Daikin Spirit of America Golf Tournament tees off this week

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - One of North Alabama’s longest running Golf Tournament begins this week at Burningtree Country Club. The 56th annual Daikin Spirit of America Golf Classic Tournament will feature over 100 of the Southeast’s best Amateur golfers.

“This tournament has been around for a long time,” said Burning Tree County Club owner Andy Villarreal. “I want to see it progress. I want to see this tournament go on for another 50 years. We have our course in great shape, it’s gonna be a tournament course for these guys to come into, a very challenging course.”

The event will feature Decatur and Morgan County native Sam Murphy. Murphy just competed at the British Amateur Championship after playing his final season at Louisiana Tech.

“If you hit it in the rough it’s gonna be a penalty, Burningtree Golf Pro Colby Odum added. “Is it gonna come out hot or is it gonna be dead? So it’s really gonna take some precision and some strategic thinking in play this year.”

“We’re excited about the future and with the future we’re excited about this tournament getting bigger and bigger,” Villarreal added. “The course is in great shape. The course is a very challenging course. We get a lot of support from the local community.”

Round one begins Wednesday June 29th with the final round set for Saturday July 2nd.