G-4ZPB3V7P9N

Myrtle Beach World Amateur Boasts World’s Largest 19th Hole

By Len Ziehm

August might be the biggest month of the golf season – and not just because big professional events like the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs are contested then, but because the Myrtle Beach World Amateur is played in August.

The PlayGolf Myrtle Beach.com World Amateur Handicap Championship is different but every bit as impressive. It is older than the FedEx Cup and has many more players. The 36th staging of the event tees off on 59 courses in the Myrtle Beach area. The entry count hit 3,226 for this year with entrants from 49 states (only Alaska is missing) and 20 countries.

There are 161 international participants with Canada leading with 51. The internationals have traveled approximately 500,000 miles to get here. As far as the U.S. states are concerned, South Carolina leads with 312 players and Florida has 307.

Myrtle Beach’s big event consists of 72 holes on different courses for players in nine age groups, and there’s also a “Just for Fun’’ division and a Flight Winners Playoff at the Dye Course at Barefoot Resort to climax the competition on Friday. There are 67 flights in the first four days of the competition. More