AIKEN, S.C. – Elite amateurs from all corners of the world, as well as 17 of the United States, will converge on one of American golf’s historic cornerstones when the 47th annual Palmetto Amateur tees off Wednesday, July 6.
As always, the storied Palmetto Golf Club will host its namesake event, a fixture on the “major” amateur calendar since 1976, July 6-9. And the best part for golf enthusiasts who appreciate history and classic course architecture as much as keen competition and talent: the 72-hole tournament is open to the public, free of charge.
That means the Palmetto Amateur is a chance to walk a course that literally helped shape the game in America while getting the chance to watch budding talents – many of whom almost certainly destined for the play-for-pay ranks – up close and personal.
Founded in 1892, the Palmetto Club is older, by two years, than the United States Golf Association, itself. But for its location, Palmetto, as it’s affectionately known to members, locals and anyone fortunate enough to have been a guest of the club, likely would have been a founding member of the USGA when representatives of Newport Golf Club, St. Andrew’s (the one in New York, not Scotland), Chicago Golf, Shinnecock Hills and The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., met three days before Christmas in 1894 to form the USGA.
This exquisite green setting is typical of the challenge golfers face at Palmetto Golf Club.
(Photo by Bob Gillespie)
As it turned out, Palmetto was the first club in the South and the 19th club overall to be added to the USGA’s membership roster. And now, more than 130 years old, “Research indicates that the Palmetto Golf Club is the oldest, continually operated eighteen-hole golf course in its original location in the Southeast and probably the second oldest in the United States, with the Chicago Golf Club being the oldest,” according to golf historians, as the club’s own website proudly acclaims.
In a timeline that spans more than a century, one would expect numerous architects and designers would have made their marks, both big and small, on the club’s compelling layout and one would be right. But the most important fingerprints on Palmetto were left by Dr. Alister MacKenzie, who authored Augusta National just 20 miles or so to the south.
The club’s equally historic clubhouse, built in 1902, was designed by Stanford White, designer of the iconic Shinnecock Hills clubhouse. And like the course it complements, it continues to offer a glimpse into early American golf history to anyone entering its comfortable surroundings.
But enough about the club. Let’s look at the event and the field for this year’s Palmetto Amateur.
As stated, 78 elite amateurs will begin their quest for the Palmetto title this Wednesday. Only the low 40 scorers and ties will survive the 36-hole cut to make it to Friday’s third round. All play will begin at 7:30 a.m. daily.
Among the local favorites will be Brian Quackenbush, an Aiken resident who won the City Amateur and finished second in the South Carolina Amateur Match-Play last year. A qualifier for the 2016 U.S. Mid-Am, Quackenbush, now 51, will be looking to improve on his T-18 showing in the Palmetto a year ago. But if he’s going to do that, he’s going to have to beat a lot of young collegiate talent.
Among that lot will be Deven Patel, a Georgian who plays for the Virginia Cavaliers. A qualifier for last year’s U.S. Amateur, Patel has posted seven top-10 finishes in big events over the past two seasons, including a tie for second in the 2020 Jones Cup Junior and a tie for sixth in the Georgia Amateur the same year. Earlier this year, he finished T-6 in the prestigious Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta.
Other regional golf standouts set to compete in the Palmetto include South Carolina’s Evan Lewis, fifth in this year’s NCAA Division I Oklahoma Regional qualifier and second in the 2022 Augusta Haskins Invitational; Kentucky’s Alex Goff, a Kings Mountain, N.C., native who won the 2020 Kentucky Amateur and finished T-9 and T-11, respectively, in the North and South and Palmetto Amateurs last year; and Gardner-Webb’s Zack Byers from Shelby, N.C., winner of this year’s Big South Conference championship, just one of his four top-three finishes in college tournaments this spring.
Among the international players heading to Aiken will be Quentin Debove of France and Alberto Dominguez from Spain.
Dominguez, who plays collegiately for Erskine College, won both the Andalucia Amateur and the Goizueta Memorial last year before finishing T-5 in this year’s Spanish Amateur.
Debove, a Florida Gator team member, finished tied for second, third and seventh in last year’s Dixie, Sunshine State and Florida Amateurs, respectively, and posted a T-9 finish in the 2022 European Amateur.
Who will be atop the board when the 47th Palmetto Amateur concludes Saturday, July 9? Only the scorecards will answer that question. But it’s a sure bet the winner will be forever proud to have their name etched in the history book of the fabled Palmetto Golf Club, a cornerstone in the foundation of golf in America.