NATCHEZ &045; With all the hazards, ravines, water and gunk that sprinkle across the nearly 7,000-yard Beau Pre Country Club golf course, there was one obstacle none of the players in the 70th annual Mississippi Women’s State Amateur Championship could overcome in practice rounds Sunday: the heat.

No one ever said golf is better played with Frosty and St. Nick, but temperatures approaching the mid-90s melted away whatever SPF 4,000,000 you lathered on.

&uot;The young girls are probably use to (the heat) by the amount of golf they play and walking so much,&uot; said Pam Posey, the 2000 Amateur champ &045; the only other time the event was held at Beau Pre. &uot;Their stamina is greater than some of ours. We have to remind ourselves to take care of our bodies. It’s hard to find shade on this course.&uot;

Frying an egg on the tee box will be the least of the worries for those who have little knowledge of Beau Pre’s tight fairways and tempting pin positions in the Qualifying Round for match play, which begins today at 8:30 a.m.

The top 16 advance to Tuesday’s championship flight, where a victor will be determined over three days of match play.

Beau Pre Professional Golf Association Professional Mark Powell said the course should, in fact, play easier than three years ago due to expansion of fairways and a trimmed rough.

&uot;(Today) should be exciting. We might see a course record,&uot; Powell said. &uot;It’s difficult the first time you play here because of all the danger. There are hazards on 17 of the 18 holes on the golf course. It looks intimidating, but after you play it once, you see that is very playable.&uot;

Someone who is vocal about her success in Natchez is the defending Amateur champ, Amanda Mathis.

Mathis, 18, from Picayune captured the 2002 championship over Cissye Gallagher, the wife of PGA Tour player Jim Gallagher Jr., at the President’s Course at Broadwater in Biloxi.

&uot;It was real exciting for my whole family,&uot; she said. &uot;I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was playing the best golf of my life heading into that week. It turned out real nice.

Mathis, who defeated Alexis Rather in the Girls State Junior Championship last week at Briarwood in Meridian, joins Katherine Jones of Jackson,

Leigh Phillips of Meridian and Rather of Tupelo as the only juniors in the 77-member field.

After playing 18 at Beau Pre several times during PGA Junior Series tournaments, Mathis is familiar with the course layout and has always fared well, she said.

&uot;The greens are more challenging, and there is more trouble to get into than at other courses,&uot; Mathis said. &uot;It’s going to be more demanding as far as accuracy goes.&uot;

Mathis, Gallagher and Jones will be the first group to tee off No. 1 at 8:30 a.m. today.

Right behind them will be Posey with Rather and Janice Preble of Pass Christian.

Posey, who has played in nearly

20 Amateurs with her 2000 win being her lone tile, thinks she and her amateur comrades are catching Beau Pre at the perfect time of the year with the greens running smooth and the strategy involved.

&uot;To have a decent shot into these greens, you have to play smart golf off the tee,&uot; she said. &uot;The course really makes you think. You can’t just step up and hit. You have to be thinking one and two shots ahead.&uot;

The chess match that is played between the golfers and the course throughout Beau Pre is one reason why it made Mississippi Women’s Golf Association president Jeanne Taylor’s site decision so easy last year.

&uot;Beau Pre is one of the top courses we play,&uot; she said. &uot;It’s so different now than it was three years ago even. We usually have a lot of rules to make on the course with lies, but Mark (Powell) does a professional job to keep the course well manicured.

&uot;It’s one of the best in Mississippi. We’re very fortunate to come here.&uot;

It’s exactly what the golf course wants to hear. Compliments and praises for the condition it’s in only helps fuel the fire.

With pinpoint control from tee to green being the key this week, the golfers can ill afford to get caught up in the aesthetics of the sandy bunkers, fluffy bermuda and manicured greens.