Inclement weather brought initial uncertainty to the first round of the 2017 Bill McKinney Memorial Natchez City Golf Championship Saturday, but golfers were still able to hit the course at Duncan Park.

The city’s 88 participants played a shortened round on the front nine holes after heavy rain and the threat of lighting delayed original tee times by approximately three hours.

“I thought we weren’t going to have a championship,” Duncan Park Golf Course Superintendent Greg Brooking said. “We didn’t expect it to be quite like this.”

Brooking said the golf course saw more than 3 inches of rain from the early hours of the morning.

“We waited for it to start draining out,” he said. “We could have canceled the round, but I didn’t feel it was right to have a city championship with just 18 holes. It’s supposed to crown the best player in our town, and it has done a good job of doing that for several years. We made the right call.”

By the time the first group of golfers began play around 10:30 a.m., Brooking said, it was still raining but the greens were playable.

“It was really the lighting and it was such a torrential downpour that the greens were inundated with water,” Brooking said. “When the lighting moved out, we could play.”

Despite wet conditions for the remainder of the day, top players in the tournament didn’t seem to be too concerned about the course.

Four-time defending champion Jordan Farmer, who sits just one stroke below Saturday’s leaders and two under par with a score of 33, said a weather-based rule changed aided his game greatly.

Tom Bryant and Casey Ham share the lead with scores of 32, and both said they aren’t worried about having to play 27 holes today.

During the shortened round, players were able to move their ball as far as two clubs lengths on the fairway to avoid wet patches of grass.

“There were some wet spots, but we could move it around,” Farmer said. “The golf course played great.”

After all players compete in a traditional round, the top 36 players will then play the front nine holes once more.

“The back is the old nine out here, and the greens are different,” Bryant said. “They are both fun, but you do have to hit different shots on both of them.”

Ham said he hopes playing the front nine will give him the advantage to stay on top.

“I like the front,” he said. “I play better there, but you never know. I just have to make some putts.”

Overall, Brooking said he is pleased everything seems to have worked itself out.

“I knew we were going to have to use some imagination to play,” he said. “It’s been done before. We just change with the weather.”