Myrtle Beach will be full of law enforcement personnel this week. No, there isn’t trouble of any type along the Grand Strand.
Some of America’s finest are making the trek to Myrtle Beach for the same reason millions of other do – golf.
For the 10th consecutive year, Myrtle Beach is hosting the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Golf Classic. The event begins today with a practice round and more than 900 golfers from 35 states, Canada and Bermuda are participating.
The 54-hole, stroke play tournament begins tomorrow. Players, who compete for more than $350,000 in prizes, are separated into three divisions: Law Enforcement Officers – singles; Friends of Cops - singles and a team division for foursomes with at least one member of a law enforcement agency.
Monday’s practice round and the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday tournament rounds will be played at 10 Myrtle Beach golf courses: Arcadian Shores Golf Club, Farmstead Golf Links, Myrtlewood Golf Club – the Palmetto Course and the PineHills Course, Pine Lakes Country Club, River Hills Golf & Country Club, The Resort Club at Grande Dunes, The Members Club at Grande Dunes, Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club and Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation. Accommodations will be provided by Dunes Village Resort, Myrtlewood Villas and The Marina Inn.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Golf Classic began in 1999 after retired New York police officer Dan Morphet, a new Myrtle Beach resident, visited Washington D.C. Memorial Walls that honor police officers killed in the line of duty. Morphet noticed several names of former police officers that he worked with on the wall and began to think about their families.
Inspired to help raise money and awareness for fallen police officers’ families, Morphet planned an annual golf tournament in Myrtle Beach that would raise money for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. He contacted the director of Washington’s Memorial Wall and told him of his plans to start the fundraising golf tournament. After several conversations, the plan was approved and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Golf Classic has grown into the world’s largest law enforcement tournament with more than $360,000 raised in nine years.
“I am a retired Rochester police officer who attended too many funerals during my 20-year career,” said Morphet. “Law enforcement personnel typically only get together during training sessions, funerals and disasters and I saw the need for an event where officers can get together to socialize, play golf and honor the 18,000 names on the Washington D.C. Memorial Wall. The annual event donates 100% of the proceeds to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, to help pay for the maintenance of the Memorial Wall, the addition of names to the Wall and provide assistance to the families of the fallen officers.”
For more information on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Golf Classic or to register, call 1-877-465-3467 or visit Nleomgc.com.
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