In many ways, the second ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic held this past week at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club was a step up from last year’s inaugural PGA Tour event in the Myrtle Beach area.
The ONEflight International private jet charter service was added to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce – as Visit Myrtle Beach – as a co-title sponsor, and the influx of sponsorship dollars allowed the tournament to expand and improve offerings while giving the tournament hope for a more prosperous future.
Tournament organizers also learned from the first event and implemented changes.
A-list Hollywood celebrities participated in the Wednesday pro-am including Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell, to much fanfare.
Bigger names were hired to perform a pair of concerts in Chairmen of the Board and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line.
A second merchandise tent with beach-themed items was added.
More food offerings including food trucks were added to the course, primarily in the Fan Zone area near the 17th green and 18th tee box.
Additional ticket options were created.
Logistical changes were made to ease congestion near the main entrance at the clubhouse.
For spectacle, ONEflight flew in Costner and Russell in a helicopter, and provided a jet flyover Wednesday afternoon.
“Really we had two goals and objectives for doing the event when (former chamber president) Karen (Riordan) and I put it together,” said interim chamber president Tracy Conner. “One was to increase the brand of Myrtle Beach, and just by bringing in ONEflight, a private aviation company, that alone takes it to that next level. So that was fantastic.
“. . . Obviously the celebrities and Bill Murray just randomly showing up. He just wanted to hang out. And Kevin Costner and him posting the video on his personal social channels, the exposure it brought to Myrtle Beach, to the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, to The Dunes Club on a level we couldn’t have imagined a year ago, it far exceeded anything we did last year.”
Sponsors and organizers plan to up the ante in year three, as well.
“Now the stage is set . . . so we will continue this whole celebrity thing year to year as long as we’re here,” ONEflight CEO and founder Ferren Rajput said. “I’ve got a lot of celebrities and a lot of great friends.
“I’m the guy that says what I did today has to get better next year. I do that with everything. So I’ll come up with something. What am I going to do in addition to that? I don’t know but I will elevate it somehow, someway.”
Assessing 2025
Wednesday attendance was bolstered by the presence of celebrities for the pro-am. “We saw an increase in attendance as soon as we started announcing some of those names,” said tournament director Darren Nelson of tournament operator SportFive. “Who doesn’t want to see Kevin Costner swinging a golf club after watching Tin Cup. For us in our second year to incorporate the celebrities was a huge nudge for us.”
Rain on Saturday and Sunday morning certainly hurt weekend attendance, though Nelson said the tournament may not release attendance figures after doing so for the inaugural event, when organizers said more than 40,000 attended from Wednesday through Sunday, including more than 15,000 Saturday.
Nelson said the tournament’s social media pages added thousands of followers over the past few weeks and Costner posted a few highlights of his trip to Myrtle Beach on his Instagram account, which has 2.3 million followers.
“Our initial conversations with [ONEflight] they talked about 12 celebrities, and by the time it was all said and done there were 18,” Nelson said. “That was really cool to see, and it was really cool to see them activate their sponsorship, which was something they didn’t have to do but wanted to do.”
Rajput officially invited all of this year’s celebrities back next year.
With a second batch of players experiencing The Dunes Club, and others who enjoyed it returning, the course’s profile seemingly gained stature in professional golf.
“There were so many guys raving about the golf course and how good it is and how this could be a full-field event,” Nelson said. “I think the world is starting to see how good [The Dunes Club] is and how it’s going to attract better players and just help this thing snowball and get bigger and bigger every year.”
The posh treatment of players and Dunes Club’s facilities and catering contributed to the experience of players and VIP ticket holders. Players receive a courtesy car from Cadillac when they arrived at the airport and had a valet dropoff at the airport on Monday for convenience.
“Not every event does that,” Nelson said. “Stuff like that makes the players feel special and makes them want to come back here.”
ONEflight also gave five-hour flight credits to each player who made the cut. “Stuff like that is above and beyond their investment for the title sponsorship dollars,” Nelson said.
