The field is strong, the courses are in great shape, the volunteers are in position, the shuttle buses are gassed up and the parking lot attendants are friendly but firm.

Everything is set for the Korn-Ferry professionals, the celebrities and the amateurs to begin play in the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD Synnex on Thursday morning.

Eight pros have 6:45 tee times between the front and back nines at Thornblade Club and the Carolina Country Club.

One time Clemson golfer Sam Saunders could be first off the tee starting his tournament play on number 10 at Thornblade.

Unlike the pros, most of the celebrities don’t have to start with the dew sweepers at the break of dawn.

Major League Baseball’s Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith gets one of the earliest celebrity tee times starting on number 1 at Thornblade at 7:18.

The pairing of the top-2 PGA Tour University graduates #1 Piersceson Coody from Texas and hometown favorite #2 ranked Jacob Bridgeman from Clemson and Inman, SC looked to be one of the best in the first round.

The BMW always produces a lot of deep red numbers and this year probably will not be the exception for a couple of reasons.

First, the courses are in great condition and second, keep in mind all the amateurs are just amateurs and if the course set up is too hard, they might run out of daylight before they finish.

The four-somes will stay the same for the first two days except the groups will swap courses and the time of day they start.

The Korn-Ferry Tour’s website does a nice job of keeping up with live scoring and publishes some online features that help add some color to the event. https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour.html

And remember while you are having fun either playing, volunteering or just watching with one of those fancy aluminum beer cans in your hand, you are helping support several important charities in the Upstate.

Mobil Meals in Spartanburg, the Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville, the Cancer Center of Greenville County, the Meyers Center for Special Children and the Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute in Spartanburg all will benefit from the event.

Additional information about the charities https://www.bmwgroup-werke.com/spartanburg/en/charity-golf/charities.html

Have fun, and remember, to keep your head up or down, your choice, when the celebrities are on the tee.

Here are the tee times for Thursday’s rounds at Thornblade and The Carolina Country Club.