SALISBURY — Much has changed over the years as far as the Labor Day 4-Ball Tournament is concerned.But some things haven’t. It’s official name has been lengthened to the Crowder/Dorsett Memorial Labor Day 4-Ball Golf Tournament, but it’s still held at the Country Club of Salisbury. It’s still the Super Bowl of Rowan County golf. It still attracts a throng of qualifying hopefuls.

The tournament still attracts a skilled field. Teams had to shoot at least even-par 71 to qualify for the 16-team Championship Flight and some 71s had to settle for First Flight status.

Teams that shot a respectable 80 found themselves in a playoff for the Eighth (and final) Flight, just striving to be part of the event.

The tournament was begun in 1952 as a way to honor Goode Crowder, who came out on the short end of one of the most famous club championship matches in Country Club history in 1950. In a semifinal match, Harry Welch made an eagle and broke the Country’s Club course record with a 64 to hold off Crowder.

Crowder was a heroic pilot in World War II who had become a Salisbury accountant as well as one of the city’s leading citizens and strongest golfers. He died in July of 1952 at age 33.

The idea for a Four-Ball tournament to honor Crowder’s memory sprang from a conversation that arose while the foursome of Welch, Ken Monroe, Robert Wallace “Wally” Howard and A.D. Dorsett, all World War II veterans and friends of Crowder’s, were playing a round at the Country Club.  They agreed Labor Day was the ideal time to do something because only 12 players had made use of the Country Club course on Labor Day in 1951.

Welch and Dorsett were among the state’s elite golfers, so the event garnered instant credibility. The foursome made phone calls to friends to drum up interest.

That first Goode Crowder Labor Day 4-Ball tournament 67 years ago was plagued by slow play and rain. There were only four flights of golfers competing, and the finals had to be postponed until Sept. 6, 1952.

But from that humble beginning, the tournament would, in time, transform Rowan County golf. The Labor Day 4-Ball brought together a convention of golfers not only from the Country Club, but those who were regulars at the public courses at McCanless and Brookdale (now Corbin Hills). The tournament increased the game’s popularity county-wide.

That first Championship Flight match in 1952, fittingly enough, pitted the team of Monroe, a Salisbury police detective, and Dorsett, manager of a City Motor Company, against the team of Howard, a banker, and Welch, who played football at Duke, boxed against Joe Louis during World War II and already had played in the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open.

In 1952, the final match in the Championship Flight was scheduled for 36 holes. The Monroe/Dorsett team won it — 5 and 3 — on the 33rd hole when Monroe rolled in a birdie putt on No. 15.

That’s where it all started.

Monroe and Dorsett would repeat as Four-Ball champions in 1953 and also won in 1958.

In 1955, Dorsett would equal Welch’s famous 64 at the Country Club.

Dorsett, who died at 73 in 1995, was honored with the addition of his name to the Labor Day 4-Ball tournament in 1999. Besides being half of the winning team in six Four-Ball victories, he was on the runner-up team four other times. He was among the best golfers in county history. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur three times and for the U.S. Senior Amateur twice.

Welch, who died at 88 in 2006, is in the Carolinas Golf Association Hall of Fame. He was a five-time winner of the Four-Ball and won 10 individual club championships. He was once ranked as the sixth-best senior amateur in the world.

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Three days of qualifying for the 2019  Crowder/Dorsett Memorial 4-Ball Golf Tournament concluded on Sunday.

A field of 328 competed for spots in temperatures as low as the 60s and as high as the 90s. Saturday qualifying was made more challenging by extensive rain.

The Ladies Division has eight competitors, including top-seeded defending champions  Kaley Barts/Kathy Carlton. The team of Kristi Laton/Alice Sylven shot a sizzling 68 in qualifying to grab   medalist honors and the No. 2 seed.

Eight golfers will compete in the 65+ division, including the top-seeded defending champs Russ Priddy/Grey Medinger. David Roueche/Steven Nail shot 71 for medalist honors. Last year’s runner-up team, they are seeded second.

In the 55+ division, there are three flights of eight golfers, headed by the top-seeded defending champs Jim Christy/Jim Hubbard. The team of Joey Boley/Richard Cobb fired a 64 in qualifying for medalist honors and the No. 2 seed in the Championship Flight.

In the open division Championship Flight, Country Club members Blake Wray and Lee Frick are seeking their third straight title. The team of Ken Clarke/Chris Owen shot 64 in qualifying for medalist honors and the No. 2 seed.

The team of Charlie Barr/Josh Brincefield won a two-hole playoff for the last spot  and the 16th seed in the Championship Flight.