Several local youth golfers earned the privilege of competing in the Drive Chip & Putt Regional Championship hosted by Fort Jackson Golf Club. While reviewing addresses of what this site attracted, I was stunned to find players from all over this country chose this regional site to compete.

Players from California to Colorado and all around the Southeast were on site for the late-August championship. The grand prize is a spot held at Augusta National the Sunday before the Masters.

Tristin Hodge of Irmo earned an alternate spot for nationals.

“I had fun, came in 4th overall. I practiced quite a bit then I chipped in a lot. Fort Jackson is a pretty cool course. I won the chipping category but did not do as well with driving,” the eight-year-old said.

In order to participate in Regionals, players must compete and advance beyond a local level event.

In the girls 10-12 age group, Reagan Bolin of Lexington placed 18th. In the girls 10-11 group, Grace Shelly came in 11th. Sophie Smith of Blythewood placed 13th and Brady Wolf, also of Blythewood, finished fifth.

In the Boys 12-13 division, Blythewood seeded numerous top finishers including Josiah Benton and Conner Wolf, and Carter Dickinson.
In the boys 14-15 division, Columbia was led by champion Owen Atkinson. Other top finishers from Columbia included Zim Atkinson, Christopher Steponov, Bryce LaBruyere, William Taylor and Blake Johnson.

56-year-old South Carolina State Amateur Champion Todd White is now the United States Senior Amateur Champion. White earned the Stroke Play qualifying medal event which creates the seeding for match 64 player match play draw. He then won every match to claim what is referred to as the “Fredrick L. Dold” trophy.

Coach White is the Spartanburg High girls and boys golf coach and one of his comments post-round referenced his hope of being able to share with his teams and classroom students the value of hard work.

Speaking of hard work, Sam Jackson recently qualified for the USGA Mid-Am Championship. He was runner-up in a qualifier in the Northeast. Last year, the 2022 SCGA Amateur Player of the Year, graduate of Pelion HS and Presbyterian College was one match short of being exempt for this event.

His qualifying success was on the heels of a great team victory in the Picard Four-Ball Invitational at Canterberry CC in Cleveland Ohio. Jackson teamed with Zach Herald of Gilbert, who played his college golf at Coker University.
“The first round and second rounds were good, but we just couldn’t get any momentum going. The final round start was much of the same and this is when we got hot. We birdied nine of the last 13 holes and three of the last four,” commented Jackson.

Jackson has been on fire this spring and summer. He teamed up with Jordan Cease to win the Carolinas Mid Am Four-Ball.

“I thoroughly enjoy the fellowship. I love just going out with a teammate and letting it loose. I like to smack it and see what happens,”said the West Columbia resident who will be moving back to his hometown of Pelion with his new bride soon.

“We will be moving into a house that’s been in the family for many years and looking forward to being home,” Jackson mentioned.

Speaking of family, the Lexington County Recreation and Aging Commission has family golf learning options, along with a variety of others. For more info, visit sports.bluesombrero.com/lcrac.