South Carolina’s Public Links Championship is ‘golf at its purist’
While the Ryder Cup naturally dominated golf headlines last weekend, a tournament played on a daily-fees course in Charleston symbolizes the heartbeat of the game.
Seventy-six players competed in the South Carolina Golf Association’s second annual State Public Links Championship, an event designed for golfers who are not members of private clubs.
“Golf at its purist,” SCGA executive director Biff Lathrop said. “It’s really a fun tournament. Not a lot of egos out there.”
The players range from the champion, Chandler Mulkey, to some whose scores threatened triple digits and everything in between. Lathrop labeled the field “a cross-section of golf, a great mix of players” and indeed the competitors provided a snapshot of those recreational golfers who fill tee sheets at courses around the state.
State golf aficionados will recognize Mulkey’s name. A caddie at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course from Johns Island, he set the competitive course record at Musgrove Mill in leading the first round of this year’s South Carolina Amateur and finished in the top 10. In the Public Links, he forged rounds of 71-69 — 140, or 4-under par — and won by three strokes.
“He kind of came out of nowhere (to play well),” Lathrop said. “Last fall, he lost in a playoff for the (State) Mid-Amateur championship.”
Charleston’s Municipal Course provides the ideal setting for the State Public Links. The tournament is designed for those who play open-to-the-public layouts like the one affectionately named “The Muni.”
“Here’s how popular that course is,” Lathrop said. “They’ll have 70,000 rounds this year, an incredible number for an 18-hole course. Add the driving range, chipping and putting areas ... it’s just a terrific facility.”
The State Public Links is a gateway to the fall golfing season in South Carolina, and the game continues to flourish.
“The amount of play throughout the state is simply amazing,” Lathrop said. “With cooler temperatures, I don’t see that changing. Recreational play is booming and (the SCGA’s) tournaments are drawing full fields. We’re probably going to need a qualifier for the Mid-Amateur at Camden.
“People think we slow down in the fall, but we’re still busy with both SCGA and the Junior Golf Association tournaments on the schedule.”
Major tournaments remaining on the SCGA schedule include the Mid-Amateur, the Super Seniors and the Mixed Team.
“It’s a great time for golf in South Carolina,” Lathrop said, and tournaments like the Public Links Championship provide the proof.
Chip shots. In the rain-shortened Blessings Intercollegiate at Fayetteville, Arkansas that featured both men’s and women’s teams from the same schools, Clemson’s squads out0dueled USC in both competitions. The Tigers’ men finished seventh and the Gamecocks took ninth. On the women’s side, Clemson, ranked ninth nationally, secured third place, two spots ahead of Carolina, No. 5 in the polls. ... Mark Stahlhuth (Charleston) and Luukas Alakulppi (Charleston) tied for second in the State Public Links. Flight winners included Wade Wawner (Charleston), Jonathan Stokke (Mt. Pleasant) and Even Lammers (Fort Mill). ... Pawleys Plantation, a Jack Nicklaus design at Pawleys Island, has reopened after a comprehensive greens and bunkers restoration project. The work modernized the course while maintaining Nicklaus’ original layout.