One of my favorite events to cover each year is the Leader Cup at Orchard Hills Country Club.

The brainchild of former Buchanan golf coach and Leader Publications contributor Amelio Rodriguez, the Leader Cup brings together our six schools that do not always face each other on the golf course.

Monday’s event at Orchard Hills, which has been tremendous with its hospitality since the tournament’s inception, had a slight change with Cassopolis not fielding a golf team this year.

Berrien Springs has been trying to get into the tournament for a couple of years now. However, we resisted last season because the format was to have Buchanan, Brandywine, Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Edwardsburg and Niles — our six core schools — competing against each other.

Adding another team would make for an odd number of pairings, so the Shamrocks were not invited last season.

But with the loss of the Rangers, at least for this season, we welcomed Berrien Springs with open arms.

The nice thing about the Leader Cup is that all the golfers know each other, either from playing against them during junior golf or because they have competed against one another during the high school seasons.

Edwardsburg has dominated the Leader Cup, winning two out of the first three years.

The Eddies have also been dominant in the Wolverine Conference over the same stretch of time, so it is no surprise that they have laid claim to the trophy more than once.

No matter who wins the traveling trophy, we have always made it an emphasis that the players have a good time and enjoy the friendly competition.

I would like to personally thank Amelio for coming up with the idea and the former publisher Mike Caldwell and current general manager Ambrosia Neldon for embracing the idea and continuing the tradition.

I would also like to thank Orchard Hills Country Club, general manager Bill Loux and PGA pro Chuck Pullen for welcoming us with open arms and going above and beyond to make this tournament one that these players will remember for quite some time.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com