21st annual Brett Ringer Memorial golf tournament in Rock Hill has best year ever

The 21st annual Brett Ringer Memorial Golf Tournament, which was played on June 16, experienced its best year ever in terms of player participation, sponsorship participation and money raised for scholarships for area students — as well as others who receive financial aid from the annual event.

Former Rock Hill Bearcats head football coach Jim Ringer, who established the tournament in 2002 to honor his son, was more than pleased with the results of this year’s event.

“This community has been very good to the tournament over the years,” Ringer told The Herald. “This year was outstanding. I am very grateful for everyone who participated, sponsored and volunteered to make this the best we have ever had.”

Ringer started the event to give back to the community, which was so supportive of his family during the time after Brett was killed in a fireworks warehouse explosion in 2001.

“I wanted to do two things when I started the tournament,” he said. “I wanted to honor my son the best way I knew how, and I wanted to provide scholarships for students in the area.”

This year’s tournament raised more than $18,000 to provide those scholarships. A total of 20 scholarships were awarded in the amount of $500 each. Half of the total scholarships were awarded to students at Rock Hill High School, Northwestern High School, South Pointe High and Lancaster High School.

The area students who were awarded scholarships this year were Kelly Gallegos, Alexander Lopez, Gavin Orme, Kayla Patterson, Lee Ann Miller, Brenda Ramirez-Perez, Torie Starnes, Jaden Stover, Makenzie Swann and Alexis Whittington.

Seven scholarships were given to the South Carolina Coaches Association. The final three were awarded to the Clemson University Athletic Department for distribution to deserving students in the support staff, which Brett was a part of while working on his master’s degree.

The event was played this year at Waterford Golf Club in Rock Hill, and everyone was most pleased with everything about the tournament and the facility, Ringer said.

“All of the players talked about the great condition of the golf course, the new additions to the clubhouse, and the professionalism of the staff,” said Ringer. “We are already committed to playing there for next year’s tournament on June 15.”

The sponsors also helped to make this year’s event the best ever. Ringer said he appreciated all of the participating sponsors because it gave the event a “big financial boost.” He was especially glad to see an original major sponsor return to this year’s tournament: Founders Federal.

“Bruce Brumfield, who is the CEO at Founders Federal, got his company involved again this year,” said Ringer. “They were one of the original major sponsors from the first event, and it was good to have them back.”

The other factor attributing to this year’s tournament being so successful was the volunteers who helped out.

“It is amazing what all of the volunteers do every year to make this a great event for everyone,” said Ringer. “They help out in every area of the tournament. I can not thank them enough for the work and devotion to our tournament. Also, the work done by the committee in gathering nominations for the scholarships and awarding them takes a lot of time and effort.”

Ringer noted that after the first tournament in 2002, they were able to provide only eight scholarships of $500 each. This year they provided 20 scholarships at $500 each. That has been the case for the past several years.

The 2023 tournament could see even more in the scholarship area.

“I am hoping we can make some increases next year,” he said. “Hopefully, we can give more scholarships next year and increase their value to $600 each. That would be great if we could do that.”