JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Tons of current and former Lancaster-Lebanon League golfers in this week’s Lanco Amateur Championship, set for Friday and Saturday at Bent Creek County Club. I prepared this preview box for the tournament for your reading pleasure …
56th LANCO AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
WHERE: Bent Creek Country Club.
WHEN: First round is Friday at 7:30 a.m., continuing Saturday with the top 40 percent of the field who survive the cut. There are 135 golfers entered in the event.
REIGNING CHAMP: Former Penn Manor and UNLV standout Jarred Texter (left) is the two-time reigning champ – he won last year at Foxchase and at Four Seasons in 2006 with a scorching 13-under par 127 – but he won’t be in the field because he recently turned professional. Texter also won the Amateur in 2003 at Crossgates.
NOTABLE: The Amateur, which is sponsored by Janney Montgomery Scott, returns to Bent Creek for the first time 
since 1995, when Deryl Denlinger won his second title. He also won in 1993 at Foxchase. … Other past champs in the field include King Knox (1962, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1981, 1992), Marlin Detweiler (1974, 1975, 1976), Ken Phillips (1979, 1983, 1999), Dave Richards (1996, 2000), Hank Kline (1980), Brian Groff (1986), Jerry Janeski (1991), Jeff Wintersteen (1994), Andy Tompos (1998) and Mark Leaman (2002). … Richards won the Manada Individual two weeks ago in Harrisburg after shooting a 6-under 66. He carded seven birdies in his round. … Jud Gemmill, who tees off at 8:42 a.m. on Friday, won his second Pennsylvania Public Links championship May 11 at Dauphin Highlands. Gemmill, who also won the Public Links in 2004, won by five shots. … Tompos, who tees off at 8:06 a.m. on Friday, won the senior division of the PA Public Links in May, shooting an 8-over par. … Defending Lanco Open and Lanco Junior champ and 
reigning Lanco Player of the Year Zak Drescher, a Hempfield grad who recently completed his freshman year at Campbell University, tees off at 10:03 a.m. on Friday, along with Richards and former Warwick standout Brixton Albert (left), who plays for Radford University. Drescher (above, right) won last year’s Open at Bent Creek, so he should be familiar with the layout. … Knox, who tees off at 11:06 a.m. on Friday, won the Lanco Seniors in a playoff on May 29 at Conestoga Country Club. … Up next on the Lanco docket is the men’s better ball championship, set for July 11-13 at Crossgates, Overlook and Foxchase.
ABOUT BENT CREEK: The 6,750-yard, par-71 layout was designed by Jay Morrish, who won the Golf Course Architect of the Year in 1991. … Superintendent Jim Loke received the 2008 Distinguished Service Award, presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, at the GCSAA Education Conference earlier this year in Orlando. … The head pro is former Ephrata standout Terry Hertzog.
