Former Gamecocks star Wesley Bryan blazes trail for Myrtle Beach Classic competitors

The Myrtle Beach Classic makes its debut on the PGA Tour schedule this week, and the golfers will be striving “to pull a Wesley” in the four days of competition over the Dunes Golf and Beach Club course.

The inaugural event is an “opposite-field” tournament, one played the same dates as the tour’s high-profile “signature” championships, and provides the opportunity for players with limited playing status to hit the jackpot.

Wesley Bryan, the former Dutch Fork High and USC standout who teams with brother George IV in producing popular social media videos, did just that a couple of weeks ago.

With the eyes of the men’s golf world glued on Scottie Scheffler’s march to yet another tourney win, this one in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, Bryan sparkled in the tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.

Bryan led most of the first three rounds only to fall to second place, thanks to Billy Horschel’s scorching finish. Nevertheless, he zoomed up the FedEx Cup standings in what could be a career-changing performance.

“My game’s pretty good, but I just can’t get into any tournaments,” Bryan said in February at the RBC Heritage’s sponsors and media day.

His status — former Tour tournament champion (2017 RBC Heritage) — is among the lowest priorities, and he would not make his first 2024 start until a few days later in the Puerto Rico Open.

He missed the cut in that “opposite-field” event, but he did not squander his second chance. He opened in the Dominican Republic with a 63 and finished at 21-under-par 267.

“Obviously excited; it was an amazing week but bummed” (at not winning), he told the tour’s media personnel afterward. “All in all, definitely encouraged how the golf game was, how it held up under pressure of a weekend leading a golf tournament.”

The second-place finish earned Bryan a start last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson event, and the 165 FedEx Cup points provided a giant boost toward finishing the year in the top 125 and earning full status for 2025.

Looking ahead, he said: “It’s really just a matter of getting starts and getting opportunities and taking advantage of them. I did that this week and hopefully we’ll be able to do more as the season goes on.”

Both Bryan brothers are in the 132-player field this week in Myrtle Beach.

With the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte drawing the Tour’s top stars, Wesley Bryan’s performance blazed the trail for every golfer who tees up in the Myrtle Beach Classic.

One really good week can change a season — and perhaps a career.

Ticket information is available online at www.myrtlebeachclassic.com.

The Golf Channel will offer live coverage of the Thursday to Sunday event. The Myrtle Beach Classic will air Thursday-Friday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 3-5 p.m.

The tournament field will be finalized May 3, 2024, at 5 p.m. EST, Nelson added.

NCAA men’s golf. South Carolina, Clemson and College of Charleston earned berths in NCAA Regionals, tournaments that lead to the Division I national men’s golf championship.

Both USC and Clemson are seeded 10th, the Gamecocks in the Baton Rouge Regional and the Tigers in the Chapel Hill tournament. Charleston earned the ninth seed in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Nathan Franks, who won two spring tournaments before suffering injuries in a traffic accident involving the team van, has been cleared to play and will provide a boost to the South Carolina Carolina lineup.

The six regionals will be 54-hole stroke-play events played May 13-15. The top five teams in each regional advance to the nationals, set for May 24-29 in Carlsbad, California.

Chip shots. USC’s Kalen Anderson earned the SEC women’s golf coach of the year award for the fourth time and four Gamecocks earned places on the All-SEC team. Juniors Louise Rydqvist and Hannah Darling make the first team and sophomore Mia Sandtorv Lussand and freshman Vairana Heck were named to the second team. Heck also made the all-freshman squad. Second-ranked nationally, the Gamecocks open play in the Auburn Regional on Monday. ... The Thornblade Club team of Crawford Reeves, Duff Wagner and Parker Derby won the SCGA’s Trescott Championship at Three Pines CC in Woodruff. The Rock Hill CC team won the pro-am portion of the tournament.