While Mother Nature has slowed down golf courses in recent weeks, the biggest event on the local calendar is hoping the weather cooperates this weekend. The Country Club of Greenfield will host its 76th Invitational Four-Ball Thursday through Sunday, and the field is one of the biggest in championship history.
“There was such a huge response to the event that we had to expand the field,” CCG head professional Kevin Piecuch said. “The expanded field was really additional members that were looking to play, which is great news. And we’re a destination event. A lot of people come up and stay overnight, which is one of the reasons that it’s still kind of going the way that it is.”
Piecuch said 104 teams are in this year’s field, the second-biggest total in the 76 years of the historic event (there were 112 teams in the 1970s). This year’s tourney added eight teams to the mix, and to accommodate the extra golfers, the course will utilize split tees throughout the weekend with teams teeing off No. 1 and No. 10.
“We don’t have golfers do it a ton because the 10th tee doesn’t come back to the clubhouse,” Piecuch said. “But we’re hoping everything runs smoothly. We’ve had guys go off one and 10 on Saturdays for many years, so now we’re just expanding that to the rest of the tournament.”
Defending Championship Flight winners Paul DeNofrio and Matt Grayson are back to try and repeat as champions, and they’re guaranteed the No. 1 seed in the Championship Flight match play bracket regardless of how their qualifying round goes on Thursday. The top 16 teams will earn entry in the single-elimination match play portion of the top flight, while the rest of the 88 duos will filter into the rest of the divisions.
DeNofrio and Grayson tee off No. 1 at 8:04 a.m. Brodie Conant and Max Major were the last winners to repeat (2016, 2017).
“Paul’s been trying for years to win it and he finally broke through last year,” Piecuch said. “Matt’s a really good player so it was good to see those guys finally do it.”
DeNofrio and Grayson outlasted the father-son duo of Dennis and Cody Booska in last year’s final, 2 & 1. The Booskas, who enjoyed success in their first ever Invitational Four-Ball appearance as partners, also tee off at 8:04 with DeNofrio and Grayson on Thursday. Cody, who now lives in Florida, won a title in 2014 with partner KC Finley, while Dennis is a five-time champ (1992, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2012).
As far as recent champions go, 2019 winners Dave Donoghue and Sam Wolanske get their tournament started with qualifying Thursday at 7:40 a.m. The pair won the 1st Division crown a year ago.
Joe Wilson and Chris Ferriter, who won the 2018 title and have been in the mix every year since, are slated to begin action at 8:12 a.m., while Conant is playing this year with his son, Drew, and they’ll tackle the course at 7:24 a.m.
Chris Bourbeau and Garrett Cousineau reached the title match two years ago and should be a pair to watch as well, as are perennial powers Dave Kennedy and Nate Burdick, who have teamed to win this event twice (2013, 2015), and have combined for eight championships between them. Finley and partner Jarrod Goss reached the 1st Division finals last year.
Match play begins Friday while Championship Flight quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Saturday leading up to Sunday’s final. For a full listing of tee times in Thursday’s qualifying round, visit Page B2.