By Brian Anderson

The Troy Country Club will host its annual Men’s Club Championship Tournament this weekend. Fifty members from the club will compete to crown a new club champion.

“It is a big deal around here to be club champion,” club pro Tony Mitchell said. He said the tournament has been going on since about the inception of the club in 1948. The club originally started on Butter and Egg Road.

The 36-hole tournament will feature one 18-hole round each day. Mitchell feels the favorites to win the tournament are Joey Holley and Chase Rodgers, who have the lowest course handicaps entering Saturday. Outside of Holley and Rodgers, Mitchell feels Wendell Stephens and Alton Starling will be tough.

The tournament will be broken down into flights based on handicaps. There will be an overall champion as well as flight winners. Also, a senior champion will be crowned.

Six-time Club Championship winner and favorite Joey Holley said he would give it his best shot and hopes he wins his seventh championship. H

olley, brother of Senator Jimmy Holley, has been playing in the tournament for 15 years and has enjoyed it ever since he moved from his hometown Elba.

“If I play up to my capabilities then I should be able to hold my own,” he said.

The tournament will tee off Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. and Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at the Troy Country Club off Elba Hwy.