Sr. Azalea Tournament

The 2021 Senior Azalea will be held Wednesday, September 22nd through Friday, September 24th, with Tuesday, September 21st available for practice rounds. 
  
  • SR. Azalea Tournament History
    • The Senior Azalea Invitation was first held in the Spring of 1988. It was as the direct spin-off of the Azalea Invitational dating back to 1946. The Azalea field during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s grew to an unmanageable number of players to its popularity. As the field was gradually cut from 200 to 100 players, many of the good old boys that had been coming here for years, enjoying a Charleston vacation plus the fun tournament, were crying for the old days and some sort of venue to get back to Old Wappoo as it was called. In response to the pleas and demand, Alan Rubin and Tim Ireland began a Senior version of the Azalea. Alan and Tim ran The Senior Azalea for eleven years and through their efforts, a newly renovated golf course, and the ever growing popularity of Charleston as a vacation destination, they developed a very good field and nationally recognized senior amateur event! Golf Week in 2002 initiated its senior rankings for the country and placed the Senior Azalea high on the list of point distribution thus validating the strength of its fields and the quality of the tournament. The Charleston Country Club can trace its roots back to golf in Charleston as far back as 1786. The formal club was organized in 1901 and moved to its current location in 1924. In that year the club engaged Seth Raynor to design and build the golf course. He completed his work and the course was open for play in 1925. Mr. Raynor, a trained landscape engineer, was the town surveyor for Southampton, N.Y. when he was hired by noted golf course architect, Charles Blair McDonald. They later formed a very influential design team with a penchant for incorporating the best of original British golf holes in their architecture. After designing a number of courses with McDonald, Raynor began to design and build courses on his own. Continuing the British influence and his considerable skill for routing and building firm playable courses, Raynor had established a reputation by 1925 as one of this country’s signature architects. His signature hole at the Country Club of Charleston being hole #11 (a version of North Berwick’s fifteenth hole better known as the famous Redan hole). Eleven of Raynor’s courses are ranked in the top one hundred of American’s traditional golf courses. Included in this group are Fishers island, Long Island, N.Y.; The Carmargo Club, Indian Hills, Ohio; The Yale Club, New Haven, Conn.; and Charleston’s own Yeaman’s Hall Club. The Country Club of Charleston is very proud of the fact that its course has received the 15th ranked course in the state. The Senior Azalea owes a debt of gratitude to Tim and Alan for years of hard work. We are also fortunate to have two top professionals tending to its members, golf course and the Azalea tournament. Paul Corder, Golf Course Superintendent, is highly recognized in his field and Hart Brown, Director of Golf is the epitome of a PGA Professional. The professionalism of the two men and their staffs has played an integral part in establishing a tournament atmosphere that has helped the Senior Azalea to become one of the most popular amateur tournaments in the country.
  • Sr. Azalea Invitational Contact Information
    • Sr. Azalea Chairman

      Tommy Ford

      [email protected]

      843-860-5090

      Clubhouse

      Office

      843-795-0422

      Lounge / Dining

      843-795-0422

      Golf Shop

      Hart Brown, PGA

      843-795-2312

      Director of Golf

      [email protected]

      Golf Shop

      843-795-2312

       

       

  • Sr. Azalea Invitational Criteria
    • Senior Azalea Criteria

      Invitations will be extended based on the following:

      • Amateur contestants who finished in the top 20 places in last year's tournament (Senior Divison), top 20 places (Super Senior Divison)
      • Past Senior Champions for the last 10 years; Super Senior for last 5 years
      • Amateur contestants who have qualified for any USGA event, British Amateur. British Senior Amateur or British Senior Open in the last 5 years
      • Amateur contestants whose recent performance in the following warrents an invitation: State or Regional Golf Association (i.e. Hall of Fame, Senior Masters)
      • Current local city area or area Senior Event winners
      • Maximum handicap of 3.0
      • Players must be 55 years old (senior) or 65 years old (super senior) prior to the first round date of current years tournament
  • Sr. Invitational Past Champions
    • Senior Azalea Champions Super Senior Champions
      1988 John Ferguson  219 1992 Tim Street  231
      1989 Bob Galloway  212 1993 Dave Smith  225
      1990 No Tournament - Hurricane Hugo 1994 D. Smith / R. Horton  231
      1991 No Tournament - Hurricane Hugo 1995 Bill Adams  222
      1992 Bob Galloway  216 1996 Billy Houck  226
      1993 Heyward Sullivan  212 1997 Paul Cobb  225
      1994 Leroy Rabon  221 1998 Bill Bonney  226
      1995 Heyward Sullivan  212 1999 Bill Cox  223
      1996 Ben Shadoan  216 2000 No Tournament - Renovation # 11
      1997 Curtis Wagner  212 2001 Bill Ploeger  215
      1998 Curtis Wagner  209 2002 Richard Chenoweth  221
      1999 Jerry Greenbaum  210 2003 Bill Cox  213
      2000 No Tournament - Renovation # 11 2004 Bob Hullender  210
      2001 Tom Flory  210 2005 Skip Juris  141 (36 Holes)
      2002 Jamie Gough  210 2006 No Tournament - Course Renovation
      2003 Jamie Gough  209 2007 Bob Hullender  210
      2004 Mike Rice  208 2008 Bob Hullender  210
      2005 Tommy Ford  138 (36 Holes) 2009 Spencer Sappington  210
      2006 No Tournament - Course Renovation 2010 Skip Snow  212
      2007 Walt Martin  211 2011 Tommy Ford  215
      2008 Steve Johnson  212 2012 Bob Currey  213
      2009 Bill Zylstra  206 2013 Ted Smith 212
      2010 Buzz Peel 209 2014 John Cuomo  213
      2011 Brady Exber  210 2015 Mike Weiner  69 (18 Holes)
      2012 Brady Exber  210 2016 Paul Schlacter  210
      2013 Brady Exber  206 2017 Hurricane Irma
      2014 Brady Exber 205 2018 John Dennis
      210
      2015 Kirk Geiling  69 (18 Holes) 2019 John Dennis
      213
      2016 Roy Hunter  212 2020 Cancelled - COVID 19
      2017 Hurricane Irma
           
      2018 Mark Knecht
      204    
      2019 Walter Todd
      209
         
      2020 Cancelled - COVID 19
           

  • Sr. Invitational Itinerary
    • Schedule Dates September 21-24, 2021

      Tuesday Registration in Golf Shop

      Practice Round after 11:00am

       

      Wednesday                    First Round

                                                      6:30am – Golf Shop & Range Open

                                                                    7:45am – First Tee Time (#1 tee only)

                                                                  6:30am – 10:00am – Breakfast

                                                                  11:00am – 3:30am – Lunch (upstairs in Clubhouse)

       

      Thursday                                      Second Round

                                                                  6:30am – Golf Shop & Range Open

                                                              7:45am – First Tee Time (#1 tee only)

                                                                6:30am – 10:00am – Breakfast

                                                                    11:00am – 3:30am – Lunch (upstairs in Clubhouse)

                                                             

       

      Friday                                              Final Round

                                                              8:30 am Tee Time from 1st & 10th Tee

                                                              6:30am – 9:30am – Breakfast

                                                                11:00am – 3:30pm – Lunch (upstairs in Clubhouse)

  • Sr. Invitational Tournament Website
  • Tournament Hotel Accommodations

    • Please click on the following link to see hotels near the Country Club of Charleston

      HOTEL LIST 2021