This Myrtle Beach memorial golf tournament is being played for 50th time this week

The George Holliday Memorial Junior tournament will hit its 50th anniversary this week.

The annual Thanksgiving tournament at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club was established to honor a successful junior and collegiate golfer from Galivants Ferry who was tragically killed in 1967 in an automobile accident at the age of 22. The Holliday family has kept the tournament alive with the help of Myrtle Beach National staff.

“It’s nice to keep the tradition going,” said Myrtle Beach National head pro and tournament director Ryan Ruddy.

The tournament has a field of 170 players from the Carolinas, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virgina, Maryland, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida.

It will be played Thursday through Saturday, and there are four boys and three girls divisions for players ages 10-18.

For the 50th anniversary, a backpack with a 50th anniversary logo is a tee gift and organizers tried to increase benefits with things such as beverages on tee boxes for the players and their caddies.

Reigning champions Brady Hinkle of Lancaster and Gracyn Burgess of Lexington have moved onto college golf – Hinkle at Coastal Carolina and Burgess at Clemson.

There are numerous players entered from the Grand Strand, including Holden Grigg and Keegan Vaugh of Myrtle Beach, Connor Thomas, Mia Gray and Lora Ledbetter of Conway, Brianna Joyner of Little River, and several students at the Greg Norman Champions Academy at Barefoot Resort.