Aug. 28—Jim McNair, Jr. and his team at The Aiken Golf Club know they don’t have to go out of their way to celebrate anniversaries and milestones at the City of Aiken Amateur Championship.
The quality of field the tournament attracts and the condition of the course are more than enough to make every edition of the tournament feel like a special occasion, and that expectation doesn’t change in year 15.
The City Amateur tees off next weekend, with tournament rounds scheduled for Sept. 7-8, and even with a few spots remaining in the field McNair can already tell this may be the most competitive tournament yet.
Once again, the field extends beyond just locals.
“We’ve noticed we’re starting to appeal, the tournament is starting to kind of spread the word of the City Am and how much fun it is, and downtown Aiken, and we’re starting to see some players coming in from Summerville, Lexington, Columbia, may even have a couple from the Upstate this year,” McNair said, “and we’ve got several from Augusta that have signed up this year. A couple of members from Forest Hills, and several from North Augusta from The River Club that are playing. We’ve got a good representation from a lot of clubs from Augusta all the way to Columbia, so that’s good.”
This year’s field is capped at 120 players, with 12 spots still available as of Tuesday. McNair said the Regular (14-and-over) division is robust, with multiple past champions and plenty of youth, and the Senior (55-and-over) and Super Senior (66-and-over) divisions have more entries than before.
Barnwell’s David Lott won the Regular division last year for the second time, outlasting Brian Quackenbush in a playoff. Other winners were Skye Two Hawks Skenandore in the Ladies division for the second year in a row, Tom Kennaday in the Senior division, Darrell Thompson in the Super Senior division, Bod Pedley in the Legends division and Carrie Dillard in the Senior Ladies. Kaylee McElwain and Jay McDermott, representing The Aiken Golf Club, won the Inglis Cup.
McNair is expecting, based on the extended forecast, some cooler temperatures with some rain next weekend, and that should soften the course a little bit. Still, the players shouldn’t expect it to be target practice — McNair and his team will still have the greens as firm and fast as conditions will allow.
“It’s been a crazy summer,” he said. “I mean, it was hot and dry, and then we had the tropical storm and we couldn’t mow the grass fast enough, and now we’re back to a really kind of dry and lean golf course.”
Players in the field can expect a few changes to the golf course from a year ago, perhaps most notably the tees being moved back on some holes. The back tee position on No. 1 was used last year and will return this year, and now the back boxes on Nos. 3 and 4 can be in play after the areas around those tee boxes were cleared to open up the canopies.
“This year, we are going to be using what we call the tournament tees,” McNair explained. “That’s a new addition from the South Carolina Golf Association. The golf course has been rated from our regular, what we call the medal tee. We also have a little different rating for what they call the tournament tees. The Regular division will play some of the tournament tees.”
Other areas that have been opened up a bit include around the creek guarding the third green, left of the 13th hole by the tee box, behind the 16th green and left of the 17th hole.
Beyond that, it’s business as usual. Each division will be flighted after the first round, and prizes will be up for grabs in each.
The entry fee is $100 per person, and entry forms can be found at The Aiken Golf Club, Cedar Creek Golf Club or online at www.aikengolfclub.net. Players must have a current handicap index through the South Carolina Golf Association, Carolinas Golf Association or Georgia State Golf Association.
