Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — The 39^th annual Natchez Balloon Festival wasn’t the only big event taking place this weekend in the Miss-Lou. So was the 2024 Natchez Senior Men’s and Ladies Golf Championships last Saturday and Sunday at the Duncan Park Golf Course.

And with the combination of fast greens and tough pin placements, scoring was higher than usual for this two-day tournament. But to perhaps no one’s surprise, Pete Powell came out on top yet again after round of 3-under-par 68 on Saturday and even-par 71 on Sunday for a two-day total of 139.

Powell not only won the Legends (70-and-over) division, but also the overall Senior Men’s championship. Duncan Park Golf Course Superintendent Greg Brooking, who won the Super Senior Men’s (60-69) division and finished second overall to Powell, said he has now won the overall title five or six times now.

“Pete’s never lost his division. He’s lost overall in the past, but never his division. This time we won both his division and the overall title,” Brooking said. “Pete could’ve shot better. We all had our hiccups out there.”

Derrick Dungan finished first in the Senior Men’s (50-59) division and sixth overall with round of 78 and 77 for a two-day total of 155. Brooking had rounds of 2-under-par 69 on Saturday and four-over-par 75 on Sunday to finish five shots back of Powell with a two-day score of 144. Yet despite the high finish, Brooking said he did not play his best golf.

“I didn’t play so well, but that’s the nature of golf. That’s because of putting,” Brooking said. “I played at the Senior Am at Castlewoods (Country Club in Brandon) the weekend before this one. I played poorly in it. I continued my poor play.

Nate Leonard finished in a tie for third place overall with Bubba Bruce. Leonard’s final-round 72 propelled him to a two-day total of 147 while Bruce had a final-round 74 to finish at 147.

Frankie Spence, a past overall champion of this event, finished fifth overall with back-to-back rounds of 76 to finish at 152.

Brooking said he was pleased with the turnout yet was surprised at how high the scores were last weekend. Nineteen men and one woman participated in the tournament.

“We were very pleased with the turnout. It was a lot of interest in the tournament. With our regular play and the tournament entrants, we filled up the course. We were in good shape,” Brooking said. “The greens were real fast and the pin placements were on the edge of the greens. They were real tough. You could putt the ball off the green on some of the holes and we did on occasion.”

The only female golfer in this year’s field was Camella Richardson of Natchez, who won the Ladies’ championship with rounds of 91 and 96 for a two-day total of 187. Brooking added that he was a bit disappointed there weren’t at least a few more female golfers in this year’s field.

“Judy Powell usually plays, but she had other obligations. She had to work on Sunday. She’s also had back issues. She’s won it 10 times or more. But she hasn’t played in the past couple of years. Kathy Graning, she didn’t play this year. I don’t know why, though,” Brooking said.

With the golf course open during tournament play each day, golfers from out of town not only to play golf, but to watch the Natchez Balloon Festival. As Brooking noted, some of the balloons took off from various parts of Duncan Park on Satuday and Sunday.

“They took off from our parking lot, the driving range, and No. 17. On Saturday, we had all those World War II planes that flew over the park in formation. Saturday, we had six balloons and Sunday we had five balloons take off from the course,” Brooking said. “The course was packed with players partially due to the Balloon Festival. They came from out of town. It was packed. We had a group of 16 from Terry who came to play during the balloon race. We had a full course. It was a heck of a day, both days.”

And the weather for the Senior Men’s and Ladies’ Golf Championships could not have been any better with lots of sunshine, blue sky, morning lows in the mid- to upper-40s and the afternoon high in the upper 70s each day.

“It was wonderful. We had the best weather ever. I couldn’t imagine any better weather than that,” Brooking said.