Hear from several of the key figures involved in the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic, the PGA TOUR’s debut event on the Grand Strand being held May 9-12, 2024 at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club.
Good morning everyone my name is Craig Smith and they got me out of retirement to help them with the their local media and director of media for the uh Myrtle Beach Classic our first one and I’ll tell you what I’ve done a lot of them in
My 21 years at the USGA I’ve never seen a lot of them start off like this it’s a true congratulations to everyone involved and all of you as part of the media we’ve got a little program here that’ll go an hour and then we’ll get out and we’ll play some golf Okay so
We’ve got four speakers today we’ve got Karen Reon the president CEO of visit burtle Beach and she has a little bit of news to tell you then we’ve got Blair Anderson who’s the president of the dunes Beach Golf and Beach Club and we couldn’t have anything here at Myrtle
Beach of this caliber without it being at the Dunes Club thank you so much and U Darren Nelson who is the tournament director on behalf of sport 5 and Darren’s my boss for the next couple of months so I can’t say anything bad about Darren but Darren you are doing an
Unbelievable job look at this this fantastic and then we are so lucky to have Jonathan bird here who has won five times in the PGA Tour a South Carolina native he’s come up to help us build this uh event so Jonathan and I will get started with a couple of questions and
Then you can ask questions of anyone and we’ll have time later on for one1 interviews outside before you hit some golf so we’ll get this thing started because we had a great day the weatherman really really cooperated so we’ll get started and Karen why don’t
You come up and get us started and then when you’re done I’ll come back up and onor in your Square thank you thank you Craig can everyone hear me okay great thank you I want to start by thanking everyone for being here this morning I want to especially call out mayor Brenda
Bethon uh mayor of Myrtle Beach here with us today we also have Debbie Connor who is with Myrtle Beach city council I don’t see anyone else from city council here it is fairly early at a Monday morning um but we appreciate you both being here um and again um just chatting
With some folks as we were assembling this morning and it’s hard to believe that it was uh quite a bit of time ago probably 18 months ago that we first began having conversations uh with our trusted golf Partners golf tourism Solutions um my friend Gary Shaw who’s sitting
Here in the front row of PJ of America that was back in 2022 the CJ cup it just happened here in South Carolina and I posed what I thought was a provocative question to Tracy Connor and the team at golf tourism Solutions and my team at visit Myrtle Beach and
That was simply why can’t the golf capital of the world host a PGA tournament here in Myrtle Beach and the answer of course was well we can we can do that and from there we went on an odyssey uh to have many many conversations and discussions uh that
Took place uh again uh Kelly Jensen from PGA Tour is here today uh Allan fish so many people at PGA Tour uh that we met with spoke with um who were just brilliant in terms of uh their responsiveness and working with us um leading to the momentous agreement that
Happened last spring that we announced in May of 2023 so that press conference was to announce that the Myrtle Beach Classic was coming so weeks and months of hard work paid off and I do want to thank people like Gary Shaw for getting us that first little toe in the water to
Understand how we might go about this and who to talk to uh Tracy Connor and Kyle Olan from GTS were Rock Solid helping every step of the way and of course my visit Myrtle Beach team Stuart Butler Diane Cherno Jen Brunson Chris mowder Jonathan Paris and uh Bob Parris
To name a few of the great team that I get to lead every day I also want to thank our host organization and the partners that you’re going to hear from this morning um sport five um thank you uh Mike is here today Mike Haron is here
With us today but Darren Nelson our tournament director and his very talented team Travis Sarah Toby Craig and operations director Matt Clark um they have just been Stellar to work with and so we’re we’re so appreciative um so since my vision was to Showcase Myrtle
Beach Golf to the world uh I could not think of a better place to do that but here at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club it’s just such a great place it’s always one of the top rated golf courses in our state if not in our nation and again a
Special thanks to the leadership of the Dunes Golf and Beach Club uh Collins Wakefield so many meetings with Collins with Blair Anderson with with Gavin arsena uh the the terrific general manager here Steve and Dennis and all the dedicated staff and I also need to say thank you to the most engaged
Membership in the country here at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club we appreciate that you are giving up your golf course for Myrtle Beach and that you have supported this initiative through your own business involvement as well as your personal engagement uh another person I want to call out is is scottt Gardner
