Wayne County Men's Amateur tees off today

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on July 9, 2010 1:46 PM

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The best golfers in Wayne County will tee it up today for the annual Wayne County Men's Amateur at Goldsboro Municipal golf course.

The three-day long event will feature a second round at Walnut Creek Country Club on Saturday and a final round at Southern Wayne Country Club on Sunday.

Andy's is the primary sponsor of the tournament which is shaping up to be another classic.

All three of the defending champions are back.

Jonathan Burke returns to defend his open division title from 2009. Burke overcame late charges from Scott Woodard and Ryan Campbell last year during the final round to capture his third WCMA championship.

"The field this year is set to make this the best amateur yet," tournament organizer Parker King said. "We have a full field and there are a lot of guys that can go out and fire a low round on the first day and get themselves into contention."

Hot and dry conditions are expected to greet the competitors, which will make the greens firmer and faster than usual. The added emphasis on putting will add pressure to each birdie opportunity.

The 2009 senior division champion, Perry Balltzglier will try to recapture the magic of last season's final round which was also at Southern Wayne. Balltzglier won a sudden death playoff over Mario Contreras.

Howard Tyndall, the defending super senior division champion, will face a familiar set of challengers led by Chuck Kimble and John Newsome. Tyndall led wire-to-wire in 2009 and bested Kimble by three strokes.

"It's going to be a good one and Sunday is going to be fun to watch," said King. "(Tournament committee member) Jody Dean has done a great job of recruiting some very good players and really helped fill the field with 144 guys."

The Wayne County Men's Amateur is in it's 12th year. The tournament scoring record is shared by Burke and Dean, who each carded a three-day total of 207 (-7).