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ESCANABA — A high-caliber field from around the Upper Peninsula is primed and ready to challenge a highly regarded and well-manicured golf course this week.

A field of 96 golfers are entered for the 107th annual U.P. Golf Association men’s tournament, and the 106-year-old Escanaba Country Club is ready for the battle with eight former UPGA champions in the field.

Tourney play began Thursday morning and was to resume

at 7:45 a.m. today. The field will be split into flights for the final two days and is expected to end about 5 p.m. Sunday. Spectators are encouraged to attend.

Gladstone's Matt Argall sinks a putt on the 17th hole during the second round of the Upper Peninsula Golf Association men's championship tournament at Terrace Bluff Golf and Country Club on Aug. 8, 2019, in Gladstone. Argall spend his early years growing up in the Ishpeming area. (Escanaba Daily Press file photo)

ECC director of golf Jeff Rae and former ECC golf directors Jon Lancour and Gary Greis comprise the rules committee.

Five former members who died in the past year will be honored, including past ECC president Don Wertz, six-time club champion Tom Gregoire, Jack Manning, Ray Gollach and Carol Lancour.

A championship belt will be awarded to the winner for the first time, along with a blazer. A team champion will also be decided after Sunday’s final round.

Rae has been playing at ECC since he was 9 years old.

“This is the best shape I’ve ever seen it,” he said. “The greens are healthy, they are phenomenal. (Course superintendent) Tyler Finch and his crew and members have helped and gotten the course to where, in my opinion, it is championship ready.”

Dan Ellis

The rough can be daunting, the greens are slick and smooth. The ever-present wind — especially in the afternoon — adds to the challenge on a course that will play between 5,900 yards and 6,300 yards. Rae said it will not be tricked up to increase the difficulty.

“It will be nothing crazy,” Rae said. “We are trying to make the course scoreable, but I don’t think you’ll see many sub-70 rounds.”

However, Rae pointed out that two former UPGA champions and ECC members scored well Tuesday, with 2013 UPGA champion Scott Lancour shooting 65 and two-time former champion Brian Robinette (1995 and 1996) hit 67. Robinette was also runner-up in 2002.

Rae also noted the UPGA specifies courses should be set up without extreme difficulty in the equation, noting pace of play slows considerably on tougher layouts. Those conditions helped lead to extremely long rounds in 2004 and 2005.

This is the first time ECC will host the tournament since 2008, when current Michigan State University assistant golf coach Dan Ellis of Negaunee won the first of his two titles.

ECC became the host when Indian Lake Golf and Country Club in Manistique decided to not host.

The one-course format returned in 2008 after two courses were used from 1992 to 2007. A record 432 participants turned out in 1998 at Oak Crest in Norway and Pine Grove in Iron Mountain, but player numbers have dwindled in recent years, with only 72 at Terrace Bluff in Gladstone during 2019 and a record-low 64 at Riverside in Menominee during 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was a major factor.

Southpaw Matt Argall of Terrace Bluff is the reigning champion. The Gladstone resident who spent the first few years of his life in the Ishpeming area also won in 2015 at Little River in Marinette, Wisconsin.

Other former champions this week include Jon Ellis of Pine Grove, Matt Smith of ECC, Bryce Douglas of Terrace Bluff, Joe Quinn of Gladstone and two-time winner Mark Clements of Wawonowin Country Club in Ishpeming.

Former UPGA Senior champions entered include three-time winner Jim Wagner of Little River, southpaw Mark Ray of Highland Golf Club and Paul Schrader of ECC.

While former winners are among the top contenders this week, also watch for 2020 runner-up Scott Prunick of Marquette, Dom Benetti of Escanaba, Dave Ellis of Negaunee and North Central High School incoming senior Bryson Mercier, who was named the Wisconsin Junior Player of the Year in 2020. Mercier has been a steady high-level player on the Wisconsin junior tour.

“I think 20 to 25 guys could realistically win,” Rae said. “You’ve got to go low for four days. It is a grind and a windy course (that) weighs on you.”

That means some of the younger players used to grinding for several days, like Mercier and Douglas, who plays at University of Detroit, could hold an edge.