Who took on the task of organizing our thousands of volunteers they’re going to make this just an unbelievable uh week uh of golf but also relationship building enjoying the best of little beach so the other great thing that I have is an opportunity to do this morning and and it’s my wonderful honor
Um sitting on the committee uh with sport 5 to to make a determination about charitable giving uh the PGA Tour has an unbelievable track record of giving back to the communities that it’s in and so it is my distinct honor today to announce the following Charities will be
Receiving uh you know prophets uh from the um uh PGA Tour and that is the blue star mothers of Coastal Carolina the Boys and 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 again
Amazing Charities all of these benefiting Charities have 501c3 status meaning they are nonprofit tax exempt groups with a dedicated Mission serving here in the Grand Strand overall the most recent stats from the American Golf industry Coalition tell us that the golf industry raised nearly 5 billion with a
B for charitable causes last year and that’s more than all other sports combined so again we’re really proud um and excited that the PJ tour will be given back um specifically to those nine Charities this year I also want to just say in general how grateful we are to
The overall B uh Myrtle Beach Business community as well as our residents who have so generously supported us the level of excitement and enthusiasm since we announced this last May has just been off the hook uh not a week goes by that I don’t run into someone or get a phone
Call or an email from people that are that live here and are so proud to live here and are so proud that the Myrtle Beach Classic will be here um in their Hometown so again one of the many incredible aspects of working with the PGA toward is their commitment to
Community as evidenced by the financial support pledged in year one but you’re also going to see again thousands of Volunteers in our from our community um out during uh the week of May 6 through 12 um and again we’re just so excited for all of that to happen so anyway I
Just wanted to um say thank you we are thrilled with where we are headed I look forward to working with everyone in this room to make the Myrtle Beach Classic a huge success and again I want to say thank you to the media that’s here today
To support this event and what it will do for our Myrtle Beach Community with that I want to say thank you and turn it back to Craig and we have a press release that has all of the information about the Charities as you depart this we’ll have
A handouts for you so you can put that to work and we thank you for all of your coverage not only today but for yesterday and for tomorrow um and as Taran was saying we couldn’t do this without the Dunes Club and it’s membership and it’s leadership Blair
Come on up and recognize your fine board members who are so natly attired back there in row to and also your fine staff who gets everything done around here Claire thank you thank you Craig Karen thank you as well for your kind words um I would also like to
Welcome everyone here to the Dunes Golf and Beach Club what an exciting time it is for Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand in general I cannot believe we find ourselves 71 days away from this happening and it seems like it’s just picking up as the days go by um I am
Truly honored to be the president of the this great club and a point in history in the Dunes Club and the Grand Strand will host the largest sporting event in the history of the Myrtle Beach area which is phenomenal on behalf of the entire Dunes Club membership we look forward to
Hosting this wonderful event the F with the first ever PGA Tour event being in Myrtle Beach our history book is filled with major tournaments from all the various golfing associations and organizations so the club is accustomed to hosting big events but the Myrtle Beach Classic will be the biggest
Today the members still look back with great fondness and pride here having hosted the women’s US Open the PGA Tour Q School the Senior Tour Championship the southern amateur the PGA of America professionals national championship and the USGA women’s for ball this Robert Trent Jones Senior Golf
Course is something special and we’re so happy the PGA Tour felt that as well when choosing this beautiful piece of property in the Myrtle Beach area to host this tournament I would like to speak to the incredible job of the board of directors the Committees and the entire
Staff has done such an an amazing job in a short period of time to prepare for this event people have no idea how much planning an effort is needed to welcome the best players in the world to this club and to only have about 12 months notice before the first T-ball is
Struck is a tight window to say the least the efforts of our director of agronomy Steve Hamilton and superintendent Josh Taylor and their maintenance team last summer is nothing short of incredible here’s a short list of just the main projects that were all completed this past summer as you’ll see this when
