As the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic navigates the financial struggles of one of its co-title sponsors, the PGA Tour event reminded us this week of its contributions to the Grand Strand community.
The tournament awarded $225,000 in donations to eight local charities during a check presentation ceremony Monday at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, bringing its three-year total in donations to $675,000.
Representatives from each organization spoke Monday about the importance of the funds they received, and what they will allow them to do in order to benefit area residents in need.
“It’s really impactful to see all these organizations take their donations and spearhead them into action,” said Jack Milko, national communications and public relations manager for SportFive, the sports marketing and events agency that operates the tournament. “It’s really, really impactful. To hear the testimonies, it’s uplifting, it’s inspiring. . . . They’re all really important.”
The $4 million Myrtle Beach Classic will be played for the fourth consecutive year next May 13-16 at The Dunes Club.
ONEflight International, a private aviation company and co-title sponsor with the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce through its marketing arm Visit Myrtle Beach, has suspended operations for at least 30 days as it deals with financial difficulties.
The initial four-year contract between the PGA Tour and the title sponsors expires following the 2027 tournament, and no extension or renewal has been signed.
Stakeholders of the tournament have said they hope to continue the event in 2028 and beyond, and are in discussions with the PGA Tour.
The organizations receiving donations for the third straight year are:
Project Golf ($28,406), which has programs for beginners, youth and military veterans, including many who are disabled. The donation has allowed the program to purchase adaptive golf carts and increase classes.
SOS Care ($28,406), which assists individuals and families who are facing the challenges of autism and intellectual disabilities. The donations have allowed the organization to hire a job coach for an employment program and help adults with autism or intellectual disabilities find employment and live independently.
Helping Hand of Myrtle Beach ($28,406) is a crisis agency and food pantry that has been helping community members meet their needs and pay bills since 1971.
Children’s Recovery Center ($28,406) provides services to child abuse victims including free medical exams, and has hired a Spanish-speaking counseler in Georgetown.
SC Smiles Dental ($28,406) provides dental care for young children throughout the Strand.
Help 4 Kids ($14,656), which is also known as Backpack Buddies, feeds more than 3,000 children per week from grades K-12 and also provides school supplies, clothing, etc.
Blue Star Mothers of Coastal Carolina ($15,156) allows mothers to send Hero Boxes stocked with toiletries and personal items to men and women in the U.S. military around the world on holidays.
Boys and Girls Club of the Grand Strand ($53,156) located in Myrtle Beach, which serves children in the area. The money has allowed the club to help 170 kids daily with programs from computer learning, basic education skills and recreation.
“With the amount of kids we serve a day, what all we do with the kids, the programs that we have, we wouldn’t be able to sustain if we didn’t have donations like this to get us through,” said Boys and Girls Club of the Grand Strand executive director Ryan Grace. “. . . Having donations like this honestly means everything to us because it helps us go a little further and help more kids.”
Representatives of the charities, as well as other area charities, also have an opportunity to volunteer at concession stands during the tournament to raise money for their causes.
Former three-year tournament director Darren Nelson said last year that the receiving charities are selected by a tournament advisory board that consists of local business leaders.
Part of the PGA Tour’s business model for its tournaments includes charitable donations to local organizations. The tour says donations have totaled more than $4.5 billion to date, which it says is more than all other major sports leagues combined.
“It’s an essential pillar of what the PGA Tour is all about is to give back to communities, and I think there are two ways,” said PGA Tour vice president of tournament business affairs Kelly Jensen. “One is what we talked about [Monday], which is the charitable impact, and I think one of the things we’ve done a much better job of lately is it used to be about the check, and now it’s about the stories. The other part of it is the economic impact, and that drives incremental revenue back to the city in different ways to help fund different things. If you mirror those two things together, it’s a really impactful and powerful thing.”
The chamber said Monday the 2026 tournament generated a preliminary total economic impact of $19.5 million, which is a 23% increase from 2025, and 27.7 million social media views.
