The Floyd Open is as popular as ever. The annual tournament at the Macoby Run Golf Course, located at 5275 McLean Station Road in Marlborough, attracted nearly 500 participants.

Matt Duka, from Green Lane, putts on hole No. 9 during the  annual Floyd Open at the Macoby Run Golf Course in Marl- borough Twp.

            Last weekend, the 35th event featured a record 492 golfers for the second straight year, according to Jayson Loose, the course's pro shop manager. They celebrated America's semiquincentennial and Floyd G. Hersh, Macoby Run's founding father who died in 2000.

            Participation is by invitation only, according to Loose. He said people from all over the country play each year. He claimed one Hawaii resident played in all four flights.

            "Everyone is super excited to come out," said Loose, who said the waiting list includes between 20 and 25 foursomes.

            Four flights played the 6,400-yard course on Saturday. Aug. 1 and Sunday, Aug. 2. Two foursomes paced the field with a 14-under-par 58. Cas Dlugolecki, Dave Heckman, Jason Chen and John Horne set the mark on Saturday morning, before Dave Ott, Mike Stadnycki, David Howard and Joe Corcoran equaled them during the Sunday afternoon flight.

            Golf is the secondary draw for the tournament, according to Loose, who claims the participants consumed 2,300 pounds of food and between 20 and 25 kegs of beer. He described the weekend as one big party with golf in the background.

            Shelia Hersh-Shaffer previously described the tournament, which debuted in 1992 with 60 golfers, as an opportunity for a bunch of guys to get together to honor her father, Floyd G. Hersh, and drink beer.

            In its second year, the outing added a second flight. The next year, golfers began lining up at 4 a.m. at 5725 McLean Station Road in Marlborough Township – two hours before the event teed off – to buy a ticket.

        "The parking lot looked like a Grateful Dead concert," Hersh-Schaffer said in 2016.

Born and raised in the farmhouse between the second and third holes, Floyd Hersh grew up on a dairy farm with eight siblings. While working for the Montgomery County Farm Bureau, he developed the dream to build a golf course, according to Hersh-Schaffer.

        The family opened nine holes in the fall of 1990. In the spring, they completed three additional holes. By the end of 1991, all 18 holes were complete, according to Hersh's daughter.

           Next year's event has been scheduled for Aug 7-8, according to Loose. He said the plan is to maintain its current number of golfers, but didn't rule out the possibility of future expansion.

            "We're going to keep this going for as long as the golfers allow us to do it," Loose said.