forward to seeing what other guys might do better than me and how I score. It’s another step in the process and I’m just excited to have the opportunity.”

The top three players on the PGA Tour Canada money list through the sixth event earn entry into the PGA Tour’s $5.8 million RBC Canadian Open from July 23-26 at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Ontario.

PGA Tour Canada field sizes are 156 players, with the exception of the final three events. The Wildfire Invitational is a pro-am with 128 players, the penultimate Cape Breton Celtic Classic has 144 and the season-ending $200,000 Freedom 55 Financial Championship has just the top 60 money winners, who will all retain full tour status in 2016.

Optimist Junior set

The 2015 Optimist International South Carolina District Junior Golf Tournament is being held May 30-31 at Black Bear Golf Course, and winners and runners-up in each of several boys and girls age groups will have an opportunity to participate in the Optimist Junior Golf International Championship, provided they shoot minimum target scores.

The national championship will be played at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., between July 16-31, with the exact dates depending on the age and gender division.

Divisions are Boys 16-18, 14-15, 12-13 and 10-11, and Girls 15-18, 13-14 and 10-12. The runners-up in all but the oldest boys division can qualify for the national championship. The Boys 16-18 winner and Girls 15-18 winner will get their entry fees and gas mileage paid for nationals, and other qualifiers may have expenses covered if enough money is raised.

Organizers are seeking hole sponsorships for $100 and tournament sponsorships for $300 to help fund the trips.

The number of S.C. national qualifiers has been bumped up to 13 this year from seven in recent years.

District qualifying scores are: Girls 10-12 (192), Girls 13-14 (184), Girls 15-18 (170), Boys 10-11 (192), Boys 12-13 (180), Boys 14-15 (166) and Boys 16-18 (156).

The entry fee for the Optimist District tournament is $150 and entries will be accepted until 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 30 before the opening round.

Players from outside the state are eligible to participate. The tournament has a maximum of 72 players and is open to spectators, and is ranked nationally by Golfweek and the Junior Golf Scoreboard.

Call 803-312-4246 or visit golf.optimist.org/sc to register. For more information, contact tournament co-chair John Grover at 843-251-9602 or jgrover@sc.rr.com.

Swingthought.com represented

A total of 110 players who have competed on the Grand Strand-based SwingThought Tour (formerly the NGA/Hooters Tour) were entered in the Web.com Tour’s $675,000 BMW Charity Pro-Am that was played this past week in the Greenville area, including seven current members.

Four of the 2015 members – Mark Blakefield, Thomas Sutton, Albin Choi and Wade Binfield – earned exemptions based on performance through an agreement between tournament organizers and the Swingthought.com Tour.

The tour’s three other current players who made the field are Canadian rookie and Kent State alum Mackenzie Hughes, rookie Trey Mullinax out of Alabama and second-year tour member Crawford Reeves of Clemson who was the Swingthought.com Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2014.

All but Mullinax and Blakefield missed the 54-hole cut, and Mullinax earned himself another Web.com start with a top-25 finish – a tie for 23rd with a closing 66. Blakefield nearly did the same after rounds of 65, 68 and 64 had him in contention for the title before he shot a final-round 76 to tie for 26th.

Kirkland passes

The namesake of Georgetown High School’s Claude Kirkland Golf Tournament died Saturday from complications of cancer at the age of 80.

Kirkland, who was born in Ehrhardt but was nearly a lifelong Georgetown resident, coached the Georgetown High golf team for 15 years.

Prior to that, he was a longtime teacher who began at Winyah Junior High and later served as the principal both there and at Beck Middle School.

Kirkland’s son, Tres, said his father was diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago and was given six months to live but he beat the disease for two decades.

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 7:30 PM with the headline "On Grand Strand Golf: Four area players set to tee it up on PGA Tour Canada."