2014 Year in Review: Big Break Comes to Myrtle Beach

The most significant story to hit Myrtle Beach this year involved the game’s most popular reality show.

Big Break, Golf Channel’s longest running and most popular original series, made its long-awaited appearance in Myrtle Beach in 2014. The show, which featured 12 aspiring young professionals – six men and six women – competing for their Big Break, drew outstanding ratings and produced its share of drama.

The 11-episode series played out on the Dye, Fazio and Love courses at Barefoot Resort and Pawleys Plantation. Jimmy Brandt, who survived five elimination challenges to claim the mantle of Big Break Myrtle Beach champion, won $75,000 and a host of prizes, including an exemption into the PGA Tour’s 2015 Valspar Championship.

While the series winner is always the story, much of the narrative surrounding the show was driven by the, shall we say, brash Anthony Quezada, who wasn’t shy about telling the cameras how much better he than his fellow players, and Charlie Harrison, who won super immunity in the opening episode. Harrison, who for much of the season appeared to be the best male player on the show, never used the immunity, opting to try and earn his way into the semifinals and cash it in for $10,000.

The decision was a mistake, but it was also the type of thing that has made the show compelling viewing.

The series brought national exposure to Grand Strand and will continue to as Big Break Myrtle Beach reruns flood the Golf Channel airwaves throughout the holiday season.