Joel Myrick will have to navigate his way past a group of talented golfers if he is going to successfully defend his title.
The 34-year-old from Hattiesburg won the 2017 Greenwood Country Club Invitational after he carded a 3-under-par 69 to finish 12 under, four shots ahead of two-time champion Alan Ellis of Greenwood.
Myrick is looking to become just the ninth golfer to win the GCC Invitational in back-to-back years in the tradition-rich, 71-year history of one of the state’s oldest stroke-play tournaments.
This will be the first tournament of the year for the former Southern Miss golfer
“I’ve only played 12 rounds. I have put golf on the back-burner to spend more time with my kids, but I am looking forward to getting back to Greenwood and competing,” said the father of three.
“This tournament always draws some of the best golfers in Mississippi. There will be so many good players who have played a lot more golf than me. But if I play my best and keep it in the fairways, I can hang in there.”
The three-day event tees off Friday morning.
Three of the past four Invitational champions will be in the field: Myrick, Ellis (2014) and Gulfport’s Josh Lampley (2016).
Ellis is a two-time winner of the Invitational. He recorded his victory in 2010.
Ellis, who is always a threat to go low on his home course, started his final round last year in sixth place but leap-frogged a number of golfers to finish second at 8-under.
“My golf game has been really up and down, shoot 65 one day and 74 the next,” Ellis said.
He is trying to become just the second player ever to win three Invitational titles.
Lampley finished tied for fourth at -4 in 2017 and is definitely one of the favorites this year. He placed 16th in this year’s Mississippi Golf Association’s State Amateur.
Ben Snow of Hattiesburg, a former USM golfer, almost always plays well at the Invitational. He is coming off a second-place showing at the State Am.
Billy Brozovich, the 2009 GCC Invitational champ, is playing this year. He recently won the Greenville Country Club Invitational. He is a former Ole Miss golfer who played professionally on the mini-tours.
Mississippi State golfer Griffin Agent of Madison is playing in his first Invitational as is Oxford’s CJ Easley, a 2019 Auburn commit.
“I got offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, a lot of SEC schools. Auburn’s facilities were second to none,” Easley said. “The campus was fantastic and really just the family atmosphere is what I liked. It was the best.”
Others to watch include Scott Rhodes of Jackson, Edward Wall of Brandon, Casey Ham of Natchez Stephen Yelverton of Magee, Delta State golfer John Crawford Counts of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, ex-Delta State golfer Trent Adams and former USM player Justin Elliott of Hattiesburg and Steve Wilson of Ocean Springs, past winner of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
