How CCU’s Hackler Championship will remain among the nation’s elite golf tournaments
Coastal Carolina’s General Hackler Championship at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club has been ranked among the top 20 college golf tournaments in strength of field in each of the past two years.
The participants Monday and Tuesday should keep the event among the more prestigious tournaments hosted by universities in the country.
The 19th annual tournament features two of the top 10 teams in the nation according to the Golfweek Sagarin rankings in No. 6 Wake Forest and No. 8 Louisville, and nine of the 14 teams are in the top 60.
“It’s another solid field this year,” CCU head coach Jim Garren said. “It’s similar to what it has been in the past couple years. It’s a good field top to bottom.”
The tournament also features No. 23 East Tennessee State, Liberty (40), South Carolina (41), UNC Greensboro (46), N.C. State (51), North Florida (56), Kent State (60), Penn State (68), East Carolina (92), Coastal (93), and Wisconsin and Kansas State, which are both outside the top 100 among 301 ranked teams.
Wake Forest, which is ranked fourth in the GolfStat.com rankings, has finished in the top four in each of its six stroke-play events this season, including a win and three runner-up finishes. Louisville, ETSU, Liberty, UNCG, North Florida and N.C. State have also won tournaments this season.
The tournament features seven players ranked among the top 50 college golfers by either Golfweek or Golfstat, including Golfstat No. 10 Jonathan Brightwell of UNC Greensboro and Golfweek No. 11 Mark Power of Wake Forest.
Louisville has a pair of Golfweek top-30 players in John Murphy and Matthias Schmid, Wake Forest has two more top-50 players in Parker Gillam and Alex Fitzpatrick, and Jack Rhea of ETSU is ranked among the top 32 in both polls.
The tournament may be the top amateur event in South Carolina. Thirty-six holes will be played Monday and 18 Tuesday, and the event includes a sold-out college-am on Sunday afternoon and 2 p.m. Sunday clinic for 15 athletes from the Grand Strand Miracle League.
“I really like the fact we have a 36-, 18-hole event and we’ve kept it in the top 20 in the country,” Garren said. “We want to always be in that top 20.”
The event is open and free to spectators.
Coastal features senior Zack Taylor of Pittsburgh, who Garren invited to the team as a junior out of the school’s PGA Golf Management Program.
In his two seasons, Taylor has posted the best career scoring average in CCU history at 71.25 – which is under par – including 71.06 this season.
That’s a stroke better than the 72.26 career scoring average Dustin Johnson posted over his four-year career, which was 0.57 above par.
Taylor’s scoring average of 71.33 last season is the second lowest single-season average in CCU history behind Johnson’s 70.40 his senior season in 2006-07, which was a full stroke under par.
“Zack’s career here, the two years we’ve been fortunate to have him, have been spectacular,” Garren said. “It’s impressive what he’s done. He’s got a lot of game, he hits it a long way, he’s got every shot, and he’s got a whole lot of good finishes.”
Taylor has two of the lowest 54-hole tournament totals in CCU history, though he’s still searching for his first collegiate win. He has finished in the top five in a third of his 18 career starts with 12 top-20s.
The Chants are young with two seniors, no juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen. Senior States Fort is coming off a 69 in Puerto Rico for a top 10. Freshman Seth Taylor was 9 under through 36 holes and had a chance to win in the Saint Mary’s Invitational in November.
“From a talent point of view it’s definitely the most talented team we’ve had in my three years here, and it’s getting to the time of year where we can’t really use youth as an excuse at this point,” Garren said. “. . . It’s time to start seeing some of those results. We’ve certainly got the talent to beat good teams. We’ve shown it, we just need to do it at a higher level the rest of the way.”
The Chants finished in the middle of the pack in their first five tournaments of the season, including the spring season opener hosted by Florida, placing between sixth and 10th.
But the Chants finished last in the 15-team TPC Dorado Beach Collegiate in Puerto Rico in their most recent tournament last week. They shot a poor opening round and the final two rounds were canceled by weather.
