NATCHEZ &045; One-hundred and eleven players comprised of 27 four-man teams and one three-man team battled a strong north wind and temperatures in the 50s for much of the first round of the Joe Fortunato Celebrity Golf Classic at Duncan Park.

Despite the elements, a total of nine teams shot in the 50s, appropriately enough, including two teams that ended up in the first flight after having to go to the scorecards.

Among the seven teams that shot in the 50s that ended up in the championship flight were the defending championship team of Doug, Dwayne, Dean and Louie Brown, which shot a 15-under-par 56 in the afternoon.

&uot;We didn’t have any eagles. We were pretty steady most of the way around,&uot; Dwayne Brown said. &uot;We played better today than we did last year. This is a reunion as a family. Everybody plans their schedule around this.&uot;

Brown said the wind was a huge factor during the round.

&uot;It was blowing pretty good. It was hard to pull the right club out of the bag,&uot; Brown said. &uot;I’d be surprised if the scores weren’t a little lower.&uot;

The Browns share the lead with Bubba Bruce, Al Strickland, Ronnie Strickland and Ted Hyde, who had two eagles in their round of 56 when they played in the morning.

&uot;We had a chip-in on No. 1,&uot; Bruce said. &uot;Al Strickland chipped it in from 10 feet. Probably right off the fringe. Ted put us up eight feet on his second shot (on No. 10) from 225 yards. Ted made the putt. He got us there.&uot;

Bruce noted that his team made quite a few long birdie putts as the wind was gusting over 20 and at times close to 30 miles per hour during the morning.

&uot;I made three putts of 30 feet or longer,&uot; Bruce said. &uot;The wind was a factor. It was a team effort. Ronnie ‘Cuz’ Strickland hit several 340 (yard) drives. Everything just clicked for us today.&uot;

Two teams are just one shot back after they had rounds of 14-under 57 &045; Doug Johnson, Tee Cotten, Scott Ford and Trey Isbell as well as Joe Brumfield, Jamie Spring, George Hude and Walt Wilson. The Brumfield-Spring-Hude-Wilson team had an eagle on the par-5 14th during their round.

&uot;Jamie hit a good tee shot,&uot; Hude said. &uot;I hit it on the green. We had a 30-foot putt for eagle. Jamie made the putt. We made key putts. Joe’s the oldest player on the team and he said his shoulders were tired from carrying the team. Everybody contributed. Walt made two key putts. Jamie made four key putts.&uot;

&uot;Everybody played well today,&uot; Cotten said. Trey made two putts from over 30 feet for birdie. We missed eagle putts on all three par-5s. A couple of those lipped out. We had a lot of fun.&uot;

Two teams are two shots back of the leaders after firing rounds of 13-under 58 &045; Noland Smith, Chick Graning, Chuck Fields and Joe Smith as well as Barry Ensminger, Wade Wiygul, Jamie Rock and Justin Comer.

&uot;We hit two good shots (on No. 5) and got it on the green in two,&uot; said Smith, who played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. &uot;Joe mad the putt from about 16 feet for eagle. We played real good as a team. It was a combination of the four of us playing together. It was a good team effort.&uot;

Surprisingly, Smith said the wind wasn’t that much of a factor for him and his partners.

&uot;Even with the wind, we had such good shots that it put us in a position to score,&uot; Smith said. &uot;I think to have a realistic chance (to win), we had to shoot a 55.&uot;

Then there the battle to find out which one of three teams that ended up shooting a 12-under 59 would end up in the championship flight and which two would be in the first flight.

The team that ended up in the championship flight ended up with probably the lowest front-nine score ever at Duncan Park. That team consisted of Bruce Massey, Jeremy Loy, Billy Baroni and Brian Fisher, who started their first round on No. 3.

Massey, Loy, Baroni and Fisher had seven birdies and an eagle on No. 5 to go with one par on No. 9 for a front-nine score of 9-under-par 26.