You’re out on the golf course today expansion of the putting green we made it a third larger than it was all 18 Championship te’s were stripped laser leveled and expanded and resided new t- box on hole number eight will be played as a par four this year in the Myrtle Beach Classic it’s
Currently a par five reconstruction of the practice chipping area construction of a new bunker practice area down on the right of the range first te renovation as well as a new wall and a starter house Pond Bank Renovations own number one and number 18 new T box on
Number 14 and we completely had to resurface the whole due to the damage from the last hurricane parking lot Renovations maintenance facility renovations and many many more projects that were done in a short period of time perhaps the largest of the projects is the beach club that you see over here
It’s been under construction for 18 months and should be completed it is completed but we should have maybe the uh Co today which will be really really exciting and um we it will be introduced to the membership in April just a few short weeks prior to the
Event starting hats off to our general manager Gavin arau and the entire Clubhouse staff for tackling this massive grand opening project all while trying to balance the existing busy Clubhouse operations and prepare for the Myrtle Beach Classic it is simply mindblowing how the entire team gets things done here at the
Dunes Golf and Beach Club every day as we look to the week of the Myrtle Beach Classic the members are already planning special family bonding events to have them all come home to visit attend the tournament and watch some spectacular golf I’m sure the entire Myrtle Beach Community is acting
Similarly as the feedback we have received so far has been nothing but positive it would be incredibly awesome to witness thousands of Spectators walking these grounds each day as these talented players grind out what is sure to be a challenging round of golf this is sure to be a historic moment for the
Club and the Myrtle Beach Community as a whole thank you also to Darren Nelson and the sport 5 team for all they do to manage this tournament and for being great partners and supporters of the Dunes Golf and Beach Club again thank you all for attending today and for
Those playing golf please enjoy the day and feel free to ask me any of the board members staff members any questions you may have and thank you again for being at the golf Dunes shoing Beach Club Great a pro a pro colins you uh you didn’t get out of
This unscathed either you’re you’re going to do an awful lot of work isn’t he Blair Thank you very much and uh now we’re going to turn our attention to Darren Nelson who’s the tournament director and it’s not easy to host a club event it’s not easy to build one
Either and uh what a remarkable job that he has done and all of sport five I’ve had a great time just knowing who they are over the course of my career and I haven’t met one person in the whole group that I have had anything but like
Great things to say Darren come on up here you’re doing a heck of a job and I we’re lucky to have you doing this this I got to tell you recognize your team and thank you for all you’re doing thank you Craig thank you Craig very much uh we
Appreciate all of your help with the media this is a Hello World moment for us this is amazing to see all the faces in this room um thank you to Karen and your entire team um thank you to Gavin and the Dunes Club um um we thought
There’d be 80 people I think there’s 180 here so thank you very much um thank you to all the Charities that showed up today um we really appreciate you coming for the announcements uh but we’re super excited to have 132 of the best PJ tour players in the
World showcase their talents here at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in a few in a few short months and again it’s been said before about how fitting uh the golf capital of the world now has its own PGA Tour event that it can call its
Own this is only one of 36 regular season FedEx Cup events on the PJ tour schedule uh so we should be proud of that we have one right here in our backyard we have the Tournament Purse of about $4 million and then 300 FedEx Cup points will be available to the champion so
Again thank you to Karen and the uh Myrtle Beach Chamber visit Myrtle Beach uh Gavin uh general manager and his team here Dunes Golf and Beach Club thank you to Tracy Connor guy is amazing he wears so many hats whether it’s the Myrtle Beach Golf course Owners Association golf tourism Solutions pass
Board member of the Dunes Club and it goes on and on so Tracy thank you so much for all of your support and then thanks to Collins Wakefield as well past president of the Dunes Club for all of his support um and feedback I want to introduce our staff
Real quick um I know Karen mentioned them before but I want them to be recognized recognized they’re doing a lot to make this event happen get it off the ground so Mike Haron executive EP of sport 5 is in the back Sarah Gilpin tournament services manager there’s sah
