2008 Tarheel Tour Season opens with Rivertowne Open

Mt. Pleasant, SC - The Charlotte, North Carolina based Tarheel Tour will once again open its season with its 3rd annual “Low Country Series”, which begins March 4 at Rivertowne Country Club in Mt. Pleasant, SC. The Rivertowne Open, which was scheduled to be the middle of the three events in the “Low Country Series”, will now be the season opener, after the Patriots Point Classic was canceled due to high winds.

The field of 144 players includes 2006 Rivertowne Open winner Dustin Bray, 2007 PGA Tour member Matt Hendrix, two-time 2007 winner Scott Brown, and Nationwide Tour veteran Brendon de Jonge. Other players in the field include United States Walker Cup hero Jonathan Moore, 2007 Match Play champion Kevin Kisner, and 2005 Masters participant Luke List.

Rivertowne Country Club is a beautiful Arnold Palmer design that plays host to the LPGA's Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika. The course measures 7272 yards and winds around the Wando River with hazards bordering nearly every hole. An extremely difficult closing stretch concludes with the 490 yard par-4 18th which plays into the prevailing wind and features wetlands down the entire left side. “Rivertowne is one of the most difficult golf courses we play,” said Tarheel Tour President David Siegel. “The winner this week will have to be sharp in every aspect of his game.”

Local competitors scheduled to compete include Ben and Brian Duncan of Mt. Pleasant, SC. The brothers, originally from Greenville SC, were both standouts at Clemson and members of the 2003 National Championship team. Both now reside in Mt. Pleasant, SC and look forward to strong 2008 seasons after both successfully advanced to the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School last fall. Other local players include transplanted Zimbabwean Bruce McDonald, College of Charleston alumnus Kyle Bradley, and USC-Aiken’s Scott Usher.

The Rivertowne Open will be a 54-hole stroke play event with a 36-hole cut following the completion of the second round. The top 35 percent of the field will qualify for the final round and compete for the $118,000 purse including the first place check of $18,500.

The Tarheel Tour was created in 2002 and will conduct 20 events in 2008 from Hilton Head, SC to Charlottesville, VA and many areas in between. Roughly half of the events are held in the greater Charlotte, NC area. The first round of the Rivertowne Open begins at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday March 4th. The event is open to the public and free of charge.