Myrtle Beach has scored an ace in golf tourism with the Myrtle Beach Classic, the beach’s first-ever PGA TOUR event and the first major professional golf tournament in the past 24 years. The inaugural tournament, hosted by Dunes Golf and Beach Club, will debut May 9-12 and reinstate Myrtle Beach as the “Golf Capital of the World.”
A field of 132 players will compete in the Myrtle Beach Classic, one of 36 events on the FedEx Cup regular season schedule this year, for a purse of $4 million and 300 FedEx Cup points, with $225,000 in proceeds from the tournament being donated to nine local nonprofit organizations: Blue Star Mothers of Coastal Carolina University, Boys & Girls Club of the Grand Strand, Champion Autism Network, Children’s Recovery Center, Classy Smiles, Help for Kids, Helping Hand of Myrtle Beach, Project Golf, and SOS Care.
Up to 10,000 spectators are expected to descend on The Dunes Club over the four-day event. The 18-hole championship golf course is renowned for its beauty and ocean views and is consistently ranked among the Top 100 courses in the country. The private club, founded in 1948 and designed by Robert Trent Jones, has been the site of high-profile golf events, but the Myrtle Beach Classic will be the biggest one yet.
Despite the course’s impeccable shape, there will be some renovations and upgrades before the major event, such as a new guest house, an expanded putting green, a renovated first tee, expanded and resodded tee boxes, a new tee box on the 8th hole to play it as a par 4, reconstructed practice chipping area, new tee box and resurfacing on the 14th hole, and parking lot and maintenance facility renovations.
In addition to the Myrtle Beach Classic, there will be a pro-am event on May 8 that will feature celebrities like North Myrtle Beach native Vanna White. As of December 2023, more than 8,000 tickets were already sold. Daily grounds access tickets range from $25 to $55 (prices increase on March 26), weekly grounds access tickets are $200 each, daily shared hospitality passes on the 17th hole are $325 and include beer, wine, soda, water, and lunch, daily shared hospitality passes on the 18th hole are $350 (limited quantity available for Thursday only), and children 15 and under admitted free of charge.
By: Ashley Daniels
