Hardaway Invitational returning to roots as elite high school golf tournament

The long list of winning teams and invididuals over the course of the 40 years of the Hardaway Invitational golf tournament is an impressive one. There’s older mainstays like Hardaway and Glynn Academy, newer ones like Harrison and Columbus.

At least six winners have gone on to play on the PGA Tour, and that doesn’t include household name Davis Love III, whose 1982 Glynn Academy team won the tournament but he never finished as medalist.

For years, the Hardaway Invitational was considered one of the premier high school golf tournaments in the southeast, regularly accommodating up to 50 teams. And while the event has dropped off in popularity in recent years, coaches and organizers believe it is on its way back to prominence.

“It’s going to get back to that level where there are 50 teams and if you’re not in, you’re going to have to be on a wait list,” Columbus coach Chris Parker said.

This year’s tournament, which will tee off on Friday at Bull Creek Golf Course, has 23 teams participating. It is the same number as a year ago, but the quality of golf is once again improved. Etowah, last year’s champion, returns to defend its title, along with Columbus which won back-to-back championships in 2013-14.

Talented teams from outside the area like Harrison, Auburn (Ala.), Athens Academy, Woodward Academy and even Boil Springs, out of South Carolina. Two teams, in fact, will come from the Palmetto State, the other being Byrnes High (Duncan, S.C.). That makes three out-of-state teams and Hardaway golf coach Stephen Campbell, in his first year coaching and organzing the tournament, wants to see that number rise in the future.

“What we’re trying to do is to reach into all different states,” he said. “We’re sending out all sorts of invites to top teams in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. We’re trying to improve the quality of the tournament, not just locally but outside as well.”

That also meant going back to the tournament’s roots, he said.

“One thing I tried to do this year is I wanted to go back through the history of the tournament and see some of the teams that were traditionally winning or contending, and I wanted them to be included,” he said.

The result, he said, is still a relatively smaller group, compared to the tournament’s history, but one full of talent.

Teams like Etowah and Columbus will enter the tournament as the favorites, along with high finishers from a year ago like Woodward Academy, Northside and Brookstone. Both Harrison and Auburn have shot well in some tournaments this year, and Boiling Springs shot 310-303 under difficult conditions in the Georgia-South Carolina Cup.

Whoever wins, as a team or individually, will only add to the deep history that already exists in this tournament.

“This tournament is just a gem for this city and a huge revenue boost as far as the number of quality teams we have coming in,” Parker said. “It had a few down years, but I think it’s trending in a really positive direction.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Hardaway Invitational returning to roots as elite high school golf tournament."