In the back Travis glowski is our sales director killing it thanks all your help Travis um Tony doollo sales manager hasn’t been with us very long but killing it appreciate all your hard work Matt Clark our operations director based in Raleigh he’s not with us today and then Julia contract our tournament
Services intern also a CCU student so nice tie in there thank you for all of your help all of your support all of the collaboration you guys are truly amazing and I look forward to really making this event shine here in a few months I want to recognize Kelly Jensen with the PJ
Tour VP of tournament business Affairs thank you for joining us he was here last I think he said May so a lot has changed especially with the beach club so thank you Kelly then I want to thank Jonathan bird too who are going to hear
From here in a little bit five time PJ tour winner appreciate Jonathan making the uh Trek over today for this um the PJ tour Prides itself on being a very philanthropic organ organization and they’ve given back almost $4 billion to charity since the uh PJ tour started
Back in the’ 60s and it’ll be no different here with us leaving a lasting impact with our nine Charities that Karen spoke about so Tracy Connor and I had the chance to meet representatives from all nine Charities here a few weeks ago and I see many of you out in the
Audience thank you so much for your passion it was very humbling to hear your stories and we are so proud to be able to support each of those nine charities um help you continue to make an impact here on the Grand Strand with the great things that you’re doing so thank you so
Much for the volunteers many of you heard that we had a large response to our volunteer call we had almost 4,000 people sign up through an initial website inquiry inquiry we set up and from that we filled 1500 about 1,500 volunteer spots so I want to
Thank um I know Scott Garner’s name was mentioned but Joan O’Donnell stand up you’re in the back thank you so much for all of your help um she’s got the volunteer outfit on today I love it um but thank you so much to Scott and Joan
What a huge task it is there’s about 40 committees that they’re putting together along with Sarah and Julia so a lot that goes into to uh the volunteer program here um a fun fact we opened up volunteer registration I think it was about 2:00 p.m. whatever day it was by
8:00 p.m. we were full we got it off we had too many people we had to shut the site down and the folks that put together the program that the volunteers sign up through said they never seen anything like it except for the Ryder
Cup so how cool is that to be in the same conversation as the Ryder Cup so um very cool and then we have 20 States represented from the volunteers so certainly a local flavor to the folks that are helping out but also folks coming in from the region and even
Beyond that to help volunteer a few of the Committees I won’t go through a mall cuz they’re so many but we’ll have walking scores standard Bears player registration Transportation special events Gallery management Admissions and practice facilities just to name a very few of the Committees that are being put together right
Now I want to mention our uh from the sponsorship side um things have gone really well I think out of the gates we thought we might sell a few corporate Hospitality tents on 18 we sold out on 18 we moved to 17 so we’re we’re doing really well and again appreciate all the
Local companies and corporations um that have come to the table uh to sponsor and be a part of this inaugural event we’ll have Hospitality venues on holes 17 and 18 we have some renderings over here you want to take a peek and we’ll be out on the golf course later today too for
Those folks when they’re playing those holes we can kind of walk you through what it’s going to look like um come May we’ll have um we’ll start the build we call it of all the temporary Hospitality venues um in late March right after the Hackler Collegiate event um so I
Mentioned we have six private Suites on 18 that are sold out we’ve got Club 18 which is our shared Hospitality venue on 18 it’s near a sellout we’ve got 10 private Suites on 17 green very near a sellout we have six private Cabanas that are sold out on the 17th Fairway on the
Right hand side there we’ve launched Club 17 which is a new shared Hospitality venue on 17t um basically wanted to have another opportunity for the for the fans to come out and have a VIP level experience that includes food and beverage so Club 17 be on the T box there and then Clubhouse
Tickets in this room we still have a few left for Saturday and Sunday and Thursday and Friday are sold out for our clubhouse ticket and then also our MonDay program is sold out with 2016 te so the word sold out I said a lot there
But it just it just means a lot that the community really responded whether it was the Dunes Golf and Beach Club membership or or just companies um within the Grand Strand supporting this event I do want to mention a few of our official partners um that we’ve partnered with in year one
Pepsi will be our official non-alcoholic beverage partner Grand Strand health will be our official Healthcare partner Cadillac our official vehicle partner uh diio is our official Spirits partner and Southern Crown Partners is our official alcohol partner and we will be announcing a special beer with them