“It was a bad time to have our worst round of the year,” Garren said. “You stress that every round matters and I don’t know if they realize it until something like that happens.
“We’ve had a decent year up to that point.”
DJ skipping Tokyo
Coastal Carolina alumnus and world No. 5 Dustin Johnson plans to skip the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer and focus instead on the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Johnson’s manager, David Winkle, confirmed the decision to Golfweek on Monday.
His statement via email to Golfweek included: “Dustin gave the Olympics a great deal of thought and we discussed the pros and cons of him participating at length. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of personal preference and priority. As much as he would be honored to be an Olympian, the FedEx Cup Playoffs are also very important to him. Having had a few close calls in the Playoffs, he really wants to win them before his time is done and feels that he wouldn’t be giving himself the best opportunity to do so if he added a lengthy international trip just prior to their beginning (and shortly after returning from two weeks in Europe).”
Johnson is scheduled to compete in the Open Championship July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s in England, where he almost won in 2011. The first round of Olympic golf at Kasumigaseki Golf Club takes place July 30. The first FedEx Cup playoff event begins 11 days after the Olympics conclude with the Northern Trust in Boston.
Four Americans will qualify for the Olympics based on the Official World Golf Ranking. Johnson is currently in the third team spot behind Nos. 3-4 Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas.
Floridians take titles
A pair of Florida residents claimed titles Sunday at the fifth annual Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship presented by Fujikura at TPC Myrtle Beach, which featured many of the top juniors in the world.
Tyler Wilkes of Tampa emerged from a crowded leaderboard on Sunday to win the boys title, while Taylor Roberts of Parkland rallied from a two-shot deficit to win the girls title.
Wilkes shot 72 on Sunday to finish at 1-under 215 and edge Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, N.C. by a stroke. He began the final round with a one-shot lead but both Surratt and David Ford of Peachtree Corners, Georgia spent time alone atop the leaderboard on the back nine.
A Florida signee, Wilkes trailed Surratt by two when he made a birdie on the par-5 14th hole and Surratt made a double bogey on the par-4 15th, and he closed with four pars.
Roberts, a Florida State signee, started the final round two shots behind Katherine Schuster of Kill Devil Hills, N.C. and bogeyed three of the first five holes, though she gained ground as Schuster made double bogeys on holes 2 and 3.
She birdied the par-3 seventh and closed with a 1-over 73 to earn a three-stroke win over Yoko Tai of Windermere, Florida at 4-over 220.
Adrian Anderson of Murrells Inlet finished 13th in the girls competition at 17-over 233. She shot a 1-under 71 in the opening round and was one shot out of the lead before falling back with rounds of 82 and 80.
First Tee Programs
The First Tee of Coastal Carolinas golf and youth development organization will be holding its Spring After-School and Saturday Programs from March 7 to May 12 for ages 7-17.
Locations for sessions are Willbrook Golf Club, Wachesaw Plantation and Wedgefield Plantation on the south end of the Strand, Whispering Pines, Legends Resort and The Hackler Course at CCU in the central Strand, and Eagle Nest Golf Club and Crown Park Golf Club on the north end.
Program schedules and online registration are available at www.FirstTeeCoastalCarolinas.org.
In addition, the First Tee National School Program is active in 54 elementary schools in The First Tee of Coastal Carolinas territory, encompassing six counties along the Carolinas coast and impacting more than 54,000 students in 2019, including more than 38,000 in Horry and Georgetown counties.
The National School Program is taught by physical education teachers with equipment, guidelines and online training provided by The First Tee.
The School Day Program features 50 volunteers and will start its seventh year with students from fourth- and fifth-grade classes at 11 elementary schools in Georgetown County. Students are bused to sessions at Tradition Golf Club, Wedgefield and Cherry Hills Country Club for 60-minute classes. It culminates with the Champions Challenge.
