Make no doubt about it. With its beaches, lodging options, golf courses and wide variety of other attractions Myrtle Beach, S.C., is – at least arguably – the top tourist destination in the Carolinas.
For a week in May, however, it’ll be a bit more than that. It’ll be the site of a PGA Tour event in one of that circuit’s most important months of the year. The PGA Championship, at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., comes up a week after the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic, which is May 8-11.
The PGA Championship is the second of the four major golf championships of 2025. The ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic is in only its second staging, but the first was a success and the second has a new title sponsor. It’ll again be played at the Dunes Club, a layout that has thrived on Atlantic Beach since 1939.
Myrtle Beach’s tournament won’t have all the golf stars that will be at Quail Hollow a week later, but it’ll have a tournament well worth watching again. Chris Gotterup won the initial playing in 2024 with a 22-under-par performance.
The lead-in has been innovative. The Q at Myrtle Beach was introduced before the first staging and was honored as the PGA Tour’s Best In-Class Element award-winner for 2024. The Q features 16 players – eight aspiring pros and eight influential content creators in an 18-hole stroke play competition. It was held on March 3 at TPC Myrtle Beach but the winner will be revealed on YouTube on May 5.
That player’s identity has created pre-tourney interest, as he will get a spot in the Classic field. Last year’s winner – pro golfer Matt Atkins – made the cut in the tournament proper and finished tied for 46th place.
ENTUCKY GOLF TRAIL – This new venture has a new logo and is also drawing interest with one of its courses, Woodford Club in Versailles, hosting a significant tournament. The Bluegrass Women’s Senior Amateur Championship will be played there May 5-8.
The Kentucky Golf Trail, organized by veteran professional Bob Baldassari, has six courses – Woodford, Bardstown Country Club, Gibson Bay, Cherry Blossom, Greenbrier and GlenOaks.
In addition to golf, the tour participants can visit Bourbon distillerys and get behind-the-scenes looks at Kentucky’s rich history of horse racing with tours of the state’s horse farms. More