From champions to championship events, 2021 was big year for golf in South Carolina

Golf in 2021 in South Carolina sparkled like seldom before with a pair of national champions, a couple of PGA Tour tournament winners, a player whose action defines both sportsmanship and the sport, and an opportunity to show off the majesty of Palmetto State golf.

That’s without mentioning a fledgling pro with unlimited potential, an out-of-nowhere rally to win a high-profile state tournament, a version of a sort of Grand Slam and ... well, memories abound.

Let’s take a look:

She’s No. 1: Jensen Castle, the West Columbia resident who plays at the University of Kentucky, went to the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August in Rye, New York not sure she could compete due to a rib injury. She left with the championship trophy.

Here’s her path: Twelve players battled for the final two spots in match play, and she made birdie. Seeded 63rd of 64, she won four straight matches, rallied from two down with three holes to play to eliminate favored Rachel Heck in the semis and came from behind again in the 36-hole final to prevail 2 and 1.

Taking command: In August’s South Carolina Amateur, Greenville’s Harry Reynolds, who competes for Indiana University, took the lead into the final round of a big event for the first time and promptly bogeyed two holes. That’s the type of start that can test the strongest resolve.

But Reynolds birdied three of the next four holes and six of the next 10 to seize control at DeBordieu Club near Georgetown and cruised to victory in the state’s biggest amateur event.

A day to cherish: The Augusta National Women’s Amateur quickly took a place among the elite events in golf, and a pair of University of South Carolina stalwarts — Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Ana Pelaez — found themselves in the thick of the title battle in April.

Roussin-Bouchard lipped out birdie putts on the final two holes and missed a playoff for the title by one shot. Pelaez slipped to 12th place after a series of three-putts on Augusta National’s treacherous greens. Two other USC players, Paula Kirner and Pim Pamthong, missed the cut.

Showing off for the world: South Carolina glowed in the world golf spotlight in what CBS announcer Jim Nantz called the “South Carolina swing.”

The state staged three tournaments in a two-month span. In addition to the usual PGA stop for the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head in April, the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island held the PGA Championship (and had an amazing winner in 50-year-old Phil Mickelson) in May and the cancellation of the Canadian Open brought a one-time tournament to Congaree in near Ridgeland in June.

Improbable champion: Christian Sease spent the a week in October preparing for and competing in the U.S. Mid-Amateur in New England. But he entered the South Carolina Mid-Am at his home course, Greenville’s Green Valley Country Club, just in case.

He reached the quarterfinals in the national event before falling on Wednesday of that week. He spent Thursday traveling and teed off Friday in the state tournament. He showed the toll of playing 140 holes the previous seven days with an opening 72, then he blitzed the field with rounds of 65 and 64 to earn the championship by one stroke.

A future with promise: Pauline Roussin-Bouchard planned to turn professional after two years at USC, and a better result is difficult to imagine. A native of France, she twice made All-America for the Gamecocks, then joined the play-for-play ranks this summer.

She won her second pro start on the Ladies European Tour, then dominated the LPGA Qualifying Series. She ran away with the title in the second stage and finished second in the final stage to earn full LPGA Tour status for next season.

Story that makes golf: In the quarterfinals of the U.S. Mid-Amateur, Christian Sease trailed 2-down to tourney favorite Stewart Hagestad after 14 holes. On the 15th, Hagestad moved his mark on the green to give Sease a clear line with his chip.

Sease missed, running his ball 7 feet past the hole. Hagestad prepared to putt, but Sease intervened, reminding his opponent to replace his mark. Without Sease’s stepping in, Hagestad would have lost the hole and the players would have gone to the 18th even instead of Hagestad in front by 1 hole. Who knows what might have happened?

Sease gambled on 18 and lost the hole, leaving Hagestad with 2-up win.

“I’m glad I asked him if he had forgotten (to replace his mark),” said Sease, the SCGA’s player of the year. “It’s what you do in golf.”

Still winning: Kevin Kisner (Aiken) and Lucas Glover (Greenville/Clemson), who cut their teeth in golf in South Carolina’s acclaimed junior program, added to their collection of PGA Tour titles. Kisner won the Wyndham Championship in a playoff and Glover pulled away late to prevail in the John Deere.

Meanwhile, fellow SCJGA grad Dustin Johnson spent much of the year ranked No. 1 in the world and is currently No. 3

Thanks for the memories: Clemson Hall of Fame coach Larry Penley retired after 38 seasons and too many tournament wins and All-American players to count.

He’s No. 1: Clemson senior Turk Pettit saved the best for last, winning the individual title in the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona. He finished at 7-under-par 273.

A grand slam: Seneca’s Austin Ernst compiled a “grand slam” of sorts with an LPGA tournament win; a place on the U.S. Solheim Cup team; she got married; and she earned a two-year lease on a Lamborghini with a hole-in-one in a late-season tournament

Another big win: Former Hilton Head Prep standout Sophia Burnett added to her impressive resume with a one-shot win in the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association’s Amateur Championship at Columbia Country Club.

Burnett, a rising sophomore at Furman, shot 2-over-par 218 over 54 holes to edge Emma Schimpf and Mary Kathryn Talledo for the title.

Little Things Mean a Lot: While wandering down left side of the ninth fairway on Saturday at Augusta National, I and a few others heard the dreaded cry of “Fore!” We ducked and the ball didn’t really come that close, hitting the trunk of a nearby pine tree.

If the ball bounces left or backward, the player has no shot and is facing bogey or worse. Instead, the ball kicked right _ into the rough but playable. The golfer arrived, grabbed a club and made par.

The golfer? Hideki Matsuyama, who a day later would win the Masters by one stroke.