For the 80th consecutive year, the Invitational Four Ball will take place at Country Club of Greenfield.

The tournament first began in 1946 and Carl Reed and John King were crowned the first ever champions. Each summer since, area golfers have flooded to the course to compete in the invitational and on Thursday, the 80th Invitational Four Ball will get underway.

“It’s pretty amazing that this thing is going for 80 years,” Country Club of Greenfield’s PGA Professional Kevin Piecuch said. “We’re ready and putting the finishing touches on it.”

The field will once again have 104 teams and 208 total golfers competing. The first groups set out at 7 a.m. on Thursday’s qualifying day, with the top 40 teams competing for the 16 spots in the Championship Flight. From there, the next eight teams move to the second flight, the next eight go to the third flight and the next eight after that advance to the fourth flight.

Flights 5-through-10 are competing for seeding on Thursday.

Match play for all flights begins on Friday, continues into Saturday before the championship matches get underway on Sunday.

“We’re excited,” Piecuch said. “Hopefully the weather cooperates. We have 104 teams again. It’s a big event with a lot of out of town people coming in and a lot of club members competing. We’re excited to get it going.”

One group that can play a stress-free round on Thursday is Sam Wolanske and Dave Donoghue.

Wolanske and Donoghue captured the championship last year after defeating Andy Lesenski and Chris Austin in the finals. That win assured Wolanske and Donoghue a free pass to the Championship Flight, where they will be the top-seed on Friday. The defending champs will tee off at 8:36 a.m. on Thursday.

The win last year was the second Invitational Four Ball title the pair have won, as they captured the title together in 2019. In the 80 years of the tournament, just four pairs — Dave Kennedy and Don Foberg, Fred Kask and Bill Brew, Tom Bergeron and Gary Burt as well as Bill Kufta and Pete Zaccagnino — have won the tournament three times together. Kennedy and Foberg were the last to accomplish the feat, doing so in 2009. Kask and Brew completed the trio in 1971, Bergeron and Burt did it in 1993 while Kufta and Zaccagnino were the first to win three, doing so in 1961.

If Wolanske and Donoghue want to join that illustrious list, they’ll have to battle through another tough field.

Connor Piecuch and Michael Bechard, the 2023 champs, will be looking to regain the crown when they tee off at 8:28 a.m. Thursday. Cody Booska, who won the Four Ball with his dad, Dennis, in 2022 and with KC Finley in 2014, is competing with Chris Bourbeau and will tee off at 8:44 a.m. looking for his third title.

Paul DeNofrio and Matt Grayson won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021 and are expected to be back in the mix when they tee off at 7:56 a.m. on Thursday. Nate Burdick and Kennedy won the tournament together in 2015 and 2013 and are also going for their third title together when they tee off at 7:40 a.m.

Lesenski has dominated the Greenfield Club Championship in recent years, winning the club championship each of the last six years. Lesenski has won the Four Ball once, winning the championship in 2011 with Chris Austin, and has been in the mix many times since but has been unable to capture the second title.

Lesenski is competing with a new partner this year, Justin McCloud and that pair tees off at 8:52 a.m.

“There’s a few new changes and a few new teams that got in this year,” Piecuch said. “It’s a good field. The guys that got in are excited to play. There’s a lot of returning teams that will be in the mix.”