By Staff
JUST MISSED Tootie Ellis watches his put on the 17th green pull to the left during the Harry Lackey Labor Day Tournament at Briarwood Country Club on Saturday.Photo By Kyle Carter / The Meridian Star
By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Aug. 31, 2003
Birdies on five of the first seven holes propelled the team of Benjy Baskin and Stan Fisher to the top of the leaderboard at the Harry Lackey Labor Day Golf Tournament on Saturday.
Baskin and Fisher shot a nine-under 63 to lead by two shots after the tournament's first day. Two teams turned in scores of 65, and two teams shot 66. A total of 21 of the tournament's 63 teams shot even par or better on the 6,500-yard par-72 course at Briarwood Country Club.
The tournament was played under a four-ball format, in which a pair of golfers each play the hole. The better score among the two is the team's score on that hole.
Teams teed off on shotgun starts at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Baskin and Fisher were in the afternoon field and may have been aided by light rain late in the morning.
"It (the course) was pretty favorable," Fisher said. "The greens were soft, so we were able to hit at the pins. I suspect it played a little longer this afternoon than it did in the morning."
Fisher and Baskin have played in the annual tournament before and have never won, but have been in