Myrtle Beach Classic Field Set After 4 Earn Spots in Monday Qualifier at TPC
Brandon Berry won the Myrtle Beach Classic’s Monday Qualifier at TPC Myrtle Beach, firing a bogey free 63, to earn a spot in his second career PGA TOUR event. The former Loyola University Maryland graduate made three birdies and an eagle en route to a blistering 31 on the front nine, staking himself to a lead he never relinquished.
After making four consecutive pars, Berry birdied four of the final five holes, including a tap-in on 18, leaving him three clear of Brian Davis and Braden Thornberry, who each shot 6-under 66s to punch their ticket into the Myrtle Beach Classic.
Berry also Monday Qualified into the Corales Puntacana Championship last month and made the cut.
The Monday Q field featured 54 golfers with the top four finishers earning an invitation into the Myrtle Beach Classic field, and the drama occurred in the battle for the final spot. William McGirt, who lives in Bluffton, S.C., made a clutch eagle putt on the 18th to equal Mickey DeMorat’s score of 67 and force a playoff for the fourth spot.
McGirt and DeMorat contested the playoff on TPC’s par 5 18th hole. Both found the fairway off the tee, but DeMorat’s second shot caromed off the bank in front of the green and ended up in the water. DeMorat took a drop, and he thinned his fourth shot across the green and into water again, removing any remaining drama from the playoff.
McGirt played his third shot out of the bunker and made a 12+ foot birdie putt to complete the field for Myrtle Beach’s inaugural PGA TOUR event.
Davis, an Englishman, has made 385 career starts and earned more than $13 million on Tour. Thornberry, a former star at Ole Miss, will be making his 10th start of the year.
The Myrtle Beach Classic will be McGirt’s 280th PGA TOUR event and he has one career victory to his credit.
The Myrtle Beach Classic will be played May 9-12 at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club.