For 30 years now, Myrtle Beach has beckoned golfers to tee it up with a few thousand of their peers, all with victory and a great measure of fun in mind. The world’s most over-the-top seaside golf destination, with its bright lights, smooth greens, and plenty to do before and after one’s appointed rounds, brings golf enthusiasts from all states and many countries together for four or (for the winners) five days of birdies, bogeys and considerable laughter, all in the spirit of competition.
The Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship is a unique opportunity for “average” golfers to put themselves in the spikes of the best professionals and compete for a coveted title against a huge field. In reality, the field at the “World Am,” as it is widely known, is bigger than that of any other golf tournament on the planet, professional or amateur. And at the end of five competition days, a field of more than 3,000 golfers will have been whittled down to one, who will forever be able to be called a “World Champion.”
In 2012 New Jersey’s Robert Mieczkowski held off a field of more than 3,000 players in the final round contested at TPC Myrtle Beach, a Tom Fazio golf course masterpiece located in Murrells Inlet, S.C.
The 2013 tournament looks to bring a similarly impressive crowd of golfers to Myrtle Beach. The festivities will kick off Monday, August 26, with the opening round being contested over some 60 courses. After four rounds, the winners of each of more than five dozen flights will advance to the Championship Round, played this year at the Dye Club at Barefoot Resort (also the host of April’s Hootie and the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am). The winner of that day’s tournament-within-a-tournament will be crowned World Champion and achieve amateur golf immortality.
For the majority of World Am participants, though, the week is less about the pursuit of victory than the joy of mere competition and camaraderie. Speaking of the latter, one of the great features of the World Am is the “World’s Largest 19th Hole,” housed in the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Entry—including food and drink—is free to all World Am participants and the scene serves as a hangout for participants to bring their families, swap battle stories and kick back in between tournament rounds. Many celebrity guests have been known to appear in the past—Charlie Rymer, Blair O’Neal and many others have engaged the crowd at previous 19th Hole celebrations. Many exhibitors will also be on hand to show off the latest golf products and services for the good of the tournament field. Exhibitors include PGA Tour Superstore, MyrtleBeachGolf.com, Holiday Inn, Oxford Golf and Barefoot Resort, which will have three of its four courses on the rota for this year’s tournament.
For more information about the 2013 World Am, visit www.WorldAmGolf.com or call (800) 833-8798.
Posted 7/16/13