Coming up here in the near future that we’re really excited about that’ll be showcased during tournament week I want to mention some of the exemption opportunities we have as many of you know there’s typically spots that go to whether it’s local players who are aspiring to play on the PGA tour uh we
Have a couple of very unique exemption opportunities U for this year’s event the inaugural event many of you saw the release of the Q at Myrtle Beach that came out here just a few days ago it’ll be held on Monday March 4th just a week from now at TPC Myrtle Beach a firstof
Its kind event that will feature eight prominent YouTube golfers and eight professional and amateur competitors competing for one exemption spot in the Myrtle Beach Classic on April 23rd a 90minut feature will be released on the play golf Myrtle Beach YouTube um Channel showcasing the competition and the exemption winner so you’re always
Trying to shine a spotlight on your event any way you can and what a cool idea um that visit Myrtle Beach and I’ll mention Kyle with alll tourism Solutions um really was the one that came up with this idea and ran with it so thank you
All to your hard work for that concept for a unique and fun way to shine a light on the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic March 18th through 20 the uh annual General Hackler Collegiate Championship will be hosted here at Dunes Golf and Beach Club and another exemption spot will be up for up for
Grabs um we did announce this previously um but the individual winner will receive an exemption into the Merle Beach Classic we’re excited to partner uh with CCU to shine an even brighter Spotlight on a great already great College event so I want to thank Jacob Wilner for your support and
Collaboration on that event head coach of Coastal Carolina men’s golf team so another unique opportunity um to get some local folks into the tournament um again shine a spotlight on the event I’m going to go over a few of the highlights of tournament week this is
The fun stuff this is all the planning that the team has been working on for the last several months we’ll continue to for the next two months but but uh on Monday May 6th is our opening day of tournament week we’ll have a the first annual ignite women’s brunch at Myrtle
Beach Classic we’ll have some special guest speakers that will be announcing soon um we have tickets available for the Chamber of Commerce and that event will be hosted right here in this room on Monday May 6th uh Tuesday May 7th we’re going to host a junior Clinic
Hosted by Project golf very excited to partner with Project golf on this event to open up the game of golf to the masses uh we could change a life that day who knows based on one of the kids that attends that event so we’re really excited about that uh Tuesday evening
We’ll have some fun again in this room for the proamp paring draft party uh will be NFL sty NFL player um style draft MC by Charlie Rymer and then my favorite part of the week I’ve Been A Wheel of Fortune fan since I was a kid
My mom and I used to watch it all the time still due to this day but Vanna White will be our special guest that evening she is I’ve heard going to play in the pram she plays golf apparently which is really cool and she’s from Myrtle Beach area so what a cool uh
Person to have associated with the event and she’ll be around all week attending many of the special events um throughout tournament week Wednesday May 8th is our official proam we’ll have up to 52 teams that will play in that um and then a pro will play two Pros will play with each
Of those teams one on the front nine then a different Pro on the back nine for those wind day Wednesday pram teams we do still have Wednesday proam teams available if anyone is interested or could mention that on the local news tonight that would be great um Thursday
May 9th is our first round of competition uh we will have an opening opening ceremonies on the first T um with the national anthem and some other PP circumstance to get the week kicked off um Thursday we’re evening I’d also like to announce we’re actually going to
Have two concerts this year one on Thursday evening one on Saturday evening right behind me here on the ocean lawn those announcements will be made on April 2nd as far as who those bands are for the for the concert so we’re really excited to add some more fan Centric
Type opportunities for the fans to come out enjoy Golf and stick around and listen to some good music and have a have an adult beverage for sure and then also on Thursday I’m proud to announce we’re going to have the world renowned US Army golden knights parachute team
Drop out of the sky in parachutes um and perform and land on the beach right behind us again and that’s on on Thursday May 9th right before the first concert so a lot of fun activities we’re planning um they’re in conjunction with the sunf fun Festival which is also
Going on that weekend and the AR the golden kns are also going to jump for that event as well as um as that event as well so excited to Thursday will be a fun day around here and then Friday May 10th will be our second round of
