The PGA Tour has already arrived at a solution to fill the open week on the schedule caused by the cancellation of the 2021 RBC Canadian Open.
The tour informed players overnight that it will stage a new tournament at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina. An official announcement on the name and sponsor of the tournament is expected in the coming days.
Located about an hour inland from Hilton Head, Congaree was designed by Tom Fazio, who describes the property as a low-country version of his Shadow Creek design in Las Vegas. With large oaks and extensively reshaped land among its features, it fits the bill.
“Congaree wasn’t a great natural site, though you wouldn’t know it by looking,” said Golf Digest architecture editor Derek Duncan. “But it has something in abundance that great natural sites do have – and that’s sand. Sand forms the cosmetic backbone of the course, sweeping up from deep barrens into sharp, Melbourne-style bunkers. It also provides a pliable material that Fazio and his team used to form ridgelines, slopes and other contours that amplified an otherwise flat property.”
Built on the site of Davant Plantation and with the idea of holding a professional tournament from the outset, the ultra-private club was founded by two of the wealthiest men in the USA, business magnate Dan Friedkin and the late Houston Texans owner Bob McNair. But Congaree isn’t just a playground for the wealthy. At its core is a philanthropic element that provides educational and vocational opportunities for underserved youth who have a passion for golf, something that fits well with the tour’s own charitable endeavours.
It’s also not the first time the tour has had discussions with Congaree. The club previously made a pitch to host the 2025 Presidents Cup before the tour ultimately decided to go with TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
“It should be an exciting tournament course,” Duncan said. “At more than 7,700 yards, the tour can make Congaree as big as they want it to be, but the architecture also offers opportunities for shorter temptations like the par-4 third and par-4 15th – each within reach of driver but protected by reservoirs of sand.”
The new tournament will be held from June 7-13, when the RBC Canadian Open was originally scheduled to be played.
