Area Golf Tournaments

For many people, golf is a game passed down through family, a means to bond in good times and bad. One of the game’s great celebrations of its familial roots – the Father-Son Team Classic – is beginning to appear on the horizon.

The 17th annual tournament, which is open to any father-son type relationship, including grandfather-son, stepson-father and son-in-law (uncle)-nephew, will take place in Myrtle Beach July 24-26. Nearly 1,000 golfers will come to the Grand Strand to play one of the game’s most unique tournaments.

At the 54-hole event’s heart is the time fathers and sons spend together. For some, the tournament reinforces already strong bonds, but for others it has helped mend fractured relationships.

“In the tournament’s second year, I was in middle of giving out flight prizes and a guy came up and said, ‘I’ve got to talk to you,’” said Robert Harper, the tournament’s founder. “He said my son and I hadn’t talked for seven years. There was a rift between my wife and his wife. Out of the blue he called me and said, ‘Dad let’s play golf.’ We sat down and talked about it, came here and met. We each brought our wives and found out it was a misunderstanding.’”

Those moments, while atypical, speak to the tournament’s emotional pull.

“(Players) will tell you, ‘We came in here thinking it was important to win, and we left realizing we won just by spending three days here,” Harper said.

The tournament, which features rounds of better ball, alternate shot, and Captain’s Choice, includes some of Myrtle Beach’s best golf courses. Crow Creek, Indian Wells, King’s North, Long Bay, the Love Course, Parkland, Rivers Edge and Prestwick are all hosting tournament rounds.

The Father-Son divides players into flights based on their verifiable USGA handicap.

The good times don’t end with each round. There is a cookout and skills contest that includes putting, chipping and a long drive following the opening round, and an awards ceremony and cookout following the final round.

The number and range of father-son combinations participating in the event speak to its popularity. Former athletes and politicians such as Lou Holtz, 1960 World Series MVP Bobby Richardson, and former South Carolina governor Jim Hodges, all of whom were named “Father of the Year,” have played.

July is a month where families crowd into the Myrtle Beach area, filling the beach, and the Father-Son Team Classic blends the concept of a family vacation and golf.

For first time participants, the Father-Son costs $1,200 per team. The cost is $975 for past participants. Registration includes the cost of all three rounds of golf, cart included, a $100 PGA Tour Superstore gift card for each player, a hat, shirt, balls and more. The entry fee also includes dinner at the awards ceremony for each player and a guest.

For more information, go to: www.fathersongolf.com

The Myrtle Beach 9-11 Unity Memorial will hold its annual remembrance ceremony on Wednesday, September 11 at 7 p.m. on the 29th Avenue side of Broadway at the Beach.

The public is invited to attend the event free of charge.

The annual ceremony is hosted by the friends of the Unity Memorial and the Chicora District of the Pee Dee Area Council, BSA, and the featured speakers will include former FDNY firefighter Nicholas Giordano.

A retired member of FDNY, Giordano was involved in

The newest addition to the entertainment lineup at the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship will be a familiar one to fans of the hit Golf Channel show Big Break. On Wednesday night, Big Break Greenbrier winner Mark Silvers will be a special guest at the World’s Largest 19th Hole. Silvers will appear onstage, providing a behind the scenes account of life on the show and talking about trying to secure a PGA Tour card. A native of Savannah, Ga., Silvers won Big Break in 2012


The 14th annual Veterans Golf Classic, one of the most popular events on the Myrtle Beach golf calendar, attracted 450 veterans from 33 states (including Alaska!) and again delivered on its promise of a good time.

Played on 12 Myrtle Beach golf courses, two-man teams competed in one of four flights based on handicap. But for many players, a pair of different team competitions highlighted the event.

Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion compete each year

A familiar face will be returning to the 30th annual Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship.

Golf Channel star Charlie Rymer will be appearing for two nights at the World’s Largest 19th Hole. Rymer is the second Golf Channel personality to commit to the event, joining Brandel Chamblee.

