For the 60th time in the rich history of the Lively Golf Club, the local venue is preparing to host their annual Men's Open Tournament.

And as proud as Lively men's chair Max Kallio is of the wonderfully deep tradition of the event, he is even more thrilled at just how well the course itself stacks up against earlier versions, as a field of 196 golfers get ready to tee-off on Friday.

"The course is the best I've ever seen it," said Kallio, a one-time member of the Laurentian Voyageurs golf team and mainstay with the Lively Ryder Cup crew in recent years.

"The quality of the golf course has improved a fair bit. The greens are always a big thing, so that's number one, first and foremost. Last year, it was incredible. We had our greens running as fast as I've ever seen them, about as hard as I've ever seen them."

"Lively is such a short course that it's only defence is to have some fast greens," Kallio added. "This year, the greens are just as good, and we're going to start speeding them up, getting ready for the weekend."

"When we started this year, the fairways were in mid-season form, so we never had to take all that time at the start of the year to get the fairways up and running. It allowed us to focus on other areas. Word of mouth has gotten around town about what great shape Lively is in."

The proof is in the pudding.

For the first time in several years, the Men's Open is dealing with a waiting list. Targetting initially 180 entries, organizers then wanted to cap at 192 but had to bump to 196, all while still dealing with prospective golfers left out in the cold.

In fact, Kallio estimates that only about 20% of the entire field are current Lively Golf Club members, allowing the course to be showcased for many who partake at this location only on a handful of occasions each summer.

"We've got groups of guys from out of town, a lot of them who have roots back here, so it's fun for them to come home and connect with the old crew," said Kallio. And while much has been done in recent years to integrate elements of fun into the event, the reality is that there is still a champion to be crowned in the end.

Two-time winner Dan Couillard is back to defend his crown, former local and current Kitchener-Waterloo resident Ian MacDonald has four titles to his name (including 2016, 2014 and 2010), while the legend that is Brent Hatton has seen his name emblazed on the hardware no less than 11 different times.

"On any given year, there's probably 15 to 20 guys that have a realistic shot at winning this, or at least contending," suggested Kallio. Former Sunday victors Tom Cunningham (2011) and Kevin Philipow (2013) could well be in the mix, as could former club pro Alex Watier, who has apparently been playing quite well this summer.

"As much as it's fun, we still have that group of guys that come Sunday know that it's still a tournament, and you still want to win it," said Kallio.

Practice rounds are taking place on Friday, with a Saturday qualifying round to be followed by flight play the next day.