Women’s golf on the rise in SC, with younger players dominating events

By every measuring stick — the number of players with plus handicaps, or the numbers in and quality of junior programs, or simply the numbers on tournament entry lists — women’s golf in South Carolina is going strong and the future is brighter.

“We had more who wanted to play than we had playing positions,” Clarissa Childs, executive director of the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association, said in assessing the past week’s State Women’s Amateur Championship.

And the tournament at Columbia Country Club lived up to the title — State Championship — with the high quality of performance and competition.

In the end, Anna Morgan, a rising sophomore on Furman’s nationally ranked team, won the championship in a playoff over Savannah Hylton, a rising high school senior who has committed to join the Furman program next fall.

Just as emphasis on junior golf for boys began to produce players who would reap all-star honors, win at the highest level and represent the United States on national teams a generation ago, junior golf for girls is doing the same now.

“We have some players who are going to be special,” said Childs, a former LPGA Tour player. “See the players at this tournament and their skills, and you know the future is bright. You need quality competition to keep improving, and that’s happening in the state.”

Use Savannah Hylton for an example. A senior-to-be at the Island Academy of Hilton Head this fall, she began playing at age 6 and, she said, “I guess I was 11 when took the game seriously. I work at it, and I have kept improving.”

She qualified for the U.S. Junior Girls last summer and lost a playoff for the amateur title in the 2019 South Carolina Women’s Open. Her schedule this year includes the North and South Junior at Pinehurst and AJGA events.

“You need to play competition like that,” Childs said.

In mirroring men’s tournaments, younger golfers dominate events like the State Women’s Amateur. Indeed, players still in high school — Hylton, Molly Hardwick, Emma Schimpf and Isabella Rawl — finished second through fifth.

“That’s extremely impressive and so exciting about the future of the game in South Carolina,” Childs said. “The thing is, golf will serve them well no matter what they do.

“They’ll play in college and some will turn pro, some will go into business. A lot of business is done on the golf course. Golf is a game for a lifetime, and to see what’s going on in this state is great.”

Morgan and Hylton posted even-par 216s to get into the playoff, and the scores are indicative of the challenge the players faced.

“We did have some tough pins, and that’s how it should be at this level,” Childs said. “It’s a state championship; it’s not supposed to be easy.”

But some of the players did make the game look easy. Example: a drive and a wedge into a hole playing 370 to 380 yards.

“What’s happening is exciting to see,” Childs said, “and I’m confident it’s going to get better.”

Chip shots. Trey Crenshaw (Lancaster) outdueled Waymon Thomas (Mt. Pleasant) down the stretch to captured the SCGA Junior Championship at the Tradition Club at Pawleys Island. Crenshaw posted a 9-under-par 207 to win by one stroke. Williams Jennings (Greenville) earned the boys’ 13-14 division title. ... The high-powered USC women’s team added Pimnipa Panthong, a graduate transfer from Kent State, to its roster. A three-time All-American and twice the Mid-American Conference player of the year, Panthong, a native of Thailand, is No. 28 in the world amateur golf rankings and has been invited to participate in the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.