NATCHEZ — The turnout for the Norman Puckett Natchez City Junior Golf Championship was not what Duncan Park golf course superintendent Greg Brooking was hoping, or even what he expected.

But the players who did show up at 9 a.m. Monday were treated to a nice morning of golf and learned valuable lessons on how to play in a tournament format, Brooking said.

“The children that did play had a great time, and they played really good golf,” Brooking said. “I’m proud of them.”

Brooking said he had 10 players registered to play in the tournament and only three came out Monday morning. One of those players, Deshae Lomax, came all the way from Ocean Springs and played his first round of golf ever.

“I did pretty good for my first time,” Lomax said. “It was fun, not the walking, but being able to play because it’s my first time. ”

Lomax, 14, was in town staying with his grandmother, and said he and his father have wanted to learn to play golf for a long time. Lomax came to the tournament to learn the basics and plans on taking what he learned back home to teach his father, he said.

Lomax said he learned how to play, swings, clubs, what the clubs do and how to organize his bag.

He shot 8-over-par for the three-hole tournament, and said he plans on coming back to Duncan Park today to play again.

Thirteen-year-old Greg Couture of Vidalia shot the best score of the day and won the tournament. Couture shot 3-over-par, he said.

“I played pretty good, it felt pretty good (to win),” Couture said. “I’ve been playing since I was 7. (Golf) is something to look forward to and be able to calm down and go do.”

Couture’s younger sister Sarah was the only female golfer who participated in the tournament.

Sarah, 9, said she has been playing for a year and her favorite part of the game is just to go out and have the chance to hit the ball around the course. She started playing because her brother plays, she said.

Sarah and Greg’s mother Jeannie was on hand Monday to watch her children participate in the tournament.

“It’s fun watching them improve,” she said. “(Sarah) just likes swinging and hitting the ball, and it’s more like a sense of accomplishment. (Greg) likes to come out here and continuously improve his score. I’ve seen from when he was 7 to now and each time he comes out here, every year, I can see vast improvement.”

Both Sarah and Greg attended the lessons at the Norman Puckett Junior Golf Academy that led up to Monday’s tournament, Brooking said.

Brooking said events like this are important for young golfers because they teach the basics of the game, as well as golf manners and etiquette.

Next week Duncan Park will host another junior golf tournament, Brooking said. July 18 is the Norman Puckett Natchez Junior Golf Championship Tournament.

Brooking said he has approximately 40 players from all across the state registered to play so far.