The Honors Course clubhouse and The Honors Circle

Now 20 years later, the John T. Lupton Memorial continues to rank among the top invitational tournaments nationwide, celebrating the vision of the club’s late founder and the event’s namesake.

Hosted at the majestic golf course designed by Pete Dye outside of Chattanooga in the community of Ooltewah, the Lupton Memorial begins three days of play Friday morning with 42 golfers in each division vying to add their name to the list of legendary winners prominently displayed on the clubhouse wall.

Defending mid-amateur champion Joseph Deraney returns after advancing to the Round of 32 earlier in the week at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship in Edison, N.J. The Belden, Miss. native is seeking his fourth Lupton Memorial title, having also claimed victories in 2021 and 2016.

Deraney is currently listed at No. 13 in the AmateurGolf.com Mid-Amateur world rankings, joined in the Top 40 by fellow participants Brett Patterson of Oxford, Miss. (19), Ryan Terry of Brentwood, Tenn. (21), and Nick Maccario of Atlanta, Ga. (39).

Whit Turnbow, the president of the Tennessee Golf Foundation, is the only other returning champion in the mid-amateur field, having won the event in 2019.

The senior division is littered with former champions who have amassed 13 titles at the Lupton Memorial, led by five-time winner Paul Simson of Raleigh, N.C. Simson won three straight beginning in 2007, then added back-to-back crowns in 2013-14.

Also participating is Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga., who claimed a mid-amateur trophy in 2008 followed by a pair of senior titles in 2012 and 2016. Billy Mitchell of Atlanta, Ga. also has two Lupton Memorial championships on his resume, winning in 2019 and 2021 that could have been a trifecta had the 2020 tournament not been canceled.

Defending champion Mike Combs of Savannah, Ga. joins two other past senior champions in Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga. (2023) and Rick Cloninger of Rock Hill, S.C. (2018).

A total of 17 golfers will be returning to The Honors Course after battling the challenging layout in last year’s U.S. Senior Amateur. John Kemp of Bedford, England shot 2-under 142 to earn co-medalist honors in stroke play before falling in the Round of 16.

Robert Nelson of Fairhope, Ala. also has fond memories of his visit last summer where he advanced to the semifinals before being eliminated by eventual champion, Louis Brown, who won by a 1-up count.

The senior field at the Lupton Invitational is well-represented in the AmateurGolf.com Senior rankings with Royak checking in at No. 2. Three golfers who hail from Savannah are listed among the Top 10 in Hanzel at No. 5, Jack Hall at No. 6 and Combs at No. 9.

Other seniors ranked in the Top 40 include Jack Larkin Sr. of Atlanta (12), Mitchell and Chad Branton of Cartersville, Ga. (20), Cloninger (22), Kemp (23), Rusty Strawn of Eatonton, Ga. (26), Robert Gerwin of Cincinnati, Ohio (28) and Jerry Gunthorpe of Ovid, Mich. (35).

Preview provided by Paul Payne.