Championship golf returns to the area this week with the three-day Northern Kentucky Amateur. The 85th playing of the annual event tees off Tuesday at Lassing Pointe Golf Course in Union. Tee times on the 6,729-yard, par-71 course begin at 7 a.m., weather permitting.
“They are forecasting around an inch of rain Tuesday, but I’m hoping we dodge that storm like we did the storm forecasted this past Friday,” said Russ Gartner, Director of Golf Operations at Lassing Pointe.
The Union weather forecast calls for cloudy skies, a 66-degree temperature and an 80% chance of precipitation accompanied by lightning for Tuesday’s opening round. Lightning and standing water on the course can cause playing delays. The impending weather comes after a lot of rain in the area over the past several weeks.
“Thankfully, we didn’t get a drop of rain Friday. Our golf course superintendent and his crew have been out there mowing and blowing,” Gartner said of Justin Pack’s grounds crew. “We’ve got four full-time guys and 10-12 other guys working hard getting the course ready for the tournament.”
It’s all-hands-on-deck because the Northern Kentucky Amateur is playing with a full field this year. There are over 90 men and women participating in four divisions: Championship, Senior Men’s, Women’s and Senior Women’s.
Former Notre Dame Academy golfer Natalie Lovell, now at Thomas More University, is back in the field after last year’s fourth-place finish. Photo provided | TMU Athletics
It’s 54-hole, individual stroke-play at 18 holes per day for the Championship Division and Women’s Divisions. It’s 36-hole, individual stroke play over the first two days for the Senior Division. There will be a cut after 36 holes for the Championship Division with the low 30 plus ties advancing. In the event of a tie in a division, there will be a sudden-death playoff to determine a sole division winner. Conditions of the playoff will be announced on site by the GCGA Rules Committee.
Meanwhile, the mowers mow at Lassing Pointe.
“We’ve got greens mowers, fairway mowers, rough mowers, collar mowers, tee box mowers, not to mention all the weed-whackers,” Gartner said. “Then they use giant pull-behind blowers, like a jet engine, to blow all the clippings off the short grass.”
Former Highlands High School and Northern Kentucky University golfer Luke Muller played a practice round at Lassing on Monday. He was impressed with the course’s conditions.
“I’ve played there a fair amount. Considering all the recent weather, it’s in pretty good shape, I think,” Muller said. “It’s not too firm in some places but it’s not too soft. You’re going to have to be careful this week because the rough might be penalizing. It’s really grabbing the ball right now so trying to get out could be tough. The tournament this year will be all about accuracy, or you could be in trouble.”
Before Muller hit the course Monday, GCGA tournament director Jared Riesenberg was marking pin placements, hazards and drop zones at Lassing Pointe at 6:30 a.m. The course opens for golf weekdays at 7:30.
“He creates a pin location sheet so our golf course superintendent knows where to cut the holes,” Gartner said. “There’s also a local rules sheet that explains specialty rulings that are specific to our course. An example of this is that there’s a cemetery adjacent to No. 18 green with a Civil War tombstone. It’s a no-play zone. If the ball is in the cemetery, you have to take a drop.”
Like Gartner, Riesenberg is monitoring the weather closely.
“Were hoping we’ll get lucky,” Riesenberg said. “We’re planning to play the event as six 9-hole stipulated rounds, in the event the weather forces us to stop play.”
In that case, the event may be shortened from 54 holes to 36 holes or 27.
“We don’t have any rain dates planned,” Riesenberg added. “So we are going to get as much golf in over the next three days as the weather will allow us.”
Muller suggested that it’s important for golfers to play well from the start Tuesday due to uncertainty over tournament length. Performing well on par-3 holes could also be a boon.
“Some of the par-3s are definitely long that can be real challenges,” said Muller, who graduated from NKU May 10. “It’ll be important to do well on them.”
Hole No. 11 is a 208-yard par-3. There are three other par-3s of at least 190 yards. Lassing Pointe challenges golfers from the first hole, a 555-yard, par-5 behemoth. Holes No. 8, 10 and 15 also eclipse 520 yards.
Muller finished tied for eighth at last year’s event at Highland Country Club. He’s one of a handful of returning top 10 finishers, a group that includes defending champion Luke Coyle.
Defending Northern Kentucky Amateur Champion Luke Coyle, a two-time Mr. Kentucky Golf, is attempting to become the first repeat winner in 14 years. Photo provided | GCGA
Coyle is a University of Alabama golfer from Campbellsville. He defeated 2023 champion Adam Horn, a Wright State golfer, in a tense two-hole playoff. Horn was attempting to become the tournament’s first repeat winner since 2011 when Eric Fuldner won his second straight.
Other former champions making return appearances this week include former Cooper great and University of Cincinnati golfer Rylan Wotherspoon (2022), Dhaviat Pandya (2019) and Bill Williamson (2016, 2018).
One-time Cooper great Rylan Wortherspoon from the University of Cincinnati makes a return to the Northern Kentucky Amateur. Photo provided | UC Athletics
Muller and Wotherspoon are part of an impressive contingent of current and former area prep stars competing this week at Lassing Pointe in the Championship and Women’s Divisions.
Reigning Women’s Division champ Megan Yoder did not return. But a pair of top five finishers are back including Riley Johnson, a former Ohio high school golfer at Lebanon who placed third, and former Notre Dame Academy golfer Natalie Lovell who placed fourth.
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