TAMPA, Fla. – The Men’s Interclub Championship will head to Innisbrook Resort this week with 13 teams battling it out for the Interclub title. Here are five things to know before the championship begins on Tuesday.
Sixteenth Men’s Interclub Season
The 2023 Men’s Interclub matches marked the 16th men’s interclub season. The interclub matches are a state-wide competition between clubs. Two-hundred and four teams signed for the 15th season, that included a six-week regular season, one round of playoffs and a state championship.
How We Got Here
This season began with 4,295 golfers competing in 49 divisions over 13 regions. During the regular season, 204 teams played with eight players per team competing each week in Singles and four-ball matches, concurrently. Fifty-two teams advanced to the regional playoff, with 13 teams clinching a spot in the state championship.
Thirteen Regional Champions
Thirteen teams punched their ticket to the state championship by advancing through the regional playoffs.
- Central 1: Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club defeated Sebring to earn a spot in the state championship
- Central 2: Orange Tree defeated Carrollwood in a playoff to advance
- Tampa: Cypress Run secured their spot in the playoffs with a 31-27 win over Grasslands
- Naples: Quail West Golf & Country Club defeated Marco Island to capture a spot in the state championship
- Naples 2: Forest Glen secured its spot with a 34-14 victory over Tiburon
- Forty Myers: Lexington advanced after defeating The Forest 28-20 in the regional finals
- Suncoast: TPC Prestancia earned a 34-29 win over Plantation Golf & Country Club to advance
- Northeast 1: Marsh Creek advanced with a 30-18 win over St. Johns Golf & Country Club
- Northeast 2: Marsh Landing defeated DeBary Golf & Country Club to earn a spot in state championship
- Panhandle: Tiger Point Golf & Country Club advanced with a 36-12 win over Kelly Plantation
- Gold Coast: Biltmore took down Parkland Golf & Country Club 26-22 to advance
- Space Coast: Dubsdread Golf Course moved on with a 34-14 victory over Duran in the regional finals
- Treasure Coast: BallenIsles defeated The Cape Club of Palm City 19-5 to advance to the state championship
Clubs Look to Take Home a Win
Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club is the lone past champion in the field, capturing the Interclub title in 2014 at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club. The remaining 12 teams will look to take home their first state victory. Dubsdread and Lexington are the only teams in the field to have competed in the 2022 championship, finishing in a tie fifth and eleventh, respectively.
Innisbrook to Play Host
Innisbrook Resort will host the Men’s Interclub Championship. Competitors will play 18 holes on the Island Course, with the final round being played on the Copperhead Course, the longtime host of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship.
Opened in 1974, the Copperhead Course was designed by Larry Packard. The course was restored in 1999, with all 18 greens being renovated, along with the restructuring of many of the bunkers, removing some trees around the greens to improve air movement and sunlight and clearing out undergrowth between fairways.