Competition the field will be cut to the top 65 players in ties and then Saturday’s our third round we’ll have the family day we encourage all the families to come out and a school is still in session for most folks that time of year so Saturday will
Be a big family day love to see huge crowds out here and then again the concert on Saturday evening uh for the for the second concert that week and Sunday is our final round of competition it’s Mother’s Day we are going to have some special ways to recognize all the
Mothers um for sure and then our award ceremony crowning the champion on the 18th green with Charlie Charlie Rymer again as our our MC for that event and I I’ll leave you with a couple of facts here uh the gulf Channel broadcast will be broadcast internationally on Golf Channel and
Peacock as many of you know golf channel is available in 120 million homes worldwide and 82 million homes in the United States so how cool that the spotlight will be shined on Myrtle Beach and specifically the Dunes Golf and Beach Club for two hours each of the
Four days of the tournament um Thursday and Friday it’ll be broadcast from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and then Saturday and Sunday will be from 3: to 5:00 p.m. broadcast all over the world again very much excited to Showcase Myrtle Beach and the Dunes Club to the world May 9th the 12th thank you
All very much uh for your attendance thank you again for the charity Charities that attended um and I just want to thank you all for joining us today and I will turn it back over to our MC Craig Smith Jonathan come on up Jonathan and I are
Going to sit over here we’ll start off with a couple of questions and we’re doing really really well so where’s Dave can I take this off I think I can grab this yeah thank you maybe should just use the other one yeah yeah okay we’re lucky enough to have Jonathan
Bird with us I’ll start by trying an introduction which uh can be a lengthy one he’s got quite a list of accomplishments first of all he’s a South Carolina native Anderson South Carolina went to Clemson four times a first team all conference and uh his team was pretty
Darn good DJ tryan Charlie Warren Lucas glver whatever here’s here’s the best one played on the 1999 us Walker Cup team one of 10 players in the US to be chosen for that turned Pro in 2000 was a rookie of the year in 2002 it’s won five times on
The PGA tour another couple worldwide uh and still going after it uh at age 46 just turned 46 um his brother’s the coach over in Clemson he still hits it out there a l way but even after all of those accolades he’s just barely the best player in his
Family um I I’ll start with the real softball one because I know you’re very proud of what Jackson has done 17 years old he’s another Clemson guy or will be tell me about Golf and the family I didn’t hear any go Tigers when must be a game c this morning um
No I’m I’m very happy to be here thanks for having me um it’s fun getting to he all the the prep for this tournament I am a proud South Carolina n native even though I live in South Georgia now um but I think uh the South Carolina events
Is what I’ve gotten probably the most excited for in my career you know I was fortunate enough to win the the corn fairy event the BMW early in my career uh gotten to play in The Heritage a lot and uh just to have fans from South Carolina and just you
Know you everybody talks about the southern hospitality of our state and how great the people are and I know this tournament is going to be a great event for that and and will represent our state well but I went to Clemson um I graduated in 2000 and my son just went
Through the whole recruiting process he’s a very good Junior golfer and uh he fortunately chose to go to the right school um he went on three other visits to Auburn and Georgia and Alabama and he made Clum he made Christmas a lot less awkward by choosing uh choosing Clemson
Uh but we’re excited for him and to watch his career and uh I don’t know how many years I have left on the PJ tour but um I’m looking forward to this event and and excited to compete let’s go with that one uh how many more years you have on on tour
You’re at a kind of a precarious state of of age and whatnot competing against the young kids that’s where a tournament like the Myrtle Beach Classic really really shines because it’s important to you look at what just happened this past week guy that’s been out there forever
He’s 29 years old we don’t know anything about him Jacob na or Jake n he wins changes his life so while there are Elite events this one really is at the foundation of what golf can do for someone in their in their life isn’t it
Well the reality is every tmin on PJ SC is a lead event you know I just I played uh two weeks down on the corn fairy tour in South America and was just just impressed with the talent on the corn fairy tour and as you saw this past week
In Mexico you know a guy who’s just come off the corn fery tour I think he shot 67 64 63 72 maybe the last day play so well he could cruise on Sunday win the golf tournament but you’re getting to hear a lot of really good story lines
