The field also includes Christiaan Bezuidenhout<\/a><\/span>, Eric Cole<\/a><\/span>, Joel Dahmen<\/a><\/span>, Cam Davis<\/a><\/span>, Nick Dunlap<\/a><\/span>, Billy Horschel<\/a><\/span>, Tom Kim<\/a><\/span>, Max McGreevy<\/a><\/span>, Mac Meissner<\/a><\/span>, Marco Penge<\/a><\/span>, Aaron Rai<\/a><\/span>, Rasmus Hojgaard<\/a><\/span>, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Davis Thompson<\/a><\/span>, and Seamus Power<\/a><\/span> among others. Ten sponsor exemptions rounded out the field, going to Grayson Wood, Wells Williams, Ryan Ruffels<\/a><\/span>, Trent Phillips<\/a><\/span>, Nicholas Marchese, Thriston Lawrence<\/a><\/span>, Casey Jarvis<\/a><\/span>, Evan Harmeling, Grant Haefner<\/a><\/span>, and Blades Brown<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n One of the more unusual stories in the field involves Ryan Ruffels<\/a><\/span>, a YouTube content creator with roughly 60,000 subscribers who earned his spot by winning The Q at Myrtle Beach, a two-round competition at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club where he beat seven other content creators in a stroke-play shootout. Ruffels is making his 21st PGA Tour start and has made 10 cuts on Tour in his career.<\/p>\n Past winners Chris Gotterup<\/a><\/span> and Ryan Fox<\/a><\/span> each claimed their first PGA Tour victory here. Kevin Yu<\/a><\/span> has finished fourth in both previous editions, the clearest repeat performer the Dunes has produced. Sam Ryder<\/a><\/span>, Ben Silverman<\/a><\/span>, and Patton Kizzire<\/a><\/span> all rank among the lowest scoring averages across the two editions among players returning this week.<\/p>\n The Dunes Golf and Beach Club traces its origins to 1947 when a group of local Myrtle Beach businesspeople began planning a world-class facility overlooking Singleton Swash near the Atlantic Ocean. Nine holes of the back nine opened in 1949, with Robert Trent Jones Sr. completing the full layout shortly after. It is one of his earliest designs and stands as one of the most decorated courses in South Carolina, ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the third-best public-access layout in the state and 155th on the national classic course list.<\/p>\n The course has hosted the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the Champions Tour six times between 1994 and 1999, the USGA Women’s Open in 1962, multiple PGA Tour Q-School finals, and the PGA Professional National Championship in 2014. The ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, which began as a four-year PGA Tour deal in 2024 with ONEflight signing on as title sponsor a year later, is the biggest professional event it has hosted in decades.<\/p>\n Rees Jones, son of the original architect, led a significant renovation in 2013 that converted all greens from A-1 Bentgrass to Ultradwarf Champion Bermuda, fundamentally changing how the course plays. A complete bunker restoration in 2018 rebuilt all drainage, liners, and sand to reclaim the original Robert Trent Jones design strategy. The course is best known for its brilliant, often elevated and tilted green complexes, many of which feature brisk runoffs in multiple directions that confound players on approach shots and punish the imprecise miss.<\/p>\n The Dunes plays as a par 71 at 7,347 yards with Champion Bermuda greens averaging 6,000 square feet, notably smaller than the 6,578 square feet players encounter at Quail Hollow. There are 72 sand bunkers, water comes into play on six holes, and the course runs ryegrass on fairways and rough with pure Bermuda on the greens. The 2025 scoring average was 70.27, making this a considerably more scoreable venue than the signature events. Players will go low here. The winner is typically double digits under par, with Gotterup reaching minus 22 in the inaugural edition and Fox winning at minus 15 in a three-way playoff last year.<\/p>\n Despite sitting close to the ocean, the course does not play as a links or seaside layout. Tree-lined corridors, marshland, and woodland elements define most of the routing. Only hole nine gives players a glimpse of the Atlantic. The greens are elevated throughout, many bunkered on both sides in classic Robert Trent Jones fashion, and the large undulating putting surfaces with multiple pin positions create genuine green-reading challenges despite the course’s relatively forgiving setup off the tee.<\/p>\n The course’s most famous stretch runs from holes 11 through 13. Hole 11 plays a dramatic approach to a green bordered on the right by Singleton Swash. Hole 12 is a par three with a do-or-die carry over the water. Hole 13, nicknamed Waterloo, is the most famous hole at the Dunes and one of the most recognizable par fives in the southeastern United States. It plays 590 yards as a 90-degree dogleg right around Dunes Lake. There is no shortcut. Players must navigate the corner before attacking a green that punishes the aggressive approach that falls short or left. This hole alone has produced some of the most consequential swings in both editions of this event.