The stroke-play tournament field includes the men’s scratch club champions from all of the regulation 18- and nine-hole courses in The Post-Journal circulation area, and is now named in honor of late sports editor Jim Riggs.

Play is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., with five threesomes teeing off in 10-minute intervals.

The first group of the day will include Craig Martin of Chautauqua Point Golf Course, Troy Beightol of Breezewood Links and Steve Anderson of South Hills Country Club.

In the second flight will be Rob Ritchie of Jackson Valley Golf Club, Dan Smith of Elkdale Country Club and Chad Swan of Maplehurst Country Club; while Adam Mason of Moonbrook Country Club, Scott Crist of Bemus Point Golf Club and Kevin Kaszuba of Shorewood Country Club will be in the third flight.

Nolan Ditcher will look to defend his Jim Riggs Memorial Champions title on Sunday at Cable Hollow Golf Course. P-J file photo by Scott Kindberg

Nate Sandberg of Conewango Valley Country Club, John Wortman of Blueberry Hill Golf Club and Brenton Wilcox of Cassadaga Valley Country Club will be in the fourth flight.

Defending champion Nolan Ditcher, representing both Cardinal Hills Golf Course and Chautauqua Golf Club, Nolan Swanson of Pinehurst Golf Club and Ryan Lemon of Cable Hollow will tee off in the final threesome of the morning.

Ditcher will look to defend his title after carding a 3-under-par 68 at Jackson Valley one year ago to finish with a 1-shot lead over Blueberry Hill’s Joe Nelson.

“We’re all playing for the championship, but at the same time we’re all rooting for each other to go out and play well,” Cable Hollow champion Ryan Lemon said. “We’re not just playing a Thursday morning average round of golf with the boys. It is a competition where you get the trophy and the bragging rights. When you have to make sure that every putt goes to the bottom of the hole and every stroke counts, it is a different animal. There is nothing better than competitive golf.”

Golfers can expect a similar style of play to last year’s Champions at Jackson Valley, which lies on the same undulating terrain as Cable Hollow. The par-73 layout comes in at 6,848 yards from the blue tees, with plenty of elevation changes along the way.

“It is very similar (to Jackson Valley),” Lemon said. “Very hilly, rolling with ups and downs, elevated tee shots, uphill approach shots.”

Cable Hollow offers two par 5s on the front and two on the back, with No. 9 stretching 555 yards while No. 18 comes in at 545. With wet weather a possibility through the weekend, Lemon expects those already long holes to play longer than usual.

“The par 5s for some of the guys are all getable. Probably with the forecast it will be wet, so the course will play longer and the par 5s will be longer,” he said. “There will probably be only two or three guys in the field who can get to all of the par 5s. Nos. 18 and 9 are two monsters.”

Golfers on the 18th will have to contend with out of bounds on the left and trees to the right off the tee, as they look to finish off what many call “the gauntlet.”

Down the stretch Cable Hollow offers the 410-yard par-4 16th, which now begins with a tee box that has been moved back into a chute of trees. The 17th is a 205-yard par-3 with sand to the left and right, demanding an accurate long iron shot before the long trek down 18.

The fifth also offers a 205-yard par 3 with a teebox that has been moved back.

“You’ve basically got birdie holes 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 can be a birdie hole,” Lemon said. “You have to do all of your damage on the back. If you can get through the front 9 even par, you’ve got five holes in a row that are your scoring holes.

“It’s a grind the last three holes.”