The University of South Carolina Sumter’s brand new golf program received a new member Sept. 6. Its inaugural year will see several talented golfers from around the state competing in tournaments around the southeast. One of these talented golfers is Laurence Manning Academy’s Grant Kinlaw.Kinlaw has already been making waves on the Laurence Manning golf team. His senior year, he received the most improved award for his team, as well as the Keith Wallace award for best all around at LMA.LMA golf coach Bon Gardner has been at LMA for 5 years, and Kinlaw has been with him the entire time.“I’ve coached Grant for the past 5 years,” said Gardner. “He’s a great kid, he’s very coachable. He’s really matured in his game playing. Now that he’s graduated he’s really started to get everything figured out.”Gardner is extremely proud of Kinlaw for all his achievements, however his departure from LMA is still slightly bittersweet.“He was definitely a leader in our team,” said Gardner. “He was one of the ones who kept the team together. He didn’t let outside adversity affect him. He was a leader and a stellar athlete, and I’m going to miss that.”Kinlaw has been playing golf for quite some time now, and has loved it since he picked up his first club. He spoke about how much he loved the versatility of the sport.“I've been playing golf for 7 years, and I believe its the only thing where young kids and adults can come out and enjoy the same sport together,” he said. “You can also come out with a crowd or just yourself, there’s something here for everyone.”In 2018, he received the SCISA All-Region award in golf, and after that USC began its search. Kinlaw was approached on Aug 19 of this year with an opportunity to be apart of USC Sumter’s inaugural golf team, which he accepted enthusiastically.“I kind of thought my competitive golfing days were over, so it made me extremely happy to be asked to join this team and continue my career in this sport,” said Kinlaw.He is very optimistic and ready to bring his all to the table.“The most important thing I can bring into this experience is a positive attitude about everything,” he said. Paul Harrington has a big task leading as the first coach of USC Sumter’s inaugural golf team. However, he has a very clear idea of how he wants to mold these young athletes.“I have three goals when it comes to coaching these students; goal one is to make them the best people they can be,” he said. “Goal two is to make them the best student they can be, and Goal 3 is to make them the best athlete they can be. And it has to be in that order. To be a good athlete, you have to be a good student, and more importantly a good person.” Harrington was humbled to be asked on as the coach.“I have been working in the golf industry for about 25 years and I’ve worked teaching kids before, but I didn’t think they would want somebody of my age to coach these kids,” he said. “But then they said they needed someone with experience and I guess I have that.”Harrington extended this opportunity to other graduating golfers, “We’re always looking for impressive young athletes to join our ranks,” he said. “We really want to make this program the best it can possibly be.”The USC Sumter golf team will compete in a practice match at Elkin, North Carolina in October, and the season will start in March 2020.
