Ohio Am begins Tuesday

ZANESVILLE – One of the state's oldest —and most acclaimed — golf tournaments begins Tuesday, as the Ohio Amateur opens at Zanesville Country Club.

Play begins at 8 a.m., with threesomes teeing off on both nines until 2:50 p.m. The event is free to the public, but no carts will be available.

Among locals, Zanesville's Joe Allen, a Crooksville graduate, tees off at 8:20 a.m. on No. 1, while Zanesville's A.T. Spires is on the front at 1:10 p.m. and Zanesville's Zack Forker on the front at 2:10.

Spires, who played collegiately at Ohio, is the defending ZCC champion and a two-time Zanesville District Golf Association Amateur champion.

Forker is a Tri-Valley graduate and is currently playing at Mount Vernon Nazarene.

Powell's Josh Brandon, a West Muskingum graduate, will play with Forker.

The field is comprised of regional qualifiers from Oakhurst Country Club, Coldstream Country Club, Miami Valley Golf Club, Fox Meadows Country Club, Maumee Bay State Park Golf Club and Trumbull Country Club.

Two-time defending champion Andrew Dorn, of West Chester, will tee off at 9:20 a.m.

The 144-player field will be cut to the top 60 players after 36 holes, then cut to 40 players after 54. Six former champions are in the field in Dorn, Alan Fadel, Robert Gerwin II, Andrew Montooth, Michael Bernard and Korey Ward.

ZCC last hosted the event in 2005, when Columbus' Chris Wilson shot 10-under-par 278. Zanesville's Kyle Coconis was fourth to account for the highest-finishing local player.

This year marks the fourth Ohio Amateur ZCC has hosted — it also did so in 1955 and 1960.