CPGA Section champion Townsend of Johns Island dies in car accident

Just nine days after recording his biggest win as a Carolinas PGA Section professional, Michael Townsend of Johns Island died in a car accident early Saturday.

The 32-year-old head pro at Kiawah Island Club’s Cassique Course won the CPGA Section Championship on July 30 at the Grande Dunes Resort Course.

Townsend’s vehicle rolled over and struck trees on a Johns Island road. Authorities responded around 3 a.m. and Townsend was pronounced dead at the scene.

Townsend had two children with his wife, Katherine, ages 1 and 3.

Visitation with the family will be held from 12:30-2 p.m. Wednesday at Bentwinds Golf and County Club in Fuquay Varina, N.C., and a memorial service will follow at 2 p.m. Townsend grew up in the Raleigh, N.C., area.

Condolences may be left at thomasfuneral.com.

Donations are being accepted for Katherine and her two children, Spencer and Ana Kate, via GoFundMe.com at http://www.gofundme.com/prayersforkatherin and there is a memorial fund for the family at Wells Fargo Bank. The CPGA is also considering ways in which it can honor Townsend.

Townsend won the Section Championship by four shots with a 12-under-par 204 and earned $9,500 and entry into both the 2016 PGA Professional National Championship and a 2016 PGA Tour event.

He had the option of playing in the PGA Tour's Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C., or Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. His spot in the PGA national club pro next June at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y., will be filled by first alternate Ryan Tyndall of Murrells Inlet, the head pro at the Reserve Club.

Townsend played a handful of mini-tour events after graduating from Methodist University before settling into a nine-year assistant pro position at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, N.C., before moving to Kiawah Island Club a couple years ago.

He won the CPGA Assistants’ Championship in the mid-2000s and finished second and third in the section championship in 2012 and ’13.

Townsend’s friend Charles Frost, the head pro at Kiawah Island Club’s River Course, will be playing in the PGA Championship this week at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin with a heavy heart.

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "CPGA Section champion Townsend of Johns Island dies in car accident."