World Am welcomes more than 2,100 golfers despite limitations caused by the coronavirus
The 37th PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com World Amateur Handicap Championship will be unlike any other because of the coronavirus, yet someone from every state in the U.S. will experience it.
Though the tournament offerings and events have been scaled back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has still attracted more than 2,100 players representing all 50 states to the Grand Strand this week.
The world’s largest single-site golf tournament is being played Monday through Friday on 52 area courses. Flight winners after 72 competitive holes through Thursday will compete in the championship playoff on Friday at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club.
“We’re thrilled about the number,” said tournament director Scott Tomasello of Golf Tourism Solutions, the marketing and technology agency that operates the event. “There were times when the uncertainty was palpable. We saw early on that people wanted to play if we could do it in a proper manner, so we’re thankful for the amount of people that are loyal to this event. We thought if we can do it and this many people want to play, we’re going to make it happen for them.”
The World Am will utilize 31 different courses each day, with approximately 72 players on each layout separated into 36-player flights.
The tournament will be void of some features to promote social distancing and safety, such as the nightly World’s Largest 19th Hole expo and cocktail party at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
In its place, tournament organizers will produce a virtual 19th hole, a daily 30-minute program hosted by former Golf Channel personality and current GTS ambassador Charlie Rymer broadcast via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
It will include tournament video, player features and special guests, with appearances by special guests such as Paige Spiranac, Chantel McCabe, Kelly Tilghman, Colt Ford and Brian Katrek of SiriusXM, who is playing in the tournament’s gross division.
Several measures to promote safety and social distancing, and eliminate touch points, have been put in place.
Each player will have their own golf cart, pins will be left in the hole, golfers will be grouped in threesomes rather than foursomes, tee times will replace shotgun starts to stagger arrival times, approximately 30 fewer competitors will be at each course, range balls will be free and already at driving range stations, no spectators will be allowed, and courses will follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
The World Am flights players into nine divisions – men 49 and under, senior men (50-59), mid-senior men (60-69), super senior men (70-79), seasoned seniors (80+), women, the gross division, senior (50+) gross division, and a “Just For Fun” flight.
Players will receive a gift bag that includes a polo, a pullover, a golf towel, a logo’d hat, a PGA Tour Superstore gift card and an assortment of other gifts valued at $250.
For more information, visit www.MyrtleBeachWorldAmateur.com.
A place to play
With the uncertainty of the college fall golf season, Golf Tourism Solutions is going to give collegiate golfers some events to play in over the final four months of the year.
It is creating a small series of tournaments this fall specifically for collegians.
The first Collegiate Fall Series event is a 54-hole tournament at Carolina National Golf Club in Bolivia, N.C., from Sept. 20-22. The entry fee is $219, players can register online through PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com and the entry deadline is set for Sept. 14 or until the field is full.
The events are for men and women and have a field limit of 90 players.
Tomasello said GTS hopes to stage a total of three tournaments in 2020.
“We recognize that certain teams are not having team events in the fall season so we just wanted to provide a place for all those kids to play,” Tomasello said. “We’ve gotten some entries, and I believe as more of these schools’ seasons go to the wayside I think it will matriculate pretty quickly.
“We just want to make sure we get through this first one and see how the reaction is, and based on demand we’ll plan accordingly.”
Well represented
Golfweek magazine has unveiled its annual ranking of the “Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S.” and a trio of Myrtle Beach layouts earned a spot on the prestigious list.
Golfweek ranked the famed Dunes Golf & Beach Club the 50th best public course in America, and the classic Robert Trent Jones Sr. design was followed by a pair of Mike Strantz gems in Pawleys Island – Caledonia Golf & Fish Club at No. 62 and True Blue Golf Club at No. 95.
Myrtle Beach again dominated Golfweek’s list of the “Best Courses You Can Play” in South Carolina, as the area is home to nine of South Carolina’s top 15 public courses.
Joining the Dunes Club (No. 3), Caledonia (No. 5) and True Blue (No. 6) on the list of the Palmetto’s State’s best are Tidewater Golf Club (No. 7), Heritage Club (No. 8), Moorland Course at Legends Resort (No. 11), Dye Course at Barefoot Resort (No. 12), King’s North at Myrtle Beach National (No. 13) and TPC Myrtle Beach (No. 14).
On Golfweek’s North Carolina list, Bald Head Island Club is No. 8 and Leopard’s Chase at Ocean Ridge Plantation in Sunset Beach is No. 12.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 1:35 PM.
