NATCHEZ — The first-ever Norman Puckett Natchez Junior Golf Championship Tournament will take place Monday at the Duncan Park Golf Course with tee times starting at 9 a.m.

This tournament is not the same as the City Junior Golf Championship, which Duncan Park golf course superintendent Greg Brooking said will take place next March. And there are several reasons why.

“The kids who participated in the Norman Puckett Junior Clinic are playing in this. This is kind of their championship. There are no high school team (members) playing,” Brooking said. “Any junior can play in this if they want to. Most of the juniors playing are new to the game. This is something that we’re giving back to junior golf in the city of Natchez.”

So far, 15 kids have registered. However, Brooking added that he doesn’t know how many youth are going to play. The majority of the kids who will play range in age from 7 to 11, including three or four girls ages 8 to 11. There are two age divisions – 9 to 12 and 13 to 17. The registration fee is $5 and includes one day of green fees, lunch and beverages, and tournament caps and t-shirts.

“We’ve got trophies for them. Most of them are hitting range balls. We don’t expect to play 18 holes. This should be a nine-hole tournament,” Brooking said. They need to have a taste of tournament golf. They’ve had their clinics. They know about the etiquette and they know the game. Some of the children don’t even have golf clubs. If the city has golf clubs, we’ll let them use them. It’s a fun event.”

Brooking noted that the Parker Yelverton Foundation for the Advancement of Junior Golf helped put on this year’s tournament. He added that if more people around here were like Yelverton, there would be as many kids playing golf as there would be youth baseball.

“Parker Yelverton put up a sizeable donation for junior golf. Parker means so much to me because he cares so much about golf,” Brooking said. “Parker’s uncle, Norman Puckett, had a big influence on golf in the city of Natchez. He cared about golf. He loved the game. He was always big on junior golf. He showed us how to play.”

Even though the turnout is expected to be good for the Norman Puckett Natchez Junior Golf Championship Tournament, only one child over 13 years old has registered to participate.