When Vanna White learned that Myrtle Beach was going to host a PGA Tour event for the first time, she sprung into action.
“When I first heard about it, I said to my publicist, please call somebody. I don’t want to play in it, but I just want to publicize it because I’m so proud of my hometown,” said White, a North Myrtle Beach native. “I want to be part of it and tell everybody to come and watch it, or watch it on TV. . . . I was so proud of this happening here in Myrtle Beach. It’s just so exciting. I can’t wait.”
Myrtle Beach Classic tournament organizers asked the Wheel of Fortune star to participate in the Wednesday pro-am, and after she initially declined she eventually acquiesced to the repeated request.
“It’s going to be fun. I’m really excited about it,” White said. “I don’t know what to say. I’m like a little kid in a candy store.”
So White is playing in the pro-am and tees off at 8:50 a.m. at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in a group with pros Beau Hossler on the front nine and Chez Reavie on the back nine, and that’s not her only involvement in the $4 million tournament.
She was a host of an Ignite Women’s Brunch on Monday at The Dunes Club, took part in the pro-am pairings party on Tuesday night, did multiple media interviews to help promote the event on Tuesday, and is expected to be around the tournament all week.
White believes the Grand Strand hosting a PGA Tour event is long overdue.
“We all know Myrtle Beach, we relate Myrtle Beach to golf, and it has been that way for a long, long, long time. It’s about time the PGA Tour came here,” she said.
White played some golf in her youth in North Myrtle Beach and took the game back up five years ago. Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak congratulated her on the air for breaking 100 for the first time when she shot a 96, and she’s now working on breaking 80.
“I’m shooting in the mid-90s right now,” White said. “I’m not bragging. . . . I’m working on it. Maybe [Wednesday].
“I just have fun when I go out there. I don’t take it too seriously. I just have a good time. It’s a great escape. We’re all so busy all the time. So it’s a good way to just clear your mind, listen to the birds, look at the beautiful trees, look at the lakes.”
White has signed a two-year contract extension to continue on Wheel of Fortune, and will work alongside new host Ryan Seacrest after Pat Sajak announced his retirement following 41 seasons. Sajak’s final show will air June 7.
“My sweetheart Pat Sajak retired after 41 years so I now am going to get used to working with a new host, Ryan Seacrest,” White said. “. . . I’m looking forward to starting a new season with Ryan and you have me for at least two more years, we’ll see from there.”
White recalled when her ambition to be on television was born.
She was watching a show called The Rat Patrol following appendix surgery while in third grade, and her mother mentioned that her uncle was on the show.
“I said, ‘I have an uncle on TV. I want to be on TV,” White said. “That was in third grade and I never forgot that, and from that point on I wanted to be on TV.”
White, 67, attended college in Atlanta and moved to Los Angeles to chase her television dream. Not long after, she was hired by Merv Griffin for Wheel of Fortune at the age of 25 in 1982.
“I’m so thankful and grateful that 41 years later I’m still doing it,” White said.
White remains proud of her hometown and is quick to praise it.
“I miss the people, I miss the ocean, I miss the food. People are so kind here. I miss the accent,” she said. “. . . I love everything about this place. I would say absolutely take a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There is something for everyone. There’s golf, there’s beach, there’s so many activities, there’s so many adventures, there’s so many restaurants. There’s something for everyone of all ages, which is great. It’s a great family resort area.”
