Big changes coming to Columbia golf tournament that dates to 1936

The old tournament created to decide the Columbia area’s best golfer of the year dates to 1936, and only World War II and the COVID outbreak interrupted its annual spot on the calendar.

But the championship began to show its age in recent years and, not for the first time, again faces an uncertain future.

“Time for a changing of the guard,” said long-time tournament director Bobby Foster, who joined David Bennett in rescuing the tournament from oblivion in 1985.

Thus, the rebranded tournament is set for July 19-20 at Spring Valley Country Club with an all-things-new theme.

There will be a new name (Chevy Dealers Midlands Championship), new leadership (Steve Liebler), a new format (36 holes), new days (Saturday-Sunday), new eligibility standards (residents throughout the Midlands), a new focus (technology promotions) and a new registration process (Golf Genius).

“We want to get back where we were,” Liebler said.

Perhaps with a myriad of playing opportunities all over the calendar, the tournament’s halcyon days that included qualifying, requiring two courses for the competition and staging a pre-tournament dinner are over. But Liebler is not willing to give up the event’s history and the chance for younger players to compete without a battle.

“We hope we can salvage 2025 and see if there is an opportunity to continue,” he said. “We need a positive response if we’re going forward; people are going to have to want to play. We’ll see what they want.”

Area pros Greg McBride and Tom Mason joined Allen Knight, who has taken a lead role in recent years, SCGA executive director Biff Lathrop and Liebler, the former USC golf coach who won the tournament 11 times, in working on the event’s future.

“We’ve talked about a lot of things,” Liebler said. “We’ve had three-day tournaments in the past. Are 54 holes the right number? Would 36 be better? Are we losing the younger generation who can’t get days off work to play during the week?”

Expanding eligibility to include all areas of the Midlands — “Orangeburg, Camden, Newberry, Winnsboro, everywhere in the Midlands,” Liebler said — hopefully will attract more players and will be beneficial to the title sponsor, the Midlands Chevy Dealers.

Handling the tournament operations will be three members of the South Carolina Golf Association staff who have the weekend off from their regular duties: Dawson Thornton, Caden Quiles and Austin Sweitzer.

“We’ll do a lot of things digitally — registration, scoring, promotion and such — and showcase the tournament,” Thornton said. “This is a nice opportunity for us to get experience in tournament operations.”

Their participation and digital expertise are vital, Liebler said.

“Frankly, the tournament did not stay up with the times in terms of using technology,” he said. “If you don’t use technology, you lose the younger generation.”

This scenario is a repeat of 1985. Area pros operated the event then and had grown weary of the challenges. In stepped Foster, a three-time champion, who said he and Bennett would handle the event for one year.

Their “one year” turned into two and three and upward toward 40 before enlisting Knight, who has overseen the championship the past 10 years with Foster consulting.

“Bobby put his heart and soul into this event, and it would have been gone long before now without him,” Liebler said. “If anybody deserved to take a step back, he did. He did (in 1985) what we’re doing now, trying to save the tournament. Then as now, golf is too important in the area to allow the tournament to go away.”

Although his name dominates the championship trophy, Liebler said his involvement “is not about legacy. It’s about giving younger guys an opportunity cut their teeth in competition. And this is the big thing; we’re expanding to make this more of a Midlands championship.”

The tournament’s champions include a player who won both the U.S. Open and Masters (Dustin Johnson) and PGA Tour and Champions Tour winner Joe Inman. Former champions Foster and David DuPre are members of the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame.

“Is the next Dustin Johnson out there?” Liebler wondered. “I expect there are some future college players who will look back and be appreciative of getting their start in this tournament. We have a great history and want to preserve it and add to it.”

A link to the entry form is available at www.columbiacitytournament.com. Questions can be emailed to Liebler (Slieb58@aol.com) or Thornton (dawson@scgolf.org). Information has been emailed to exempt and former players in addition to others in the area identified via handicap indexes. Officials suggested checking spam folders if the forms have not been received.

Chip shots. Blythewood resident Ella Stalvey, who plays on the golf team at East Carolina, won the renamed Midlands Women’s Championship for the third straight year at Mid-Carolina Club. Shannon Hammond won the Midlands division and Jeanie Atkinson took the senior division title. . . . Eddie Hargett (Okatie) pulled into a tie with a final-hole birdie, then won the SCGA Senior Championship in a playoff with Mims Liner (Irmo) at Woodside CC in Aiken.

This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 7:54 AM with the headline "Big changes coming to Columbia golf tournament that dates to 1936."