As the CEO of tournament title sponsor OneFlight International, Ferren Rajput has made contacts with several major celebrities, who he now wants to bring to Myrtle Beach’s second-year PGA Tour event.
On Monday morning, Rajput announced that he’s assembled a cast of stars including Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell and is in discussions with Bill Murray, Jon Hamm and Jason Aldean to play in a Wednesday pro-am at the tournament site, The Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
“If I’m going to get involved, I’m going to take this to the top, and how do we do that?” Rajput said. “Luckily I’ve got a lot of celebrities as good friends that fly with us. I thought we had to tie in the celebrities and have to bring some bigger action than just golf itself.”
OneFlight reached a deal with the tournament to be title sponsor a few months ago. The $4 million, 72-hole tournament is scheduled for May 8-11. Beach music band Chairmen of the Board will play after Thursday’s play. Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line will perform on Saturday. The concerts will be held on the course, near the 17th green and 18th tee.
Tournament Director Darren Nelson said Golf Channel would broadcast the first two rounds from 10 a.m. until noon. Golf Channel will televise the final two rounds from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Nelson pointed out that six players, including last week’s Cognizant Classic winner Joe Highsmith, from last year’s inaugural Myrtle Beach tournament won other PGA Tour events.
Charities will receive $250,000 from the tournament. Registration for approximately 1,500 volunteer positions are open.
The Myrtle Beach tournament is once again scheduled the same week as the Truist Championship, a $20 million signature event for 70 of the Tour’s top players. Typically played at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club, the tournament will be played in Philadelphia this year because the PGA Championship will be held in May at Quail Hollow.