For the past year, Kathy Hester has been calling newspapers, Mississippi High School Activities Association officials, and high school golf coaches all over the state in an effort to spread the word about girls’ golf.

It’s been a long, tiring effort, but on Tuesday it will all pay off when the first MHSAA girls invitational tournament takes place at Clear Creek Golf Course. A total of 23 players from 10 schools will compete for the first-ever girls state high school championship.

The one-day tournament, which will include schools of all classes, begins at 8:30 a.m. A practice round was to be played this afternoon.

The number of golfers is about half of what Hester had hoped for when she petitioned the MHSAA to add girls golf to its offerings, but she was happy to finally see her work bear fruit.

“I thought maybe I was just talking on deaf ears and nobody was listening. But somebody was listening, and it’s going to get done,” said Hester, the assistant pro at Clear Creek. “It’s headed in the right direction.”

Warren Central has three players entered in the tournament – Avis Johnson, Holly Thrash and Lyndsay McMahn – and will be one of five schools competing for a team championship. Vicksburg has only one player, Tayvi Ellis, while St. Aloysius has none.

VHS coach Mike Coleman said he tried to recruit several others for the tournament, but had trouble. He felt the simple fact that few girls have grown up playing the game was the biggest obstacle.

“I just don’t think there’s a lot of girls that are into golf,” Coleman said. “I had a couple, but they just said they had too much going on and didn’t have enough time. I’m glad we got at least one to play.”

Coleman added that he expects to have more girls playing next spring, and thinks the sport will grow from there.

“I think we’ll have two or three next year, and maybe one in the top five,” Coleman said. “If those few can get it started, maybe they’ll come back and spread the word about how fun it is.”

Hester agreed with Coleman that attitudes can change. She gave lessons to several young players last summer and sees a day when they will form the corps of a group of talented high school players.

A full year of promoting the girls’ state tournament will also help, she said. A final decision wasn’t made on this year’s invitational until after the school year started, and a number of girls who are good enough to play on boys’ teams have schedule conflicts with division tournaments this week.

“They (MHSAA) realize it’s going to take time to get it off the ground. The word is really not out yet,” Hester said. “I think next year, when they know the first of the year and schedule it, then everybody will know this is what we’re going to do.”