Ladies city golf tourney tees off Saturday

COLUMBUS - Numbers for the 2007 Columbus Ladies City Golf Championship is back, bigger and better than ever.

Last year, the two-day tournament had only 12 participants and it was canceled two years ago because of low numbers. This year, 18 participants are registered as of Thursday afternoon. Tournament Director Mike VunCannon said he was glad to see the increase.

“It's good for the ladies,” VunCannon said. “What you are seeing is a lot more participation across the board in town. Women golfers make up a significant part of the playing public, so it is very encouraging.”

Tee times for the championship start at 1 p.m. Saturday at Elks Country Club with the competition finishing at Quail Run Golf Course Sunday. The event will have three other divisions in addition to the Championship flight: Class A flight, Senior and Net divisions.

Jenny Andrew won the city women's championship last year. The Columbus High graduate fired a two-day total of 161 to win by seven shots over Dee Mayben.

VunCannon said he expects Andrew, who is a sophomore at Hastings College, to be the front runner to win the tournament but also feels Mayben and Sara Thurley could give Andrew a run for her money.

“No doubt about it, Jenny is the favorite,” VunCannon said. “But there are other good players here that could win it also.”

To top it off, VunCannon said, the two golf courses have done a great job of hosting the city championships every year.

“The people in Columbus are pretty lucky to have two golf courses hosting this kind of tournament,” VunCannon said. “We have two great 18-hole golf courses. Columbus gets overlooked a lot because of Lincoln and Omaha. We host a lot of great tournaments that brings in people from the country. Both of the courses are unique in their way and offer challenging holes.”

SATURDAY'S TEE TIMES

At Elks Country Club

n 1 p.m.-Sara Thurley, Deann Kubr, Jenny Andrew

n 1:10 p.m.-Traci Ryba-Grant, Virginia Pocwierz, Jaci Vancura

n 1:20 p.m.-Danika Rowe, Merin Koch, Dee Mayben.

n 1:30 p.m.-Jenny Wild, Dianne Oppliger, Rhonda Wentgen.

n 1:40 p.m.-Rhonda Robinson, Luann Warth, Lori Ziemba.

n 1:50 p.m.-Nancy Blackburn, Chris Wagner, Wanda Borowiak.

NOTE: The second and final round of the tournament is scheduled for Sunday at Quail Run Golf Course.