This year, the annual net championship is offering a gross flight option for the event’s top players and the tournament hopes it helps draw an entirely new demographic of players to the August 25-29 event featuring four rounds at different Myrtle Beach-area courses and a host of other features.

"The World Am exists as a way to promote the Myrtle Beach area and our great golf courses," said Tournament Director Jeff Monday. "The tournament has and always will be a handicap event; however we know that there are a large number of low handicap amateurs that would really enjoy the week of fun and great golf without playing a format in which others are getting strokes on them."

Indeed, that's the market the World Amateur is trying to reach -- and with good reason. Myrtle Beach and the World Am host some amazing golf experiences and the event is well run with a long history of delivering a great experience to its loyal players.

The event will still be known as the World Amateur Handicap Championship with upwards of 70 flights in five divisions playing according to handicaps. But this year, golfers wishing to enjoy the tournament while playing scratch have the option.

"We want to offer this one-of-a-kind tournament experience with unmatched value to those individuals that generally compete at a scratch level, so they too can experience 72 holes of great golf and the World’s Largest 19th Hole," Monday said.

Last year, AmateurGolf.com provided prize packages for low gross players in each division. Those five players were then advanced into the World Am’s championship round at The Barefoot Resort’s Dye Course.

The World Amateur will again partner with AmateurGolf.com to build interest in the event’s scratch competition.

"We don’t have substantial access to the segment of amateur golfers that we need to reach for the gross flight to be successful," Monday said. "That is why partnering with amateurgolf.com is such a vital element to the development, and eventual success, of the gross division.

"Amateurgolf.com will be able to fill that gap and promote the tournament to those individuals in a more effective way. We truly believe that the World Am is the best value in tournament golf, and that it provides an experience that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world and we’re excited to offer the option to compete in a gross format."

AmateurGolf.com will again be sponsoring prizes for low gross competitors with the top three finishers in the new gross division receiving prize packages, including AmateurGolf.com memberships.

Registration for the 2014 World Amateur Handicap Championship opens March 25 and AmateurGolf.com members can save $25 off the event’s early-registration price of $475.