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Numbers are up for this year’s Columbus Men’s City golf championship, and four-time champion Tyler Duncan is out. That makes for a wide-open field.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a repeat champion,” Otter Creek pro Chad Cockerham said, referring to Duncan, who after winning last year’s tourney by 15 strokes turned pro this summer.

A tourney dating back to 1954 begins today, with about two-thirds of the field of 120 playing at Greenbelt and the rest at Harrison Lake. Whoever starts at Greenbelt today, plays at Harrison Lake Sunday — and vice versa. Otter Creek will host the final round July 22.

“There’s a lot of good players in it,” Cockerham said. “The clear favorite last year was (Duncan). I think there’s about 16 to 18 guys that have legitimate chances of winning (this year).”

Among those in the discussion is two-time champion Kenny Chavis, who won in 2000 and 2004 and tied for third last year with Darren Hinton, who placed second in 2010. Columbus East grad and former University of Indianapolis golfer Ryan Myers (2010) and Jeff Cowall (2005) are other past winners expected to compete for a place atop the leaderboard by next weekend’s end.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Myers said. “Normally, I don’t start thinking about (winning) until the last round.”

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