The Palmetto Championship at Congaree is happening this week, and if you haven’t been following PGA Tour scheduling news closely, the event exists because the Canadian Open was cancelled for 2021 last winter and this event was announced as a one-time filler in early April. The Tour does not lack for players with South Carolina connections and thus the fans will see a good number of familiar faces, and in particular world no. 1 (per the Official World Golf Ratings) Dustin Johnson.

This event brings professional golf to the Congaree Golf Club for the first time. It hasn’t taken too long for the 2017 Tom Fazio design in South Carolina’s Lowcountry to get its week in the spotlight. Congaree was named Golf Digest’s best new private course for 2018, also the best golf course built during the 2010s decade. The club is located about 40 miles north of Savannah and about the same distance inland from the Atlantic Ocean, near the Broad River.

There are numerous unique aspects to the club, built on a relatively flat 3,200-acre property surrounded by over 2,000 acres of lakes and dotted with longleaf pine and bottomland hardwood forests. Per forbes.com, the course contains some cavernous bunkers and vast waste areas, many of which have the sharp edges like those found in the Australian sand belt. All sandy expanses at Congaree are deemed “natural areas,” so players are permitted to ground their club anywhere, anytime. Per top100golfcourses.com, the 546-yard eighth is the signature hole. It plays as a par-five, except for this week when it will be a ridiculously tough par-four. Golfers navigate around two vast sandy waste areas en route to the green. The finishing set of four straight par-fours culminates in a tough approach shot over water and sand to the narrow 18th green.

Also unique to the club is its commitment to what it calls the Global Golf Initiative. Each year, Congaree “ambassadors”, who might be referred to as members elsewhere, identify dozens of high school students from around the world who have the talent to play college golf but who lack family resources. For a month, the young players receive a mix of golf-related and educational instruction, such as college prep and fitness training. Lucas Glover and William McGirt are two such ambassadors, professional category.

Fact: The original Greek Revival home on the property was burned by the Union army late in 1864 during the (pick your term) historic/ vilified Sherman’s March to the Sea. Much of nearby Gillisonville SC also saw the torch.

With no event history and no history of Tour competition on the course, there is not a lot to go on in terms of picks to win. Unsurprisingly, many players are focused on the U.S. Open, which will take place thousands of miles away at Torrey Pines next week. Johnson, who for hard-to-understand reasons continues to lead the OWGR, is the world’s no. 9 player per the Hawley Ratings and the only top-10 player in the field. Consider the top 20 and you add only Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton. A top-50 list gets you seven more. Here are a dozen names offering at least a hint of a reason for your support:

• Dustin Johnson – The South Carolina native and top-rated player in the field hasn’t had a top-10 in seven tries since February and missed the cut in the two majors.
• Matthew Fitzpatrick – Rated 15th, but trending down (although not as steeply down as Johnson) with two missed cuts in his last three appearances. Has top-10s at the Heritage, TPC, and Palmer since March.
• Tyrrell Hatton – Rated 16th, but trending down (although not as steeply down as the two names above). Had three top-10s on Euro Tour last winter but only a best of 15th in eight PGA Tour appearances in 2021.
• Brooks Koepka – Rated 23rd and part of an overblown kerfuffle with Bryson DeChambeau. Up and down like a roller coaster this year with the Phoenix win, runner-up finishes in the PGA and WGC-Mexico, one deep-in-the-pack finish, and three missed cuts.
• Charley Hoffman – Rated 37th and finally we have a guy on this list who is trending up. Playing regularly (16 events) in 2021 and really good in Texas — runner-up at Texas Open, third at Schwab. Has four other top-20s since March.
• Ian Poulter – Rated no. 41. Trending up but not without some bumps in 10 U.S. appearances in 2021. Third In the Schwab two weeks ago, one other top-10, also three missed cuts.
• Brandt Snedeker – 40-year-old nice guy is no. 72. Wasn’t very good last winter but has warmed up since then with six spring appearances, two top-10s (Texas, Zurich) and two top-20s, no MC.
• Patton Kizzire – Rated no. 88. Was third in back-to-back appearances in May (Nelson, Schwab); also has a top-10 at Texas mixed in with three missed cuts over the last three months.
• Troy Merritt – Rated no. 110 and another guy on the roller coaster; was seventh in back-to-back appearances in May (Nelson, Schwab), also six missed cuts in the last four months.
• Vincent Whaley – 26-year-old from Kentucky is no. 151. He has played 34 Tour events the past two years with one top-10 (Puerto Rico last year) and two top-20s (Puerto Rico this year and Schwab two weeks ago). Things are looking up, however, as he has been steadily in the mid-pack the last four months, seven times in the top 40 in eight appearances.
• Ben Martin – 33-year-old South Carolinian is no. 152. He was ninth at Puntacana, 11th at Wells Fargo, 26th at the Nelson.
• Satoshi Kodaira – 31-year-old from Tokyo is no. 220. Things started to look up suddenly last month when he was 13th at the Nelson and 11th at Wells Fargo after six missed cuts and nothing approaching a top-20 in his previous eight appearances.

The list of players with South Carolina connections is lengthy. In alphabetical order, Mark Anderson is from Beaufort and played for South Carolina; Scott Brown resides in Aiken and played for South Carolina-Aiken; Jonathan Byrd played for Clemson; Lucas Glover is a Congaree ambassador, Clemson graduate, and Greenville native; Bill Haas is from Greenville and played for Wake Forest; Dustin Johnson is from Columbia and attended Coastal Carolina; Ben Martin is from Greenwood and played for Clemson; William McGirt is a Congaree ambassador, attended Wofford University, and is from Spartanburg; Matthew NeSmith is from North Augusta and played for South Carolina; Doc Redman played for Clemson; and DJ Trahan is from Mt. Pleasant and played for Clemson.

Notables (or maybe “wannabe notables” would be more accurate) making their Tour debuts include recent Ben Hogan Award winner John Pak (Florida State) and former world no. 1 amateur Davis Thompson (U. of Georgia). Both are 22; Thompson turned 22 last weekend.