<\/p>\n This is a bomber’s track. In the inaugural 2024 edition, the top seven in ball striking finished as the top seven on the leaderboard, a level of correlation between tee-to-green performance and final result that is almost unheard of on the PGA Tour. Gotterup won convincingly despite hitting fewer than 50 percent of fairways. Three of the top five finishers in 2025 ranked 60th or worse in driving accuracy. The punishment for missing the fairway here is simply not severe enough to neutralize a pure power advantage, and unlike most demanding venues, the Dunes rewards bombers who can keep it in play often enough without demanding much precision beyond that.<\/p>\n Approach play carries meaningful weight, but the demands differ from longer, more punishing venues. The elevated green complexes with Augusta-style white sand bunkers create real consequences for missing in the wrong spot, particularly through Alligator Alley. Overall approach difficulty is lower than at major-style venues, however, because players are hitting shorter irons into more greens and the GIR percentage is higher across the field. Players who gain strokes from 175 yards and beyond have the clearest edge, as that is where the course separates contenders from the rest.<\/p>\n Putting matters here more than it does at most ball-striking-dominant venues. In 2024, seven of the top ten in putting average finished inside the top 15 on the leaderboard. The Bermuda greens reward players comfortable managing grain and slope on putts inside ten feet. Short game around the green is relatively straightforward by comparison. The surrounds are not as punishing as Augusta or Quail Hollow, and players do not need to be elite scramblers to contend. Make the putts you create and avoid the runoff areas on the tilted green complexes and you are in business.<\/p>\n Most Important Stats for Success at the Dunes<\/strong><\/p>\n Ball Striking overall<\/p>\n SG: Tee-to-Green<\/p>\n Driving Distance<\/p>\n SG: Approach from 175 yards plus<\/p>\n SG: Putting on Bermuda<\/p>\n Bogey Avoidance<\/p>\n Par 5 Birdie Rate<\/p>\n Course Region: Southeast The Dunes is not a complicated course to model. Find the best ball strikers in a relatively weaker field, confirm they can putt on Bermuda, and make sure they have the distance to take advantage of the par fives. Course history is thin with only two editions played, but the names that keep appearing across both leaderboards are telling you something. Kevin Yu<\/a><\/span>, Sam Ryder<\/a><\/span>, Ben Silverman<\/a><\/span>, and Patton Kizzire<\/a><\/span> have the lowest scoring averages across both editions among players returning this week. Start there and build outward.<\/p>\n For expert analysis, model-building tools, and course filters for the 2026 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, visit betspertsgolf.com and use code BSG26<\/strong> for 25 percent off any plan.<\/p>\n The content of this article is intended for entertainment purposes only. Please be aware of and respect the laws regarding sports betting for your jurisdiction. Do you or someone you know have a gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Build your 2026 Myrtle Beach Classic model with the key stats and course details for the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, where ball striking dominates and bombers consistently rise to the top of the leaderboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17636,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"bs_types":[14,15],"bs_tags":[154],"class_list":["post-17634","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","bs_type-betting","bs_type-fantasy","bs_tag-myrtle-beach-classic"],"acf":false,"featured_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-05-094128.png","tags_list":[{"id":154,"name":"Myrtle Beach Classic","slug":"myrtle-beach-classic"}],"types_list":[{"id":14,"name":"Betting"},{"id":15,"name":"Fantasy"}],"bs_author":{"name":"BetspertsGolf","profile_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/i2BrdO9n_400x400-1-150x150.jpg"},"bs_term_name":null,"is_paid":"false","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/17634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bs_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_types?post=17634"},{"taxonomy":"bs_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_tags?post=17634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"myrtle](\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/gettyimages-2152766633-612x612-1.jpg\")
The Dunes Golf and Beach Club \u2013 History<\/h3>\n
Course Features<\/h3>\n
Alligator Alley<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DunesMain-1-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/p>\nStrokes Gained Analysis<\/h1>\n
Off the Tee<\/h3>\n
\nApproach<\/h3>\n
\nAround the Green and Putting<\/h3>\n
Key Rabbit Hole Filters<\/h2>\n
\nScoring Conditions: Moderate
\nCourse Length: Long
\nGreen Surface: Bermuda
\nOTT Club: Driver Heavy
\nGain APP: Moderate
\nTPC Toronto course history
\nCongaree course history
\nSanderson Farms course history<\/p>\n