After being forced to move away from the Vicksburg Country Club because of aerated greens, the St. Aloysius golf team will be back on its home course for the Class 1A State Golf Championships.

Flashes coach Jim Taylor, couldn’t be happier. The tournament, which will feature five teams and a handful of individual golfers, will tee off on Tuesday at 9 a.m. The second and final round will be on Wednesday.

“The Country Club is our home course and it gives us an advantage,” Taylor said. “Last year, I thought the course at Natchez hurt us.

“I have some little guys on my team and we were on a very long course. The (VCC) is shorter. It’s also very hilly which will make it different for many of the other teams.”

The course is also familiar ground for 1A medalist contender Chase Smith.

“Chase grew up on this course since his dad was the club pro here for so long. He’s got a good chance to vie for medalist honors,” Taylor added. Kent Smith, Chase’s father, is now the club pro at Clear Creek.

“We’ll have five teams and five other kids playing as individuals for the medalist. It’s about 30 kids in all,” Taylor said.

VCC club pro Thom Gilfoil said the top golfers will tee off first.

“We’ll put the speedy players out front first and somebody like Chase could make the turn around 11 (a.m.),” Gilfoil said. “It’s a neat event for us because it’s like two different tournaments. You have the individual medalist tournament along with a team tournament.”

West Union is the defending 1A champion. They will battle St. Al, Natchez Catherdal, Union and Desoto Central for the team crown.

Country Club hosting 4 events following repairs to greens

With the greens back in shape, the Vicksburg Country Club is ready for Tuesday’s Class 1A State Golf Tournament.

The two-day prep tournament will be the first of four big events for the VCC over the next five weeks.

The Class 1A State Tournament will tee off Tuesday at 9 a.m. with 18 holes of play. The tournament will conclude on Wednesday.

On May 21-22, the VCC will host its 2005 BancorpSouth Spring Scramble. The entry fee for this tournament will be $250 per team.

On June 11-12, the third annual Teddy Smith Memorial Golf Tournament will start at VCC for the first round. The individual, stroke-play event will conclude with the second round at Clear Creek Golf Course.

VCC club pro Thom Gilfoil said the 1A District Tournament, which was scheduled for the VCC, had to be moved to Clear Creek because of the condition of the greens.

“We had our greens aerated that week and we just had too much sand on the greens and it wasn’t ready for the district tournament,” Gilfoil said. “The course is in fine shape now. We’re looking forward to having the 1A State Tournament.”

Following the prep tournament, Gilfoil and his crew will have about two weeks to prepare for the BancorpSouth Tournament.

“That is our spring scramble and we expect between 65 and 80, two-man teams. It’s our biggest event because it draws over 150 golfers to our course,” Gilfoil said.

“Then after that, we have the Teddy Smith Memorial which is kindu of takes on the role as the (Warren) County Championship. We’ll host the first round on June 11 and then it goes to Clear Creek the next day. It makes it unique for a stroke play format,” he said.

Paul Loyacono says his brother’s memorial as grown each year.

“We had 55 sign up for the first year and then we had 68 last year. We expect it to grow even more this year because it’s a different type of tournament with play on two different type courses,” he said.