Myrtle Beach Classic: Max McGreevy one of three pre-event picks

• Putting the key to succes 12 months ago

• Read my Truist Championship preview here

• Read my Turkish Airlines Open here

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Tournament History

This is only the second edition of the Myrtle Beach Classic, and for the second year running it's being played alongside the PGA Tour's Signature Event - the Truist Championship - formerly known as the Wells Fargo Championship.

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Venue

The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

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Course Details

Par 71, 7,347 yards
Stroke Average in 2024 - 69.86

Hugging Lake Singleton and dating back to 1948, the tree-lined Robert Trent Jones Sr designed Dunes Club appeared on the PGA Tour for the first time when it hosted the inaugural edition 12 months ago.

The Dunes had played host to numerous high-end golf tournaments prior to last year's edition, including the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the Champions Tour between 1994 and 1999 and the USGA Women's Open in 1962.

Nicknamed "Alligator Alley," the three-hole stretch of Holes 11, 12 and 13 is the course's most renowned stretch, although it really wasn't a demanding stetch 12 months ago with the three holes averaging below par.

As many as 16 of the 18 Bermuda greens are bunkered on the left and right and the other two are only bunkered front right.

On paper it looks like a tough test with only one par four under 400 yards but last year's winner, Chris Gotterup, who hacked up by six, managed to get it to 22-under-par.

For more on the course, this five-minute flyover from Play Golf Myrtle Beach, is an absolute must.

Although the original routing hasn't changed, the Dunes has undergone some extensive renovation work by Trent Jones' younger son, Rees Jones, over the last 20 years.

There was refinement of some green sites, addition of fairway bunkers, course lengthening, a new irrigation system, practice tee enhancement and conversion of the putting surfaces to Champion ultradwarf bermudagrass for better performance in warm weather.

Greens were also expanded to an average size of 6,000 square feet - large enough to provide room for the ball to roll out under today's greater putting speeds. "I tried to build it for today's play while preserving Dad's design character," said Rees.

Following extensive drainage work and due to the fact that the Dunes sits on a naturally sandy site, the course tends to play very firm.

With narrow fairways, measuring 20 to 25 yards across, a premium on driving accuracy was expected prior to the off 12 months ago but the stats didn't really reflect that with the first three home ranking 60^th, 67^th and 14^th for Driving Accuracy.

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Weather Forecast

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TV Coverage

No coverage on Sky Sports Golf but the event is scheduled to be shown on the Golf Channel.

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Inaugural Winner with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2024 - Chris Gotterup -22 70.069/1

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Inaugural Result with Stats

Chris Gotterup -22 - DD: 47 DA: 60, GIR: 13, SC: 19, PA: 8
Alistair Docherty -16 -12 - DD: 4, DA: 67, GIR: 5, SC: 63, PA: 10
Davis Thompson -16 - DD: 17, DA: 14, GIR: 15, SC: 4, PA: 34

DD - Driving Distance
DA - Driving Accuracy
GIR - Greens In Regulation
SC - Scrambling
PA - Putting Average

Chris Gotterup -22 - SG-T: 44 SG-A: 4, SG-ATG: 6, SG-T2G: 2, SG-P: 3
Alistair Docherty -16 - SG-T: 4 SG-A: 41, SG-ATG: 56, SG-T2G: 31, SG-P: 2
Davis Thompson -16 - - SG-T: 9 SG-A: 6, SG-ATG: 17, SG-T2G: 1, SG-P: 41

SG-T - Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
SG-A - Strokes Gained: Approach
SG-ATG - Strokes Gained: Around the Tee
SG-T2G - Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
SG-P - Strokes Gained: Putting

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What Will it Take to Win the Myrtle Beach Classic?

Although the fairways are described as fairly narrow, Driving Accuracy really wasn't an important stat last year.

Greens In Regulation and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green were fairly key metrics, but the event was decided on the greens with a good week with the putter proving decisive.

The winner, Chris Gotterup, ranked eighth for Putting Average and third for Strokes Gained: Putting and the leaderboard was dominated by players that ranked highly for those two metrics.

As many as seven of the top-ten in the PA rankings for the week finished inside the top 15 and eight of the top ten in the SG: Putting rankings finished inside the top 12.

Is There an Angle In?

Trent Jones Sr is a famous course designer and he's been responsible for some magnificent courses that have staged huge events and major championships recently.

