Christovich, Exber ready for title defenses at Crane Cup Invitational

In just its third year, the Crane Cup brings together one of the top mid-amateur fields of the entire season. In fact, the invitational, scheduled to tee off Friday at the Floridian in Palm City, Fla., has quickly become one of the nation's top events.

According to organizer and tournament director Kevin Marsh, who's not a bad player himself (winner of the 2005 U.S. Mid- Amateur), this year's field features the current winners of the U.S. Mid-Amateur, U.S. Senior Amateur and the British Senior Amateur.

Not bad for year No. 3.

The event launched in early 2012 with Robert Funk and Paul Simson winning titles. This past January, Patrick Christovich prevailed in a playoff over Todd Burgan with Brady Exber winning the senior title.

Indeed, a long list of elite amateurs for such a new event.

This year's field is equally impressive, boasting some of the hottest players in the game. As previously mentioned, major winners Mike McCoy, Doug Hanzel and George Zahringer will be in attendance.

Hanzel has remained hot after his U.S. Senior victory, winning the Society of Seniors Dale Morey Championship. In the Crane Cup senior field, he'll be a favorite and undoubtedly challenged by contenders Grady Brame, Duke Delcher, Randy Elliot, Doug Hanzel, Pat Tallent, Rick Woulfe and Zahringer.

In the Mid-Amateur Division, Christovich will hope to win for a second straight time following a stellar season. He'll battle the likes of Ryan Abbate, Matt Bianchini, Brett Williams, Jose Maruri, Marsh and recent winners Gene Elliot, Colby Harwell, John Veneziano, McCoy and Exber.

Amateurgolf.com will have full coverage of the event, including recaps and results. For a full view of the field and early-round pairings, follow this link »