Dennis Rasku of Pompano Beach, Fl., made a net birdie (gross par) on the first hole to win a 3-way, sudden death playoff and the World Championship Playoff at 31st annual Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club.
Rasku, a 9 handicap, Tony Wallace, a 5 handicap from Maryville, T.N., and Ben Hamby, a 7 handicap from Winter Springs, Fla., all shot net 72s to get into the playoff. (Full Results)
Rasku hit his approach to 22 feet and two-putted for par, on the Dye Club 410-yard ninth hole, besting Wallace and Hamby, neither of whom received a stroke on the hole. “From the weather to the World’s Largest 19th Hole, we enjoyed a wonderful week at the Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship,” said Jeff Monday, World Am tournament director. “Congratulations to Dennis on earning the right to call himself World Champion and to our entire field for a great week of golf.”
Mark Gardiner of Mascoutah, Ill., shot a 1-under par 71 to win the World’s Am first Gross Division Championship. Gardiner’s score was the best of the day, net or gross.
Additionally, Brazilians Joao Tomazelli and Denis Song Min Cho shot a team total of 155 to win the International Pairs event and earn the right to compete in Scotland next year in the IP World Finals.
The World Championship Playoff is the annual culmination of the Myrtle Beach World Am, a 72-hole net, stroke play event. This year, more than 3,400 players from 48 states and 34 countries vied for the honor of hoisting the victor’s trophy.
Players were arranged into flights according to their handicap and at the conclusion of the four rounds, all flight winners (and ties) advanced to the 18-hole world championship playoff.
The World Am features five competitive divisions, ranging from men and women 49 years-of-age and under to the super seniors, who are 70 years-of-age and older. Players with handicaps as low as three and as high as 34 have won the event.
The weather throughout the week was ideal. The Dye Club, which has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses, was in pristine condition and provided an excellent test of golf for the finals.
The World Am web site www.worldamgolf.com offers a daily glimpse of the tournament with updated standings, news releases and photographs.
The 32nd annual Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship will be held August 31 – Sept. 4, 2015.
