By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The Crowder/Dorsett Memorial 4-Ball Labor Day Golf Tournament has roots that go back to 1952 and still hasn’t lost a step.

Stroke-play qualifying began on Friday and concludes with playoffs (if needed, and they probably will be) on Sunday afternoon.

Open Flights swing from the black tees; Seniors from the white tees, and Super Seniors from the gold markers.

Ties for seeding are broken by the order in which the scores are posted on the scoreboard, but ties to make the Championship Flights or to make the field will be settled the old-fashioned way — by sudden-death playoff.

The numbers for the event are still eye-catching. There are 170 teams, that’s 340 golfers, taking part in the event at the Country Club of Salisbury.

There’s only room for 120 teams in Match Play, so 1oo golfers (50 teams) will become spectators by Sunday evening.

As always, there will be 16 teams in the Championship Flight. Defending champions Josh Brincefield and Charlie Barr will be joined by the low 15 qualifiers in the Open Division.

Another 64 Open Division teams will qualify for one of the eight flights consisting of eight teams each.

That adds up to 80 spots in the Open Division, with 114 teams competing for those spots. So 34 disappointed teams won’t make the cut.

There are also Senior and Super Senior divisions.

In the Senior Division, there are 29 teams looking to qualify for the eight-man Senior Championship Flight or the two Senior Open Flights.

That’s 24 available spots, so five teams won’t qualify. The reigning champions are not defending their title.

The Super Senior Division will have a Championship Flight and one Open Flight. The defending champions and the low seven qualifiers will make up the Championship Flight. The next eight will make the Super Senior Open Flight. Eleven teams will not make it to Match Play.

Chad Campbell, Country Club pro, orchestrates the event.

Sponsors for the event are Wallace Realty, Blandy Hardwoods, Cheerwine, C3 Custom Golf, Penrod Medical, New Sarum and Global Contact Services.

Spectators are allowed. Spectator carts at $30 per cart will be available only after all players that day have started their round.

The Labor Day attracts a tremendous number of men who have been standouts not only in golf, but in a wide range of other sports

Just to mention a few of the notable entries:

• Brothers Frank Adams and Russ Adams lead the list of qualifiers alphabetically — and have to be among the most accomplished athletically. Frank once played in the U.S. Open, while Russ played shortstop for years in MLB. Their qualifying round was on Friday.

• Former Salisbury High football and swim coach Gus Andrews, who played football at N.C. State, is playing with Jim Goodman. They played their qualifying round on Saturday.

• Gaines Beard and Andre Springs make an intriguing Super Senior pairing. Beard was a Labor Day champion in 1978, while Springs was a champ in 1987. Springs and partner Larry Frost were the first Black team to win the Labor Day tournament. Springs is Livingstone College’s golf coach. Their qualifying round was Saturday.

• Shane Benfield, who recently won the Rowan Amateur at Corbin Hills, is teamed with Landon Merrell, an East Rowan student who is one of the area’s top young golfers and was high school county co-champion. Their qualifying round was on Friday.

• Salisbury High football players Bo Brincefield and Hank Webb had an early Saturday morning tee time, following a Friday night road trip to Walkertown. They couldn’t have gotten much sleep.

• Salisbury swim coach Ryan Starrett teamed with former Salisbury baseball star Alex Britt. They’ll try to qualify on Sunday.

• The team of Stephen Bullock and Brian Chapman won the Labor Day championship in 1997. They’re back. They have a Sunday tee time.

• Robert Shoaf, a perennial Senior club champ at Warrior, is teamed with former South wrestling coach Jim Christy in the Super Senior Division. Their qualifying time was on Friday.

• The Andrews, Andrew Coward and Andrew Jackson, both former South Rowan golfers, had a Saturday qualifying time.

• Recent Carson grad Cade Cranfield, who made a hole-in-one very recently, is teamed with Tanner Frye. They had a Friday qualifying time.

• Six-time Labor Day champ Mallory McDaniel is teamed with John DeRhodes in the Super Senior Division. They had a Friday qualifying time.

• Keith Dorsett, still one of the biggest names in Rowan golf and a 2004 Labor Day champ, is teamed with Jacob Smith. Dorsett is the grandson of golf legend A.D. Dorsett, a winner in the first Labor Day tourney in 1952, and one of the men for whom the tournament is now named. Their qualifying time was on Friday.

• Former Salisbury High golf stars Eric Edwards and Alex Nianouris are a team and will look to qualify on Sunday.

• Former East Rowan baseball players Ashton Fleming and Chase Hathcock are an interesting duo. They’ll try to qualify on Sunday.

• Former East golf stars Karl Mitchell and Patrick Gregg will bring back some memories and will seek to qualify on Sunday.

• Davie golf legends Uly Grisette and Jeff Lankford have teamed up and had a Friday qualifying time.

• John Henderlite and John Kyger are Labor Day legends. They are a Super Senior team that had a Saturday morning tee time.

• That’s John Hlavacek, not John Havlicek. Hlavacek and partner Brad Penley were on the course on Saturday.

• The father-son entry of Jeff and Maddux Holshouser pitched and won quite a few baseball games in their day. They had a Friday tee time.

•  Chace Jensen and Ryan Szalay are the team that is the toughest to spell accurately. They teed off on Friday.

• Derek Lipe and William Little, champs in 2020, are reunited and figure to be a formidable team. They had a Saturday tee time.

• Chris McCoy and John McCoy are another father-son duo. Chris was a Labor Day champ in 1994 and 1999. John is a young Salisbury High player who was Rowan County Player of the Year as a freshman and high school county co-champion. The McCoys had a Friday qualifying time.

• Grey Medinger, one of the first football greats at North Rowan, is teamed with Russ Priddy in the Super Senior Division. They’ll look to qualify on Sunday.

• Ken Clarke, a 2012 Labor Day champ, is teamed with Carl Moore Jr. Their qualifying time was on Saturday.

• Little League softball coaches Steve Yang and Brett Mulkey had a Friday qualifying time. Yang has coached Rowan Little League to two World championships. Mulkey’s team of 10-year-olds won North Carolina and Southeast titles this summer.

• Eric Mulkey, 2004 Labor Day champ, is teamed with Tyler Mulkey. The brothers had a Saturday qualifying time.

• Curtis Kyles, 2010 Labor Day champion, is teamed with Robert Newkirk in the Senior Division. They had a Saturday qualifying time.

• Chris Owen, who teamed with Clarke to win the Labor Day championship in 2012, is playing with  his son McGwire Owen, a recent star at West Rowan. They had a Friday qualifying time.

• Dick Rendleman is competing in the Super Senior Division with Bill Troxler. Rendleman brings a magical family name to the Labor Day tournament Richard Rendleman won six Labor Day titles. They had a Saturday qualifying time.

• Michael Swaringen, who had a breakthrough win at this year’s Rowan Masters at Warrior, is teamed with his brother, Mitchell. The Swaringens will look to qualify on Sunday.

• Blake Wray, a back-to-back Labor Day champ with Lee Frick in 2017 and 2018, is teamed with Andrew Morgan, a Rowan County Athlete of the Year in his days at South Rowan where he played just about everything except golf. They had a Saturday tee time.

• Keyon West, who used to catch passes for the Catawba Indians, is teamed with Clayton Swaim. They were on the course Saturday.