He worked extensively on A W Tillinghast's masterpiece, Baltusrol, as well as the Bert Way designed Firestone Country Club, and Donald Ross' South Course at Oakland Hills. And he's been the designer of the likes of Bellerive, Hazeltine, and Valderrama, but we only see two Trent Jones Sr courses regularly on the PGA Tour.

Spyglass Hill is played in rotation at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda hosts the Bermuda Championship but there's an event on the Korn Ferry Tour that looks worth investigating...

Last year's winner, Gotterup, finished only 16^th in the inaugural edition of the Magnit Championship in 2023, staged at the Trent Jones designed Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson, New Jersey, but he'd sat second after round one and the man that finished tied second to him in this event 12 months ago, Alistair Docherty, finished tied for seventh.

Ryan McCormick, who finished tied fourth here last year, finished alongside Gotterup in 16^th at Metedeconk but he'd sat fourth after round one there and Mac Meissner, who finished tied for 13^th in this event, finished third in the Magnit.

The winner of the Magnit Championship in 2023, Chan Kim, only finished 40^th here but he was inside the top-eight at halfway so that might be our best angle in designer wise.

The Seaside Course at Sea Island in neighbouring Georgia and the Tom Fazio designed Congaree are two other tracks that have a very similar look and feel to The Dunes.

Congaree hosted the once only stage Palmetto Championship in 2021, won by the recent Corales Puntacana Championship winner, Garrick Higgo, and the final edition of the CJ Cup in 2022, won by Rory McIlroy and form there was evident last year.

Chesson Hadley, who led the Palmetto by four with 18 to play finished 10^th here and Erik Van Rooyen, who was tied for fourth here, finished 10^th in the Palmetto.

I'll also be having a little look at the Corales Puntacana, which may also correlate nicely.

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Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2024 - Chris Gotterup - led by four 1.674/6

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In-Play Tactics

Concentrating on the leaders looks like the way to go here.

Gotterup was in front by halfway (tied seventh after round one) and although I was only able to find data on three editions of the Charles Schab Championship (1996, '97, and '98), which was then known as the Senior Tour Championship, all three winners were up with the pace all week.

Hale Irwin sat second after rounds two and three, before winning by five, having led by two after round one, and the other two victors, Jay Sigel in 1996 and Gil Morgan in '97, were tied for the lead at halfway and three and two shots clear respectively after three rounds. Both won by two.

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Max McGreevy one of three pre-event picks

The fact that it's 25/126.00 the field tells you all you need to know about this event.

It's wide-open and difficult to predict but I'm happy to play three before the off - the last two winners of the aforementioned Magnit Championship and the unfortunate runner-up at the recent Corales Puntacana Championship - Joel Dahmen.

Dahmen looked in line for his second victory at the Corales Puntacana Championship three weeks ago but bogeys at the last three holes cost him dearly and he eventually lost by a stroke.

Playing alongside Harry Higgs, Dahmen missed the cut at the Zurich Classic the following week and he also missed the cut in Dallas last week, so there's a chance that his horror finish in the Dominican is still haunting him. But he ranked second for Putting Average at the Corales, so this looks like a great event for him to bounce back to form.

The 2023 Magnit Championship winner, Chan Kim, also missed the cut at the Zurich pairs event (Played with Doug Ghim) and at last week's CJ Cup Byron Nelson. But Kim finished fifth in the Texas Open and seventh in the Corales before that so I've had a small wager on him too but the one I like best this week is the 2024 Magnit Championship winner, Max McGreevy.

McGreevy was a fast-finishing fourth at the Cognizant Classic in March, shortly after the birth of his daughter, so we know he's been inspired by a significant life event previously and he turned 30 on May 3.

Players often play well on or around a significant birthday and McGreevy appears to be doing just that given he shot three rounds of 66 in Dallas last week when finishing 15^th behind Scottie Scheffler.

With a victory in Japan in November, at the Dunlop Phoenix, and two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour since the end of June last year, McGreevy has been fairly prolific of late, and his victory at Metedeconk suggests this venue might just suit him.

McGreevy wasn't in the field 12 months ago but he has a little bit of state form given he was third in the BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina back in 2021.

He's training at around 70.069/1 on the Exchange but the 60/161.00 available on the Sportsbook with six places up for grabs is more than acceptable.

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*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

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