Chance to become a World Champion in Myrtle Beach
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The world’s largest amateur golf tournament – the 31st Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship – takes place this summer along the northeastern South Carolina coast.
Approximately 3,500 participants are expected to play more than 60 courses in the event.
The August 25-29 tournament, with the theme ‘Anyone can play, anyone can win’ opened for entries on Tuesday. Registration for the four-day, 72-hole event is $475 per person through May 15, a $100 saving on the regular entry fee of $575.
Registration is available at www.worldamgolf.com, and includes an extensive gift bag.
The World Am is grouped according to USGA indexes with five competitive divisions ranging from men/women under 49-years-old to super seniors 70 and above. Flight winners advance to the 18-hole world championship playoff where a World Champion is crowned.
The event’s inclusiveness is apparent in its past champions as winners with handicaps as low as 3 and as high as 34 have won. Four women have hoisted the championship trophy.
Jeff Monday, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday’s tournament director, said: “Since the early 1980s, the World Am has characterised what golf is all about with a combination of friendly competition and camaraderie.
“The handicap system allows players of all abilities to vie for title of ‘World Champion’ in the golf capital of the U.S. With the welcomed influx of international participants, we are even more of a world championship.”
Nearly 100,000 people have competed since there were 684 participants in the first event in 1984. A maximum of 5,000 players entered in 2000. This year, participants from all 50 states in the United States and more than 25 countries are expected. Approximately 10 percent of the participants come from outside of the United States.
Last year, countries represented included Australia, Austria, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Germany, Guatemala, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and the Virgin Islands.
Participating courses include the Norman, Fazio and Love courses at Barefoot Resort, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, True Blue Golf Plantation and Tidewater Golf Club.
The entry fee also allows nightly access to ‘The World’s Largest 19th Hole’ at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The gathering features equipment demos, entertainment, open bars, concerts, prize drawings, food from superb area restaurants and celebrity appearances.
