History
Fifty years of championship amateur golf under the oaks at Snee Farm.
A Handshake at the Porter Cup
In 1973, Dick Horne traveled north to play his first Porter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club. He came home with something better than a scorecard.
Over the course of that week Horne struck up a friendship with the cup’s chairman, Dick Harvey, who put an idea to him: the South needed a tournament like this one, and Horne was the man to build it. Harvey and his fellow Porter Cup officials handed over everything a first-timer would need to get started, mailing list included.
Horne did the rest on foot, walking downtown Charleston and pressing flyers into the hands of anyone who wanted to play golf.
“It’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done.”
Dick Horne, Founder
That same year, Horne, tournament chairman Ernie Chandler, and a small group of supporters staged the first Rice Planters Invitational at Snee Farm Country Club in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.
Fifty-One Players
The inaugural field was mostly Snee Farm members and local enthusiasts, but the three men atop the final board had all driven in from somewhere else. Dave Canipe, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Georgia, won at 8-over 296. Bill Harvey, a 42-year-old veteran out of North Carolina and no relation to Dick, finished second at 12-over 300. Bill Lewis of Florence took third, edging the host himself by the narrowest of margins.
Neither Man Wanted It
One hundred players entered the second Rice Planters, the field still carrying a heavy local accent. It came down to Bill Harvey and Dick Horne in sudden death, two friends who had no interest in beating each other. What followed was a small masterpiece of southern manners.
“I don’t want it, you take it.”
Andy Bean Says Yes, With Conditions
By the third year the tournament had changed shape. Amateur status became the point, and better players started paying attention. Andy Bean, an All-America on Florida’s powerhouse team, agreed to come if three things could be arranged: a place to stay, a car, and a spot in the field for a fellow Floridian. Horne, who never met a piece of southern hospitality he wouldn’t extend to a good player, said yes to all three. Bean shot 70 the first time he saw the course and left with the 1975 championship.
In Memoriam, Dick “R.P.” Horne, tournament founder, passed away in November 2024. The championship trophy carries his name.
Photo Credit BobbyCVision
More than fifty years on, an illustrious group of golfers has made the Rice Planters part of their rite of passage. The names below bear it out.
Tournament Record (54 holes)
201 (-15)
2025 · Charles Warren (Wofford, Huntsville, AL)
Tournament Record (72 holes)
268 (-20)
2012 · Thomas Bradshaw (Columbia, SC)
Course Record
62 (-10)
2010 · Pete Kellerman (Jacksonville, FL)
| Year | Champion | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Gavin Clutts University of Kentucky | 11-under Beat Jackson Funkhouser by 1 |
| 2025 | Charles Warren Wofford | 15-under Wire-to-wire · tournament record |
| 2024 | Nick Rubino Hampden-Sydney College | 9-under Birdied 18 to win by 1 |
| 2023 | Garrett Cooper Coastal Carolina | 206 |
| 2022 | Aidan Kramer Georgia Tech | 205 Won in sudden death · 50th anniversary |
| 2021 | Drew Hackett | 204 |
| 2020 | Canon Claycomb | 204 |
| 2019 | Austin Fulton | 276 |
| 2018 | Jonathan Brightwell | 275 |
| 2017 | Myles Creighton | 213 |
Rice Planters alumni have gone on to win golf's biggest championships.
