The addition of ONEflight International as a co-title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic came with promises of upgrades to the event and its offerings.
Some of those were divulged on March 3 during a press conference at tournament host The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, and more information was released on Thursday, April 17.
ONEFlight CEO Ferren Rajput wants to make the primary Wednesday pro-am a grand kickoff for the tournament, and he has secured some celebrities to take part.
The commitments include Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell and North Myrtle Beach native Vanna White, along with another 10 notables in show business.
“If I’m going to get involved, I’m going to take this to the top, and how do we do that?” Rajput said. “Luckily I’ve got a lot of celebrities as good friends that fly with us. I thought we had to tie in the celebrities and have to bring some bigger action than just golf itself.”
The $4 million OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic will be played May 8-11, with pro-ams the Monday and Wednesday of tournament week.
Costner is an actor and filmmaker who has won two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards with a vast filmography that includes Tin Cup, Field of Dreams and Bull Durham. Russell has made more than 60 films including Miracle, Escape From New York, Tombstone, Silkwood, Breakdown, Bone Tomahawk and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and most recently earned a Critics’ Choice Award last year for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
White has been a fixture on Wheel of Fortune for more than 40 years.
Scheduled to join the headliners in the pro-am are actors Michael Chiklis, an Emmy and Golden Globe winner for his work in The Shield, David Arquette (Scream film franchise), Carmine Giovinazzo (CSI: NY), Oliver Hudson (Rules of Engagement, Nashville), Esai Morales (NYPD Blue, La Bamba, Bad Boys), and Academy Award nominee Haley Joel Osment (Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense); actress Wallis Day (Batwoman); actress and singer/songwriter Candice King (The Vampire Diaries); and comedians/actors Bert Kreischer (The Machine) and Rob Riggle (The Daily Show, Hangover, Step Brothers).
The celebrities will be joined by two of the tournament’s 132 professional golfers – nine holes with each pro – and a team of amateur partners. Traditional pro-am teams sans celebrities are also available. The Wednesday pro-am tee times will be released on May 6.
A few Wednesday pro-am teams are still available. Pro-am and VIP hospitality options can be booked through tournament director of sales Travis Galowski at travis.galowski@sportfive.com.
Other tournament features
Tournament director Darren Nelson of tournament operator SportFive said the musical acts playing post-round Thursday and Saturday concerts have also been upgraded.
Chairmen of the Board, a soul and beach music band that formed in Detroit and is now based in Charlotte will play Thursday. Tyler Hubbard, one-half of the Florida Georgia Line duo and now a solo artist, will perform Saturday.
The concerts are moving from the beach lawn behind the clubhouse to the Fan Zone near the 17th green and 18th tee box. The concerts are free for tournament ticketed patrons.
Nelson also announced the TV broadcast schedule, as the tournament will be broadcast live on Golf Channel from 10 a.m.-noon on Thursday and Friday, and 3-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The Myrtle Beach Classic is a dual-field event and will be played simultaneously with the Truist Championship at The Philadelphia Cricket Club, which features a $20 million purse and the top 70 or so players on tour.
In February, it was announced that ONEflight, a global private jet service operator, has joined the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce as a co-title sponsor for the next three years – the remaining duration of the event’s contract with the PGA Tour.
The ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic is one of 36 events on the PGA Tour’s FedExCup schedule, and six players from last year’s field have gone on to win other tournaments.
They include Joe Highsmith, winner in March of the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, and Robert McIntyre, who went on to win the 2024 RBC Canadian Open and Scottish Open.
Saturday is being labeled Family Day with activities for kids, and children ages 15 and under are admitted for free all week with a ticketed adult.
The tournament will have a Patriot Outpost hospitality venue for active military and veterans, who have access through the tournament website to free Wednesday tickets and discounted tickets for tournament rounds.
A new Charity Corner is being created on the course featuring representatives from the nine charities that will receive a portion of $250,000 in donations from the event.
The tournament again hosted an Horry County Schools Day on April 14 for approximately 100 high school juniors and seniors who have an interest in agronomy.
Sunday of tournament week is Mother’s Day, and tournament organizers plan to honor mothers by giving out roses to them.
Registration for approximately 1,500 volunteer positions are open on the Myrtle Beach Classic website. Volunteers will fall under 34 committees.
Tickets for weekly and daily general admission as well as three shared hospitality venues – Club 17, Club 18 and Clubhouse – are available at myrtlebeachclassic.com. Club 18 tickets are scarce for the weekend.
Private hospitality and spots in the Monday and Wednesday pro-ams are also available, though Nelson said private hospitality on the 18th hole is sold out. There is additional private hospitality on the 17th tee.
The 2024 Monday pro-am sold out, and Wednesday pro-am came close to selling out, though those spots are now more valuable with the celebrity involvement.
