Willow Springs Country Club is the defending champion after a long dry spell.

Wedgewood Public Golf Course is keen to reach Sunday’s final as it would then have home-court advantage.

Wilson Country Club, host of Saturday’s semifinals, is relishing the opportunity to make amends for last summer’s shock – a rare last-place finish. In addition, the weekend will be WCC golf pro Reid Hill’s final appearance with the team. He will retire in a few weeks.

This sets the exciting stage for the 31st Wilson Cup Interclub Golf Tournament. This tournament will be a must for golf fans in the region. The birdies will probably fly – and the emotions!

Obviously, lack of incentive will not be a problem.

“This is the closest thing that Wilson County has to the Ryder Cup in golf,” said Willow Springs senior Brock Godwin, who describes himself as a baseball player (NCAA Division II All-American at Barton College) who plays golf. “This is not a tournament with you and your partner. This is a BIG team event. Every year the Willow guys compete against the best from WCC and Wedgewood. They have great players. The level of play has only gotten better.”

“I’m excited. This is the biggest tournament I look forward to every year.”

Mark Whitley, a regular at Wedgewood, assured: “I’m still looking forward to it. We’re still fired up for the Cup. We qualified early. We have young guys in the Cup now who are ready to play competitive golf. I think that’s good.”

“I’m still excited because it’s match play. I can pretty much guess who I’m going to play against. It’s super fun. I like the format, but I’ve been pushing for a few changes.”

Veteran WCC leader O’Hara mentioned Hill’s final time as a consultant to the team, saying: “It’s Reid’s last game and everyone should want to do their best – and also make up for last year.”

“I like our lineup, but we still have to go out there and get it done. Playing at home on the first day is definitely an advantage. We’ll see what happens. You never know until you tee off.”

Willow Springs defeated Wedgewood in the 2023 championship game to claim its 11th title. WCC, which finished last for only the second time since the field shrunk from four teams to three, remains the leader with 12 top finishes. Wedgewood owns four titles.

The individual pairings were announced during Thursday night’s celebration at Paul’s Restaurant. Play in the WCC begins at 8 a.m. Saturday with two nine-hole sessions. Two additional nine-hole segments begin around 1 p.m. The weekend formats are two-player Bestball, two-player Superball, two-player Alternating Shot and 18 holes of individual head-to-head competition to conclude the grueling 72-hole round at Wedgewood on Sunday afternoon.

Tee times for the two highest scoring teams on Sunday at Wedgewood are 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

WILLOW SPRINGS

Brock Godwin, Will Pope, Brandon Godwin, Chance Cox, Zim Hagan, Justin Hayes, Josh Talton and rookie Matt Sullivan are in the starting lineup and Mike Kennedy, Butch O’Briant, Clayton Pridgen, Ricky Vick, Billy Clark and rookie John Wooten are in the senior league.

Is it time for Brock Godwin to explode with two days of birdie hype? The former club and Wilson County champion assures that he will be happy with his performance as long as the team is successful.

“I’m definitely going to try to do my best,” Goldwin promised. “I’m going to try to go out there and compete. But it’s tough out there; there are good players out there.”

He likes Willow Springs’ lineup and chances.

“We have to play well from the start,” Godwin stressed. “That will take some of the pressure off. We have to keep the pressure on by getting the ball on the fairways and on the greens.”

“Hopefully we’ll play good golf and repeat that. We’ll force everyone to hit their best shot. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Wedgewood

At bat are Mark Whitley, Travis Hux, Jody O’Neal, Joey Lamm, newcomer Joe Dyer, Ryan Pittman, Joel Whitley and John Varnell in the under-50 age group. David Lee moves into the senior category for the first time and will be joined by Mike Caddy, Darryl Webb and Tony Langston.

“David Lee will be a big help, especially on Saturday,” said Whitley. Lee, Whitley and Lamm are all WCC members.

“We have a solid returnee in Travis,” continued Mark Whitley. “He has played a lot of competitive golf this summer. Joel is excited to play. For John, it’s his second time and he knows what to expect.”

O’Neal has performed excellently each of the past two years, leading Wedgewood to the 2022 Cup championship. Ryan Pittman will work hard and loves the Wilson Cup about as much as Willow Springs’ Brock Godwin. Dyer, Mark Whitley said, is playing well.

In addition, Mark Whitley points out that players from all three teams are in for a new Wedgewood experience as four of the greens are being redesigned.

“I have a good feeling about our team,” he said. “We have to hit the fairways at the WCC; the rough is no joke. If we can keep the ball in play and hit the greens, everything will be fine.”

WILSON COUNTRY CLUB

The younger division will feature O’Hara, Scott deKeyser, Matthew Ellis, Kyle Norville, Seth Patton, Coalter Paxton IV, Dwayne Baker and David Hesmer. All have Cup experience and O’Hara and deKeyser played as a team in the annual WCC Two-Ball Championship in early June. They will be paired. Junior sensation Stephen Abrams, the reigning Wilson County king, pulled out at short notice for family reasons.

Wilson County golf legend Bill Boles Jr. leads the senior rankings, which also include MA Tyson, Hewitt Poland, Hearn Walston and Stan Corbett. Wilson Cup founder Kent Williams will miss Saturday’s play because of a family wedding in Asheville, and his status for Sunday is uncertain.

“Our place on the team is not what it was 5-7 years ago,” O’Hara explained. “There’s a lot more going on in life. Guys can’t play as often now. You play when you can and hope you play well when you play.”

He will be happy if his teammates – and himself – play their normal game.

“We have to have players who are defensive and have chances,” O’Hara explained. “When you start to stumble, it gets tough and stressful. We just have to create chances.”

And the winner of the 31st Wilson Cup – WCC in a close game against Wedgewood!