From younger guys and the talent pull on the PGA tour is just fantastic as it is in college and as it is in junior golf and just the the level of play is is pretty impressive and and um so you’re going to the storyline of the new guys
On the PJ tour and the storyline of you know a guy like me who’s been out there a long time you know everybody’s looking for that opportunity to play you know win a PG Tour event or have a good finish to try to springboard and getting
More events and and I’m sure we’ll have some great story lines here at at the noral beach classic tell me about your game right now you played twice on the corn FY tour this year couple of top 20 finishes uh you intimated to me last night that you
Had a triple boogey where you would have finished second why would you bring that because I’m part of the media that’s what we do that’s the only thing we can relate to in your career we can make gosh I thought you were going to give me
Softballs no I I I had been I I took a bunch of time off this off season we have three kids I got a girls dance competition last week in Jacksonville so doing a lot of family stuff taking a little break from the game um I went
Down and played in Panama I played in 24 events on the PJ tour last year didn’t have a good season so I’m in the past Champion category playing whenever I get in and I chose to go down there and play and and played you know played fairly
Well game was a little rusty but I did I had a triple on the 11th hole on Sunday I made Seven birdies but when you look at a scorecard that’s the one thing that pops out and uh that’s what everybody talks about um but I hit a lot of shots that
You’d probably be familiar with you know shot in the water W shot water and adds up to seven um but yeah if I had that hole I would have finished second so overall my game is pretty good um and I’m looking forward to this season and
You know play the events I get in play some corn fairy play some PJ tours and you know hopefully I can take advantage of the events I get in I’m going to ask you one more question and then we’re going to open it up to to to everyone may have a question
Of Jonathan or anyone else it just reminded me of when that sebie biyer was out there and again you know media we we asked that that how we have we fored one hole and he turned around he says easy I miss I miss I miss I make no
Problem so you wrote around with Steve this morning Steve Hamilton it’s the first time you looked at the Dunes Club give me just your impression of what you saw and what kind of course is it well it’s it’s not what I pictured the golf course to be like the Topography is is
Beautiful just the Rolling Hills on the golf course and some raised green like a lot of raised greens and you know slopes in the fairways um beautiful trees um my first impression was like like a lot of really pretty t- shots and a lot of demanding second shots you know um
Robert Trent Jones you know has a way of creating some challenging bunkers uh visually and when you get in them uh to some greens that are sloping away in some tough Hol locations you know Steve was gracious enough to drive me around and show me U you know probably eight to
10 holes you know I got to see the waterl hole the kind of signature hole in the golf course and and but just very impressed with you know the the length of the golf course and the demand on the second shots and if if you’re not sharp
Going into the greens you’re going to have a hard time around the greens in the bunkers or shortsighted just because of the chip shots the greens are then running away um so I think you know going into a week like this I want to make sure my iron
Play is is is on point but you know if we get good weather or get some wind and the greens are firm I think it’s going to be a really good test so was very impressed for the golf course I’m excited to play n holes today great I
See our our members over there shaking their heads uhhuh we are doing really well I’m going to ask if there are any questions that any of our speakers this morning just raise your hand and and see if we can recognize you if there are well how about that uh Dennis why
Don’t you come up and before we do that I see Marlene in the background Marlene Marl white is helping me tremendously and I couldn’t do any of this without you thank you so much give her a raise just briefly I’m going I’m going to tell you later on that when
Credentials come around they won’t be coming to me they go through the PGA Tour but we’ll get all that information to you and we have Logistics that are going to be pretty much Second To None they’re going to score right out by Dennis’s office they’re going to you’re
Going to come back and work in this area we’ve got tremendous Logistics again thank you to everyone at the Dunes Club thank you to everyone sport 5 and thank you to everyone for covering this championship and I will be around uh here and later on if you have
Anything that you need in terms of logistics or story ideas I will provide for you Dennis will help me with that too he knows everything that goes on at this club but Dennis is going to tell you a little bit about the way we’re going to play golf okay and uh Jonathan
Thank you
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Where's Charlie Rymer??>????