The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits The Dunes Golf and Beach Club for the 2025 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. One of the oldest golf courses in Myrtle Beach, The Dunes Golf and Beach Club was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1948 and renovated multiple times over the last 25 years by his son, Rees Jones. This year, the course will play as a Par 72, 7,347 yard layout, as it hosts the PGA Tour for the second straight season.
With this tournament being in just its second year, there isn’t a ton of data to evaluate. Nonetheless, a few areas will be key to success. Ball striking will be vital, but for two different reasons. With narrow fairways, many of which less than 30 yards wide, a premium will be placed on accuracy. On the flip side, the greens average 6,000 square feet, a nice contrast for the players this week. Hitting greens will be important, but with greens of this size, the importance will be more on where the players hit it on the greens rather than if they just hit them. Hitting the green on the wrong side can easily lead to a crisp three-putt or worse. Approach accuracy is still important though, with bunkers guarding the greens on all 18 holes, ready to swallow the balls of those who are not swinging it pure and true. With rain in the forecast throughout the week, expect more receptive greens than usual, which could lead to a very low scoring affair. Anybody can pull it together on the greens any given week, but elite putting will separate the best from the rest coming down the stretch. Give the edge to the long bomber from the tee who isn’t afraid to rip darts at the pin, has a light touch around the greens if they find themselves out of shape and is able to drain every putt in sight when given the opportunity.
The ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic may be an opposite field event, with all the A-Listers teeing it up at The Truist Championship, but it still has a great field of players vying for the win. Among the favorites this week are Chris Gotterup, Harry Hall, Rico Hoey, Mackenzie Hughes, Tom Kim and Alex Smalley, as well as other studs such as Ricky Castillo, Pierceson Coody, Ryan Fox, Lee Hodges, Beau Hossler, Henrik Norlander and Seamus Power, just to name a few.
The past champions list is short. Chris Gotterup. That’s it. Checks notes. That’s the entire fucking list.
Last year’s inaugural edition was won by Chris Gotterup, who posted rounds of 66-64-65-67 to pull away from the field for a six stroke victory, his first on the PGA Tour. Alistair Docherty and Davis Thompson finished T-2, six strokes behind, while Jorge Campillo, Ryan Fox, Beau Hossler, Ryan McCormick, Erik van Rooyen and Kevin Yu all finished T-4, seven strokes back.
A first-time winner last season at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Rafael Campos has not been able to recapture the magic of that week, logging 11 missed cuts and a best finish of T-34 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld in his 16 starts since that victory. Campos’ game is in absolute shambles right now, losing strokes in all six major Strokes Gained: categories and ranking outside the top 150 in five of those six categories. Campos missed the cut in the inaugural edition of this tournament last season and I predict he will miss the cut here once again.
In the midst of his rookie season, Jeremy Paul has put together a respectable campaign in 2025, posting four top 25 finishes in 12 starts, highlighted by a T-2 performance at the Corales Puntacana Championship just a few weeks ago. Paul’s game has had its struggles this season, but he excels from the tee, ranking inside the top 35 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and in Driving Distance, which can come in handy at a lengthy course like The Dunes Golf and Beach Club. Paul has played his best in opposite field events and in seaside conditions this season, logging top 25 finishes at the Corales, the Puerto Rico Open, the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, as well as the Valspar Championship (not a seaside course, but still a quality result). A win would be unheralded, but another top 25 is certainly within reach for Jeremy Paul this week.
Kevin Yu has had mixed results in 2025, posting four top 20 finishes and five missed cuts in 13 starts. A case can be made that Yu is the best ball striker in the field this week, ranking inside the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, Off-the-Tee and Approach the Green, inside the top 50 for both Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy Percentage and ranking 8th in Greens in Regulation Percentage. His Achilles heel? The short game, as Yu ranks outside the top 150 in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and Putting and has lost strokes on the green in 11 of his 13 starts this season. Despite the short game struggles, there is still hope for Yu, as he has posted top 30 finishes in three of his last five starts and finished T-4 in this event last season. If Yu can put together a half decent week on the greens, I have no doubt that he will pick up his first top 10 of the season and second straight top 10 finish in this tournament.
Winner:
A rising star on tour, Ricky Castillo has turned some heads in his rookie season on tour, posting one top 10 and four top 25’s against four missed cuts in 13 starts. Castillo has a very well rounded game at the moment, ranking inside the top 60 in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories. Castillo excels in a lot of areas, but is absolutely lethal with the irons, ranking 12th in Greens in Regulation Percentage and 16th in Proximity to Hole. Much like Yu above, Castillo also battles a bulky putter, ranking 148th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the campaign. Castillo enters this week off a career best finish of T-5 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, an even where he actually gained strokes on the green (only 0.25 strokes, but still in the positive). If Castillo can have another positive week on the greens and continue this heater he is on, I have no doubt that Ricky Castillo will pick up his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic!
Discover more from Birdies and Burnouts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.