Although the Player of the Year award won’t be announced until after the season, the most important tournament of the year for

local pros will be held Monday and Tuesday, when the Northeastern New York PGA conducts its Stroke Play Championship at The Edison Club.

Tee times both days will run between 8-9:30 a.m.

Among the leading challengers will be the top 10 players on the NENYPGA point list: Bob Mucha of Greenock Country Club, Josh Hillman of Berkshire Hills Country Club, Brian Lowe of Windham Country Club, Bob Meheran of

Cobleskill Golf & Country Club, Ian Breen of Canajoharie Country Club, Jeremy Kerr of Oneonta Country Club, Jim Marston of Stockbridge Golf Club, Tom Siddon of Massena Country Club, Tom Oppedisano of Orchard Creek Golf Club and Rocky Catalano of Ausable Club.

Hillman, Catalano, who is this year’s Senior Stroke Play champ-ion, and Marston are former Stroke Play winners, while Meheran, Kerr and Breen are former NENYPGA Match Play titlists.

Other players scheduled to compete are four-time Player of the Year Peter Gerard of Mill Road Acres, Frank Mellet of Colonie Golf & Country Club, Glenn Davis of Albany Country Club, Kevin Cain of Hiland Golf Club, Todd Manderson of Ballston Spa Country Club, Steve Vatter of Capital Hills at Albany, Mike Durant of Schenectady

Municipal Golf Course and John Neet of The Edison Club.

This tournament is the highlight of the year for the pros, and it’s one of my favorite events of the season. It’s great to see it back so close to home. Several times in the last couple of years, the section scheduled its most important event out of the Capital Region, making it impossible for local media reps, like myself, to cover it.

WRIGHT IS BACK

Rick Wright, longtime head pro at The Edison Club, has been given a one-year contract extension.

Wright, who has one of the most complete pro shops in the area, said he will remain in the pro shop every day until Christmas, and should have some great deals for holiday shopping.

FUTURES NEARS

The Futures Tour’s ILOVENY Championship returns to Capital Hills at Albany for the fifth consecutive season Sept. 5-7.

Nicole Hage, whose father was a former Amsterdam High School multisport standout, recorded her best finish in eight events this season when she finished tied for third at the Greater Richmond Duramed Futures Classic last week in Richmond, Va.

Hage, a graduate of Auburn Univ-ersity and the 2004 SEC Player of the Year, shot rounds of 66, 72 and 71. She earned $4,901.

The ILOVENY Championship is the final regular-season event on the Future Tour, and following an amendment to the LPGA constitution earlier this week, the number of players on the money list who will earn their LPGA Tour card next season has been expanded from five to 10.

The Albany tournament will

feature a purse of $100,000, with a cash prize of $14,000 for the winner and $10,000 for the runner-up.

Top players on this year’s

Futures Tour include top-ranked rookie Vicky Hurst, 18, of Melbourne, Fla., who has three wins, second-ranked Mindy Kim, 19, of Diamond Bar, Calif., who also has three victories, and rookie M.J. Hur of Seoul, South Korea.

Players on this year’s Futures Tour roster hail from 31 nations and 40 U.S. States.

AMSTERDAM MUNY TOUGH

Last week’s column on my most challenging courses drew quite a response, but if I had played Amsterdam Municipal before I wrote it, the list might have been different.

I played Amsterdam Munic-ipal for the fourth time overall on Monday, but it was the first time in many seasons.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones, the course plays to 6,324 yards from the white tees, but that’s extremely deceiving, especially under very wet conditions. The course plays much longer than it appears.

There are numerous elevated greens on this course, and plenty of uphill lies. Also, I wouldn’t recommend walking this layout unless you are extremely fit.

Plenty of challenges to go around, especially the 393-yard 15th hole that was part of my toughest holes feature a few years ago. Key to this hole is laying up before the creek, unless you are a big hitter who can carry the ball 240-250 yards. I played it smart with a 3-wood off the tee, but I still hit my second shot into the creek. Smart doesn’t mean talented.

Several of my readers gave me some very interesting tips on where to play. I’ll let you know how they work out when I get a chance to test them.