JACKSON — Greg Brooking, the golf course superintendent at Duncan Park, was looking forward to being part of the Mississippi Golf Association team at the annual Mississippi Cup Matches.

After what happened on Saturday, nothing about that has changed.

The team of the top 16 amateurs from around the Magnolia State is taking on the Mississippi PGA team, composed of the state’s 16 best golf pros, at Colonial Country Club in Jackson this weekend.

And at the end of Day 1 competition, which comprised of four-ball matches in the morning and foursome (alternate shot) matches in the afternoon, the Mississippi amateurs ended up with 12 points to just four points for the Mississippi professionals.

“We have a real nice lead. Some of the amateurs played some really good golf. We just outplayed them today,” Brooking said. “If we play tomorrow like we played today, we’ll win the Cup. We’re looking forward to it.”

Brooking teamed up with Rob Rupnik to take on the duo of Adam Scott and Joseph Hanko in one of the four-ball matches. That matched ended up all square with each team gaining a ½ point. That was one of the few bright spots for the Mississippi pros as the Mississippi amateurs six of the eight morning matches with another match finishing all square.

“Everybody played together. I was glad to be out there with the team today,” Brooking said.

The amateurs jumped out to a commanding lead at 7 points to 1 point heading into the afternoon. Even though the MPGA team tied to keep pace with the MGA team, the amateurs picked up five more points to three for the pros for what appears to be an insurmountable eight-point lead.

Then in one of the alternate shot matches, Brooking and team captain George Hinman defeated Kevin Walls and Chris Jester 3&2 to earn one point for the MGA team.

“I played well. I had good partners,” Brooking said. “Rob played real good and George played real good. We had good matches with both teams and they were good pros. Tomorrow will be heads up.”

Even though Brooking said the course at Colonial is playing good, he added that the balls were not rolling very far due to all the recent rain. He described the day as “wet, windy and cold.”

If the Mississippi amateurs pick up at least five points in today’s singles matches, which start at 8 a.m., they will win the Mississippi Cup for the third year in a row. They have to finish with at least 17 total points to do so. Brooking will take on Jim Dorman with that match’s tee time at 8:36 a.m.