Todd White wins fifth South Carolina Player of the Year honor
Todd White
(Golfweek Photo)
IRMO, SC (December 6, 2016) -- For the fourth time
in
six years (and fifth time overall), Spartanburg
resident
and school teacher Todd White is the South Carolina
Golf Association Player of the Year. White’s year
consisted mostly of national competition; qualifying
for
and competing in four USGA championships
(including
making it to sectional qualifying of the US Open),
and
performing well in three premiere non-association
conducted events.
The five-time Player of the Year’s first run at a
USGA championship was as defending champion at
the
US Amateur Four-Ball, where he and partner Nathan
Smith made it to the round of sixteen. Later in the
year
White made it to the match play portion of both the
US
Amateur and US Mid-Amateur, falling in the first
round
at both events. White then represented the SCGA
and
the state of South Carolina as one of three players
selected to compete in the US State Team Matches.
White’s other top finishes came at the Palmetto
Amateur, contested at historic Palmetto Golf Club in
Aiken, where he finished tied for seventh; the Jones
Cup
Invitational (14th); and the Azalea Invitational (T-
13th),
conducted at another historic South Carolina venue,
the
Country Club of Charleston.
In addition to solid finishes at the national level,
White opted to stay home and compete in this year’s
SCGA Amateur Championship at the DeBordieu Club
in
lieu of participating in the Western Amateur (to
which
he had qualified for), finishing tied for third among
the
state’s best collegiate and amateur talent. White’s
five
SCGA Player of the Year Awards are the most of any
golfer since the ranking system’s inception in 1987.
His
resume is long and distinguished, most notably and
recently capturing the inaugural US Amateur Four-
Ball
in 2015 and being selected to the United States
Walker
Cup team in 2013. Carson Young (Pendleton), 2016
SCGA Amateur Championship winner, finished a close
second in this year’s rankings.
Walter Todd of Laurens has been a stalwart in
SCGA competitions for many years, having won
multiple
state Four Ball Championships with brother T.D. Todd
(also of Laurens), and in later years with Greenwood
golfer Chip Whitt. Todd’s trophy collection
showcases
victories in many other championships including the
SCGA’s Mid-Amateur (2005), Father-Son (2010 and
2016 with son Walt), and Mid-Am Four-Ball (with
brother T.D. in 2005), but Player of the Year honors
have eluded the consummate competitor and team
player – until now.
A victory in the SCGA Senior Four-Ball
Championship alongside partner Eddie Hargett in
March
positioned Todd at the top of the point rankings early
in
the year. He would remain at or near the top of the
standings with subsequent victories in the Senior
Festival of Flowers, SCGA Father-Son Championship,
and SCGA Senior Better-Ball Championship (again
partnering with Eddie Hargett). Todd would add top-
three finishes in the SCGA Trescott Team
Championship
(T-2 representing Lakeside Country Club), the SCGA
Senior Championship (second), National Senior Hall
of
Fame (third), and Carolinas Father-Son (T-3). A tie
for
10th at the Chanticleer Senior Invitational and a tie
for
15th in the Carolinas Senior Amateur would round
out
Todd’s point earnings for the year. Walter Todd
joined
the senior ranks in late 2015 and with his first Senior
Player of the Year honor, breaks Rick Cloninger’s
(Fort
Mill) four year grip on the award. Todd Hendley of
Greer, who successfully defended his SCGA Senior
Championship in 2016, finished second in the point
standings for the second straight year.
Both Todd White and Walter Todd will receive
their
respective Player of the Year awards at the SCGA’s
14th
Annual Golf Day Awards Dinner and Banquet, to be
held
January 14th, 2017 at Columbia Country Club in
Blythewood, SC. The ceremony will also include the
South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame inductions of two-
time
SCGA Player of the Year and former PGA Tour player
Steve Liebler, and legendary golf professional Bob
Boyd.