By Stan Olenik, Editor-Publisher, The Golf Cub

When the pros and ams step up to the tee to start this year’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by Synnex the field will include a pair of Boiling Springs Bulldog golfers.

Trent Phillips and Andrew Gregory are both grads of the Spartanburg County High School and both have left their mark on High School and Junior golf in South Carolina.

Phillips competes this week as the 32nd ranked Korn-Ferry Tour pro while Gregory will be in the field as an amateur as he prepares for his first year of college golf at Liberty University next fall.

Anyone who follows golf in South Carolina knows all about Phillips. A three time Jay Haas South Carolina Junior Golf Association Player of the Year, who arguably may be the best junior golfer to come from the Palmetto State.

As a Bulldog High school golfer Phillips won three individual state championships and helped Boiling Springs win four state championships.

Gregory put together a “Phillips’ type year last year to win the 2022 Jay Haas Junior of the Year Award.

His season included a win in The Blade Junior held on the same Thornblade Club course he is playing this week, last July.

In an arrangement with the South Carolina Junior Golf Foundation the state’s top junior will be in the field, playing as an amateur, for this weeks Korn-Ferry Tour stop.

“I’m probably going to be a little nervous on the first tee,” said Gregory. “I’m here to learn, soak it all up and have some fun,” he said.

Phillips, who is a Thornblade Club member, played a practice round with his fellow Bulldog alum to get ready for the tournament.

It wasn’t the first time the two, separated by 5 years, have played together. Besides being Boiling Springs grads they live in the same neighborhood.

Gregory got to see first hand how a pro prepares for a tournament and he got a couple of tips that may help him survive the amateur cut after 36 holes.

“It would really be great to be able to play on Saturday, (final round for celebrities and amateurs) it would be a great week if I could do that,” Gregory said.

Phillips knows the obvious when it comes to the correct fomula to success in a Korn-Ferry Tour event.

“Make more birdies,” he said, which may sound a little too obvious, but when you look back at the winning scores at the BMW you can see to why a golfer needs a lot of birdies.

Phillips racked up his share of birdies last week rolling in four straight on the back nine at the UNC Healthcare Championship.

His birdie string earned him the clubhouse lead and chance for his first Korn-Ferry win in a playoff. Phillips finished second and brings a lot of positives with him to play his home course this week.

“I think if you take care of the par-3s you can do well. The par-5s are all getable. You can hit some short irons into them, bit if you take care of the par-3s you can have a pretty good week,” said Phillips.

The three-time All-American at Georgia hopes to build on his strong finiish in Raleigh this week while his young neighbor is hoping to get something different from his play.

“It has been pretty cool learning from a pro. I’m just trying to take in as much as I can and take a lot of it from this week,” said Gregory.

Pro and Amateur Pairings for Thursday and Friday

The field for the BMW is split in half for the first two rounds.

A part of the field will play at Thornblde Club and at the Carolina Country Club on Thursday and Friday.

A cut is made for the pros to play the final two rounds at Thornblade.

The amateurs who make the cut will play their final round on Saturday at Thornblade.

The pairings can be downloaded.