A former host of the Big Break and Road Trip: Myrtle Beach, Rymer is one of Golf Channel’s most prominent personalities, serving as a co-host of the network’s popular Morning Drive

The team lead PGA pro Kevin Kisner and actor Alfonso Ribeiro captured the 19th annual Hootie & The Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am title with an 18-under par score of 54 at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Course.

The squad led by PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson and hockey legend Wayne Gretkzy tied for second at 17-under-par. They tied with PGA Tour player Ken Duke and former football star Sterling Sharpe.

For the eighth consecutive year, a sellout crowd of 6,000+ fans

An already strong Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am field has received a Hall of Fame caliber boost.

Wayne Gretzky, widely regarded as the greatest hockey player to ever live, and legendary Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino have committed to play in the 19th annual event. (complete celebrity list)

The Monday After the Masters, which sold out in record time, will be played Monday, April 15 at the Dye Club, the event’s longtime host.

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Forsyth Country Day shot a 295 on the Rees Jones Course at Sea Trail Golf Plantation to win the 16th annual Palmetto High School Golf Championship. Forsyth shot a team total of 602 to edge Forestview High School by two strokes. (Complete team and individual results: Championship Flight, First Flight)

Ben Schlottman of Forsyth Country Day shot a 4 under-par 68 on Saturday and birdied the first playoff hole – the par 5 18th on the Jones Course – to edge Forestview’s Will

The field for the 19th annual Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am will feature a high profile cast of current and former sports and music stars.

Headlining the field for this year’s event, which will be played April 15 at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club in North Myrtle Beach, are PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson, NASCAR standout Denny Hamlin, former Ryder Cup captain and 20-time PGA Tour winner Davis Love III, LPGA icon Nancy Lopez, former NFL legends

Myrtle Beach’s premier golf tournament has been awarded South Carolina’s most prestigious tourism award.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley presented the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship with the Governor’s Cup, the Palmetto State’s most coveted award on Wednesday, January 30.

“Winning the Governor’s Cup is a tremendous honor,” said Jeff Monday, the World Am’s tournament director. “Tourism is vital to South Carolina and

The Myrtle Beach 9-11 Unity Memorial, featuring a piece of ribbon beam from the fallen North Tower of the World Trade Center, was unveiled during a moving ceremony Tuesday evening at Broadway at the Beach.

The ceremony, which was part of the annual friends of the Unity Memorial and the Chicora District of the Pee Dee Area Council, BSA event, included Kevin O’Brien, a retired FDNY firefighter who was at Ground Zero on 9-11, and Theresa Regan, whose husband, a firefighter, died trying

Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday and Myrtle Beach City Officials will unveil the Myrtle Beach 9-11 Unity Memorial, which will feature a piece of ribbon beam from the fallen North Tower of the World Trade Center, on Tuesday, September 11 at 7 p.m. on the 29th Avenue side of Broadway at the Beach.

The public is invited to attend the event free of charge.

The unveiling will be part of the annual ceremony hosted by the friends of the Unity Memorial and the Chicora District of the Pee Dee Area

Robert Mieczkowski of Laurance Harbor, N.J., shot a gross 76, good for a net 65, at TPC Myrtle Beach during Friday’s World Championship playoff to win the 29th annual Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship. Mieczkowski bested a field of 74 other flight winners

Major League Baseball legend Roger Clemens, who won his flight, shot a gross 79, good for a net 71 and and a share of ninth place.

The Connors brothers – Chuck, George and Dave – were dispersed across the globe and took up golf at different points in their lives.

By the mid-1990s each had been bitten by the golf bug and was playing on a regular basis, but they had never taken a trip together.

The World Am changed that.

Chuck Connors was working for a government contractor in Wiesbaden, Germany when George, who had been playing in the World Am since 1989, made what proved to be a life altering