By Colleen Kane
Enquirer staff writer

At least five former champions and 117 others will be in a hunt for the title of best golfer in Northern Kentucky this week at Pendleton Country Club.

The Northern Kentucky Golf Association's Men's Amateur Championship begins at 8:30 a.m. today with an 18-hole stroke play qualifier that decides which 96 golfers will advance to Wednesday and Thursday's match play.

The top 31 plus defending champion Lance Lucas will be placed in the championship flight, and the remaining golfers will be divided into the second and third flights.

On Friday, a 36-hole stroke play final will be played by the remaining eight players in each flight.

Lucas beat Sy Mandle on a six-hole playoff at Flagg Springs Golf Course to claim last year's title and thus will receive the automatic bid to match play this year. The 2002 champion Rob Clarke, four-time champion Charlie Nieman, Don Niehaus and Gary Herfel are some other past winners who will play this week. Mandle will also play.

Lucas warmed to the course at Pendleton this year when he shot a 1-under par in the Kentucky State Amateur qualifier. He went on to place second at the tournament.

"I'm very comfortable on the course," said Lucas. "I've played enough there. I am playing well enough to win. It's just a matter of playing consistent golf."

This year's destination of Pendleton CC "will be a very good test of golf," according to tournament director Tim Hartig.

"The course is short and fairly tight," Hartig said. "The par 3s are fairly difficult. The front nine is fairly flat and the back nine is rolling, somewhat hilly. It's like two separate golf courses on the front and back."

This is Hartig's first year as director, and he said his biggest contribution has been helping to computerize the championship. He will use a computer program to keep track of scores, seeds and tee times and will post them on the Web site he built, nkga.com.

Hartig placed second at the NKGA's Mid-Amateur in June and will also play this week.

He has qualified for the championship flight in every Amateur he's played, but has a bigger goal this year.

"I hope to win," Hartig said. "I've had my share of bad mistakes, and people have just flat out beat me in the past. But once you get to that final eight, just about anything can happen."

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E-mail ckane@enquirer.com