MOULTRIE – Sunset Country Club assistant golf professional Aaron Elrod has led a team to the Pot o’ Gold Pro-am championship in three of the last four years.

And with the same players back that won in 2016, 2017 and 2019 (and was the runner-up in 2018’s weather-shortened tournament), Elrod’s foursome that includes amateurs Kevin Blanton, Andy Blanton and Lee Wright would have to be considered a favorite in this year’s best-ball event, which begins on Friday at Sunset.

The 65th Pot o’ Gold will feature 43 teams from around the Southeast, including two teams led by Elrod and two piloted by Sunset pro Bob Windom.

In addition to the foursome he led to the championship last year, Elrod’s scores also will count for the team that includes amateurs Jonathan Bridges, Jared Bridges and Tanner Brown.

One of Windom’s teams will include Von Stripling, Madison Turner and Clint Smith. The other features Ernie Venet, Brian Johns and Paul Tynan.

A number of other Sunset players will compete this weekend on other teams.

Andrew Eunice, Eli Stripling and Tyler Key will play with Brian Dixon’s Fox Creek Golf Club team.

Playing for the Barnsley Resort foursome led by Chase Rutledge will be Ben Fuller, Pax Clark and Peyton Clark.

Hayden Willis, Craig Stevens and John Lee Redding will be the amateurs on the team led by Indian Hill golf professional Paul Reid Jr.

And Gary Clark’s team will include Cliff Bridges, Brad Tomlinson and Jake Mobley.

The recent rains were nearly too much for the Sunset course, but Windom said on Tuesday that the fairways and greens should be in fine shape for the three-day event.

“The weather looks like it is going to be good,” Windom said.

And he is especially pleased with the greens.

“We didn’t overseed the greens this year and they’ll be putting on some of the best surfaces they’ve seen here,” Windom said.

And Windom likes the field, which includes one led by longtime Pot o’ Gold player Steve Cutler of Wynlakes Golf and Country Club of Montgomery, Ala., and another by Kyle Ramey of Hattiesburg, Miss.’s Canebrake County Club.

The Canebreak foursome was tied with Elrod’s team at 182 after last year’s Pot o’ Gold, but was relegated to second-place when its final-day score of 60 was one-shot back of Sunset’s tie-breaker winning 59.

Another team in the field is led by former Sunset and Colquitt County High golfer Jason Flowers, who brings a team from Reynolds Plantation.

Also in the field are teams from Selma Country Club, led by pro Tommy Burns; The Orchard Golf and Country Club, Randy Brooks; Kinderlou Forest, Bob Burk; Dalton Golf and Country Club, Brandon Cissum; Golf Concepts, Chris Murman; Capital City Country Club, Fletcher Morgan; Doublegate Country Club, Glen Herrell; Secession Golf Club, Seth Sweet; Ansley Country Club, Jacob Tilton; Hoover Country Club, Jake Spott; International City Club, Jarred Reneau; Inverness Country Club, Troy Raybon; Maple Ridge Country Club, Jake Keen; Dothan Country Club, Kevin Klein; St. Joseph Bay Golf Club, Jordan Arnold; Steve Dresser Golf Academy, Stuart Clark; Richmond Hill Golf Club, Paul Claxton; Heritage Golf Links, Scott Curiel; Monroe Golf and Country Club, David McGowen and Keith Tanner; Cartersville Country Club, Phillip Wright; Sea Island, Brannen Veal; Valdosta Country Club, Cary Brown, Ansley Golf Club, Phil Taylor; and Highland Country Club, Todd Ormsby.

On Thursday, the annual “Demo Day” will be held from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. with a number of vendors displaying their golf wares.

The traditional long-drive contest will begin at 3 p.m. on No. 10.

Also this year, the new Andy Blanton State Farm Straightest Drive contest will be held, also beginning at 3 p.m.