MIAMI, May 11 — The US$3.9 million (RM17.4 million) Myrtle Beach Classic will debut as a PGA Tour event in the 2024 campaign under a four-year deal announced yesterday.

Dates for the full-field tournament to be played at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club will be revealed when the PGA releases a complete 2024 season schedule.

The club hosted an event on the 50-and-over PGA Champions Tour in the 1990s.

The tournament will be played on the same week as a "designated event”, one of the tour’s new elite US$20 million, limited-field tournaments created in response to the challenge by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

The Classic will serve as an event to give playing opportunities to all tour players while creating the best-against-best events sought by fans, players and broadcasters.

One of this year’s designated events was the only other PGA stop played in South Carolina, the Heritage tournament that debuted in 1969.

The Heritage is played at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island on the week following the Masters in April. — AFP