Published: June 18, 2009 01:51 am      

Balanced field set for Green Hills Open

EVERSON — One of the great things about the annual Green Hills-Homer Delovich Memorial Golf Tournament is a number of golfers have an opportunity to walk away victorious in the long-running event held every June at the Green Hills Country Club.

The last four years there’s been four different winners and there’s a good chance there will be a fifth new winner this weekend when the annual two-day, 36-hole tournament gets under way Saturday on the par-70 course.

As of Wednesday evening last year’s winner, Steve VanHorn of Morgantown, had not registered for this year’s event. Currently, 134 golfers are registered for the tournament and just 10 open spots remain. The cost is $50 for members of Green Hills and $80 for others. To register for the event contact the Green Hills pro shop at (304) 287-7439.

VanHorn fired a two-day, three-under-par 137 to win last year’s tourney by three shots over runner-up Matt Pellillo, who recently completed his eligibility at Potomac State Junior College and signed to finish his college career at Fairmont State University.

Pellillo is back this year and is one of the favorites in the event along with former FSU golfer Jon Burnside, who placed third last year, 2005 champion Bill Capelety, who placed fourth last year and George White, who tied for fifth in 2008.

Others expected to be in the mix for the overall title include Green Hills club pro Mark Welton, Nick Colantino, Tyler Franklin, C.J. Pagliaro, Dewey Delovich, Ed Koski and Anthony Burnside.

“We have a lot of great golfers who take part in this event year after year,” said tournament chairman Brad Morris. “We have a lot of guys who live in the area who play in it every year and guys who have moved away and come back every year to play in it.

“I’ve been a member here 10 years now and one of the things which has always impressed me about this event is the folklore and verbal history of it. That dates back to when the golf course first opened and when the tournament was first started. The founding members know the members who came after them and there’s kind of a lineage there which is neat. We have a lot of people who have played in this event for so many years and we have guys from around the area who come back to play in it every year. It’s kind of like a reunion for a lot of guys. We think it’s a very good tournament.”

The tournament will be flighted after Saturday’s opening round which gives golfers of any skill level a chance to be victorious in their respective flights.

“We want to offer competition to everybody,” said Morris. “It may not be competition to win the event itself, but there’s a lot of good competition within the flights. There’s guys who have 15 handicaps who battle it out within flights year in and year out. There’s always that element of competition in this tournament and that element of trying to beat the next guy which certainly for any golfer adds spice to the game.”

Once again the course itself is in good shape for the event. Temperatures both days are expected to be in the high 70s with a slight chance of rain.

“We really feel like the course is in great shape which is a credit to our grounds crew and we’re looking forward to a very competitive and fun tournament once again,” said Morris.