Phillips, White among top amateur golfers entered in the S.C. Amateur at DeBordieu

Many of the top amateurs in the state will be on the south end of the Grand Strand this week competing for the Billy Lewis Trophy in the 85th South Carolina Amateur Championship from Thursday through Sunday at the 7,012-yard par-72 DeBordieu Club in Georgetown.

A youth movement in the tournament began in 2009, and over the past seven years the event has been won by both high school and college players. Seventy-eight players in this year’s championship are under the age of 24 and many of them have accomplished junior and amateur resumes.

Inman’s Trent Phillips, 16, is coming off a victory at the Palmetto Amateur in Aiken, is ranked 31st among juniors in the United States, and is first in both the S.C. state junior and amateur point rankings.

This year, Phillips also finished second in the Azalea Invitational amateur at the Country Club of Charleston and won the S.C. Junior Championship, which was won in 2014 and ’15 by Jack Parrott of Columbia and Christian Salzer of Sumter, who are also entered this week.

The past three S.C. Amateur champions are all in college, and Keenan Huskey of Greenville (University of South Carolina), Andrew Novak of Mount Pleasant (Wofford) and Carson Young of Pendleton (Clemson) are grouped together in a threesome that tees off in the morning Thursday and afternoon Friday.

Clemson’s Bryson Nimmer of Bluffton, the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and an All-ACC Selection, recently finished in sixth at The Players Amateur at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton and played well at the Palmetto Amateur as well.

The tournament is not bereft of older talent, as Todd White of Spartanburg is among the top career amateurs in the nation.

White won the S.C. Amateur back in 1990, and the high school teacher has been busy in recent years. He was member of the 2013 Walker Cup team and a co-champion of the inaugural USGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship in 2015. He recently finished seventh at the Palmetto Amateur, 14th at the Jones Cup Invitational and 13th in the Azalea Invitational, made the round of 16 at the 2016 USGA Four-Ball, and advanced through a 2016 U.S. Open local qualifier.

Entrant Lee Palms was the last non-collegiate golfer to hold the S.C. Am trophy, winning in 2008 at Musgrove Mill Golf Club, and finished second to Huskey last year after posting a 10-under 278.

Thomas Todd of Laurens, Jarrett Grimes of Columbia and Brian Quackenbush of Aiken, who each qualified Monday for the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, join White and Palms as veterans who might contend.

Seven of the top 10 ranked players in the S.C. Golf Association’s Player of the Year standings are in this year’s field.

Former winners of the S.C. Am include 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, 2011 FedExCup champion Bill Haas, PGA Tour winner D.J. Trahan and current Web.com Tour member Mark Anderson.

Entrants from the Grand Strand include Rion Moore Jr. of Georgetown, Judson Holliday of Aynor, Austin Frick of Myrtle Beach, Adam Langford of Murrells Inlet, and Jackson Cole, Trey Salley and Roy Hunter of Pawleys Island.

Tee times run from 7:30-9:20 a.m. and from noon-1:40 p.m. Thursday and Friday before the field is cut to the low 70 players and ties. Sunday’s final round is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Spectators are welcome but will have to walk the course. Live scoring will be available at http://bit.ly/2apOU6X.

The tournament is open to males 14 and older who have a handicap index of 10.4 or better. Participants must be residents of South Carolina who are exempt or advanced through qualifiers.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Phillips, White among top amateur golfers entered in the S.C. Amateur at DeBordieu."