Gathering for a Good Cause at the World’s Largest Amateur Golf Tournament

MYRTLE BEACH - The PGA Superstar World Amateur Handicap Championship tournament brings together people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and skill levels that share a common passion – golf.

Saturday night at Kingston Plantation participants, organizers and entertainers central to putting on the everyman’s U.S. Open gathered in support of another shared passion – fighting to end prostate cancer. 

The event featured a cocktail reception, silent auction, dinner and “Locker Room Chat” session featuring the athletes in attendance. Some of the items up for auction were golf packages to Duke University’s Washington & Duke Inn, Winston Salem’s Graylan, the Innisbrook Resort in Tampa, Kingston Plantation and Ocean Reef in Key Largo. Engraved portraits of Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan and Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were also up for bid. It wasn’t all about golf packages and golf pictures; there was a Jimmy Buffet signed guitar and John Travolta signed Pulp Fiction script.

This was the first year of the Gala which like the World Amateur Handicap Championship itself will benefit the “Know Your Score” campaign and Zero the Project to End Prostate Cancer. The Gala capped a full-day of events that began with the Ken Griffey Jr. Invitational Golf Tournament at Long Bay Club in North Myrtle Beach. Long Bay donated their course to the cause for the day.

Know Your Score is a joint venture between Zero – The Project to End Prostate Cancer, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday and Myrtle Beach area golf courses to benefit prostate cancer research. Organizers and activists hoped to raise $250,000 for the cause during the week of the tournament.

The night served as a celebration of the golf tournament and delivered an important message of hope for those suffering from the disease as well as a tribute to those who have recovered and continue to fight. Griffey Sr., himself is a prostate cancer survivor and will serve as the National Chairman for Know Your Score.

Highlighting the evening was the “Locker Room Chat” session. Jones, who was named one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players and won 10 NBA Championships with the Boston Celtics talked about playing with Bill Russell and Red Auerbach.

Griffey, Sr., spoke about hitting advice he received from the legendary Stan Musial that might be helpful to the close to 4,000 amateur golfers playing in the five-day event this week – “See the ball, hit the ball.”

Cremins spoke about his days at Appalachian State as a 27-year-old head coach; the youngest in Division I history. “It was before global warming and I froze my ass off,” joked Cremins. “Boone, N.C., is one of the coldest places on earth.”

Womack talked about his career, his clutch hit against the Yankees in Game 7 and his belief that one-year contracts made him work harder throughout his time in the Major Leagues. He said he doesn’t think players remain hungry when they earn millions of dollars before they prove anything and that got a big applause from the packed house.

When asked about the greatest sporting event he ever covered, Huber thought back to covering Muhammed Ali as a young fighter but eventually settled on Tiger Woods capturing all four Major Championship at one time as his most indelible moment.

A video compilation looking back at the storied history of the World Amateur Handicap Championship featured some forgettable fashions through the years and gave insight into where the event started and how it has evolved into what it is today.

Golfers who have participated in all 25 years of the tournament were also among those honored during the course of the evening.

If you'd like to get involved or learn more about the fight to end prostate cancer you can visit FightProstateCancer.org