By Dennis Davidson

dennis.davidson@salisburypost.com

Qualifying for the 62nd annual Crowder-Dorsett Memorial 4-Ball Golf Tournament will begin on Friday at the Country Club of Salisbury.

Chad Campbell, head golf professional at the country club, arrived in February and is excited about being involved in his first Labor Day tournament in Salisbury.

“We are very excited about this event, we have a great field and we are ready to get it started,” said Campbell, who came to Salisbury from Dorado Beach Golf Resort in Puerto Rico. “Our chairman, Jake Alexander, has done an outstanding job preparing for the event.”

Campbell, who was at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club for over 20 years prior to Dorado Beach,  added that the country club’s Donald Ross par-71 course is in great shape, despite the dry summer.

“(Head superintendent) Ron Bivens has the golf course in phenomenal shape,” said Campbell. “He has done a fantastic job with the greens and they should be rolling somewhere north of 10 (stemp) this weekend. That’s fortunate because bent grass greens are normally a lot slower this time of year.”

The tournament, a Labor Day tradition, has 136 two-person teams qualifying this weekend, Friday through Sunday. A total of 108 men’s team are qualifying for the championship and open flights. The top 15 teams from this weekend’s qualifying, plus the defending champions Charlie Graeber and Michael Childress, will compete for this year’s title.

The remaining 92 teams will compete for the 80 spots in match play within the 10 flights which follow championship flight.

There are 12 teams qualifying for seven spots in the eight-team Senior Division. The eighth spot is reserved for defending champs Craig Rae and Andre Risner, exempt from qualifying.

Eight teams are qualifying for the Super Senior Division and they are playing for seeding.

The teams in the Women’s Division are also playing for seeding as only six twosomes are attempting to qualify. Defending champions Allison Adams and Grace Yatawara are exempt from qualifying and will be the top seed.