A small group of 19 golfers teed off for the Clear Creek Club Championship Saturday morning.

The two-day championship is broken down into a senior flight and a men’s division. This tournament is for members of golf club, which explains the petite amount of competitors compared to the inaugural Warren Central Viking Classic Golf Tournament that was open to the public on June 22.

“It’s kind of a small event just for the members. Being public we have probably more than half of our play is non-members. It’s important to them and is a good title, but it’s not a big event,” Kent Smith said.

After the first round, Jeff Cowan sits atop of the senior flight with a 75, followed by Lewis Decell and Mike Caruthers tied at 78, and David Boolos placing fourth with an 80.

Leading the men’s division and finishing with the best score of the day is Keith Ehrhardt shooting a 74.

Channing Curtis is a stroke behind Ehrhardt with a 75 and has a four-stroke cushion in front of Mark White’s 79 score. Robert Portwood rounds out the top four with an 80.

While numbers are small, competition is highly competitive.

“It’s a competitive, stroke play event for the individual, 36-hole golf tournament,” Kent Smith said.

Smith added the course is in its best shape and expected players like Curtis, Ehrhardt, Cowan and Caruthers to play well against the competition.

“It’s good,” Smith said about Curtis playing against experience. “He’ll be a senior this year and will probably play college golf. He’s committed to Meridian Community College. Some of the older guys may not like it but they need to improve their game a little bit. He’ll push them to play better. But it’s still competitive and it’ll probably be a tight race.”