Some tournament officials and sponsors also had Cadillac courtesy cars, and hospitality venue patrons had the option of being transported from their parking lots to the course in a Cadillac SUV rather than a shuttle bus.
To decrease congestion around the main entrance at the clubhouse and make things run more smoothly, the volunteer headquarters was moved from the tennis court area near the clubhouse to The Dunes Club’s extra hole between the 13th and 14th holes, volunteers had their own parking area near Bass Pro Shops and own shuttles to their entrance, and additional entrances to the course were added for patrons.
“There was a lot going on near the clubhouse last year so it was a nice move to spread things out across the property,” Nelson said.
Nelson intends to continue to bring in more well-known musical acts in the coming years. The concerts were also moved from the ocean lawn near the clubhouse to the larger Fan Zone near the 17th green and 18th tee, and Nelson plans to keep them there next year.
“It’s got such a natural amphitheater there in the Fan Zone, so I think everyone enjoyed it,” Nelson said. “Then to have the food trucks there and all the activities for the kids, it was kind of one-stop shopping for all the fan-centric type activities. As this event grows and eventually the names of the bands that play will be maybe some more popular bands we’ll get in here, it will allow us to grow into that space.”
Tournament organizers are considering adding additional hospitality venues, as well as adding spectator bleacher seating to other areas of the course, including at the par-5 13th hole. This year there were two areas of bleachers on the 18th hole, as well as one at the 17th green.
A Dunes Club member tent was added behind the ninth green this year. “That was probably the rowdiest group on the course this year, so that was a nice addition for the Dunes Club members to have an area to go to,” Nelson said.
Nelson said 18th hole private hospitality venues sold out, though 17th hole private hospitality tickets did not. The 16th hole is being looked at for private hospitality as well.
Shared hospitality at Club 18 near the 18th green and Club 17 at the 17th tee included food and drinks. Neither sold out, though Club 18 was close, Nelson said.
“We’ll definitely want to have shared hospitality options, and several different options at several different price points that people can choose from [in 2026],” Nelson said.
Looking to 2026 and beyond
Both the chamber and ONEflight are committed to two more years through the 2027 tournament.
“This really helps us because Ferren, as well as myself, is absolutely committed to move this event ahead next year,” Conner said. “They’re willing to spend additional money and resources over and above their commitment on the co-title side. So it’s not just write a check and I’m done. They want to do additional things to push the event.”
Conner said the two title sponsors will likely engage with the PGA Tour this fall to discuss any extensions or changes to the agreement, “and [talk] about what opportunities are out there.”
Conner said a longterm goal is to make the tournament a standalone event. Under its current structure, the $4 million tournament is played concurrently with a $20 million signature PGA Tour event that features the top 70 or so players on tour. Standalone regular season PGA Tour events generally have purses of $8 million to $9 million.
The Myrtle Beach Classic has received eight hours of TV coverage on Golf Channel in each of its first two years. A standalone event receives several more hours of coverage, with some of it on major networks including CBS or NBC.
“Can we re-up this event for another two years or four years?” Connor said. “Is it the same event, same weekend, and we continue to push and make it the best and greatest opposite field tournament there is on the tour schedule, or is there an opportunity for a standalone event?
“First, it’s got to be the right time of the year. Secondly, does it make sense for the chamber, does it make sense for ONEflight, does it make sense for the tour? All of those things have to line up in a positive way. If they do, that’s ultimately the goal. There’s no use to not say that’s the goal. Our goal is to be first the very best opposite field event there is on the tour schedule, then next is a standalone event with national TV coverage. . . . We likely should know what we’re going to do by this time next year. We should hopefully announce an extension, or we re-signed with different dates. That’s the goal.”
Nelson expects the tournament to be on the same weekend in early May next year, and it would likely again be played concurrently with the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, though it hasn’t officially been announced.
