The 26th annual Joe Fortunato-Allen Brown Golf Classic will take place Saturday at the Duncan Park Golf Course with shotgun starts of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Freddie Sandel, tournament chairman and President of the Miss-Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation, said he expects a big turnout for this tournament, which will be the first since Fortunato died last November.

“We hope to have 120 golfers. We have to have about that number to pay for expenses, which include $11,000 in scholarships,” Sandel said.

Sandel added there will be nothing special to honor Fortunato before the tournament gets under way Saturday morning.

“We honored him at our banquet. We had a moment of silence and we talked about him some. The golf tournament, we want it to be fun for the golfers,” Sandel said.

Ditty bags will be given to each golfer. There will also be prizes for holes-in-one, closest to the hole and longest drive as well as door prizes, raffle prizes and a ball drop.

As for the ball drop, which is for non-golfers, each ball with be sold for $20 per chance. The ball that goes in the hole wins $1,000. If more than one ball goes in the hole, the money is split.

Sandel said the raffle is for anyone and are just $5 each, and that anybody can participate in the door prizes, both of which take place after the completion of play.

“We usually have really nice (raffle) prizes. We usually have 20 to 25 door prizes,” he said.

Refreshments will be available and lunch for players and their spouses will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will also be an awards party at the Duncan Park Golf Club after play is done late in the afternoon.

Sandel said this event is about having an amazing golf experience at Duncan Park and that he wants everyone to have a good time.

“We have prizes for each flight. We have four prizes for holes-in-one sponsored by Great River Chevrolet-GMC. We have a great agenda for people,” he said. “You’ll have smiles on some of the golfers. We depend on these golfers to help with our scholarship fund.”

All proceeds support the Miss-Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholarship Fund for local scholar athletes from Natchez, Vidalia and Ferriday.