Latest News on the World Amateur Handicap Golf Tournament

We are off to a great start with 2,328 players already registered for this year’s tournament! To put that number in perspective, we had just over 600 players at this time a year ago.

The tournament field won’t triple in size, but momentum is building for this year’s event. With our early entry price of $475 good until June 23, there is still ample time to register and start preparing to win the Everyman’s Major!

Included with the entry fee are four rounds of golf, cart included, entry into the World’s Largest 19th Hole, the tournament goody bag and more!

We already have players from 48 states and 20 countries, including China, Italy, Canada and India, registered this year’s tournament. Be prepared to play against a truly international field.

In case you were wondering where the players were coming from, 205 North Carolinians have registered, followed by 188 players from Florida. Canada (35) and Italy (20) are leading the player tally for our international friends.

Slow play is an epidemic in golf and as a tournament staff, we are constantly in search of ways to improve pace of play.

But we haven’t lost our minds, like one man in Florida apparently did in a fit of frustration with slow play. James Alonzo Hines allegedly slammed his golf cart into the group in front of him and whacked one of the tortoise-like offenders with a club, starting a brawl with a foursome trying to enjoy a bachelor party.

“They were among six friends celebrating the May 5 wedding of buddy Donald Salsbery. Hampe said the group, some of whom had just learned how to golf, had a few drinks at a nearby bar and joined Salsbery for the mid-afternoon golf outing at his request. Hampe said none of them was intoxicated.

The other group — two older men and two older women — were golfing behind the partygoers, said witness Justin Ravel. Ravel, who saw the initial confrontation from the 18th tee, said one of the women told him they had become incensed with the younger golfers driving on the greens and holding up their game.”

The police report made no mention of riding on greens but apparently our man Hines began firing balls into the offending group from 200 yards away (as an aside, this was on the 18th hole! He suffered through 17+ holes and couldn’t hold off for a few more minutes?!), at which point the problems started:

“One of the balls was heaved back at ...

Our promotional entry fee of $425 ends tomorrow, April 26, at 7 p.m. EST so make sure you get signed up for the Golf.com World Am in advance to maximize the event’s value! We are closing in on 2,000 entries, putting us well ahead of last year’s pace! Share the good news with a friend and lets fill the tournament field.

We are very excited about this year’s event and have a lot of good news in the pipeline. I hope you guys are enjoying the new website and are looking forward to August 27 as much as we are.

Special $425 Early Entry Rate, 72-Hole Championship, ‘World’s Largest 19th Hole’

(MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.)Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday — the Grand Strand’s golf marketing cooperative –announces entries will be accepted beginning April 11 for its 29th annual GOLF.com World Amateur Handicap Championship held August 27 – 31, 2012.

More than 3000 amateur golfers are expected to play on 50-plus area layouts including all four Barefoot Resort & Golf courses, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, True Blue Golf Plantation, Grande Dunes, TPC Myrtle Beach and all three eighteens at Myrtle Beach National. Registration for the four-day, 72-hole event is $425 through April 25th and $550 after.

The entry fee includes daily golf and access to “The World’s Largest 19th Hole” at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The gala features an extensive golf exposition, equipment demos, entertainment, open bars, concerts, prize drawings and food from fine area restaurants. Golf funnyman / network analyst David Feherty, short game guru Dave Pelz, Golf Channel analyst Charlie Rymer, and Sports Illustrated Golf Group’s editorial team are among the big names that have appeared each of the last two years.

“Golfers from all walks of life and of all skill levels enjoy the World Am’s legendary camaraderie and competition,” says Jeff Monday, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday’s tournament director. “This is one of our most popular events and showcases in spades why Myrtle Beach is the most diverse and exciting golf vacation destination in North America.”

The World Am is grouped according to USGA indexes with five ...

10. The First World Am Is A Hit!

After sketching out the idea for a world amateur golf tournament on a cocktail napkin, founders Marvin Arnsdorff and Myrtle Beach golf magazine owner Paul Himmelsbach were thrilled when the first World Am in 1984 attracted 684 players. That year, the tournament founders, their wives and friends were at the 19th hole mixing drinks, grilling burgers, and serving the baked beans and ribs catered by a local BBQ place.

9. The First Sudden Death Finish

Drama was in the air during the championship round of the 1990 World Am. Larry Wireman, a 7-handicapper from Dexter, Mich. faced off against Danny Southern of Thomasville, N.C. in the tournament’s first sudden death battle. After two holes, Wireman defeated Southern by carding a net par and taking the championship.

8. Female Golfers Take Home The Trophies

In 1997, Rhonda Oeters of Greenville, S.C. became the first woman to win the World Am. Ten years later, three women won back-to-back: June Wang of Huntersville, N.C. (2007); Paula Morton of Greenbrier, Tenn. (2008), who chipped in on the final hole of the championship round to take the title; and Linda Fuller of Richmond, Texas (2009).

7. DuPont Becomes The World Am Title Sponsor

During a 1985 round of golf with a mutual friend, two strangers — DuPont’s Bob LeComte and Golf Digest’s Dick Sherwood — started a conversation that changed World Am history. At that time, DuPont produced the Dacron in golf shirts and Surlyn for golf balls. LeComte convinced top executives to make ...