High heat may be factor in annual women's event

The last two Lassies Classic golf tournaments have gone to extra holes to decide the champions.

With high temperatures expected today and Thursday, it may behoove the best team to eschew the extra holes this year.

The 28th annual two-woman scramble is set to begin at 8 a.m. at the Cape Girardeau Country Club. The annual event is sponsored by the club's Women's Golf Association.

A full field of 92 teams will tee off for the event, which draws golfers from Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee and has a waiting list of entrants.

Tournament chair Deb Mealy may want to keep that list handy for substitutes. She foresees no threat of rain that has lingered over the event in recent years, including a cancellation in 2001.

"The weather is going to be gorgeous," Mealy said. "It's going to be hot, but gorgeous."

The course, she said, also is in great shape for the event.

Mealy is in her second year of organizing the tournament, working this year with Joyce Kuntze. She said the event has several sponsors -- old and new -- that will help make this year's event successful.

"We've brought in some new merchandise for the pro shop for prizes for the women," Mealy said.

"It's a very positive event, and it's good for the Cape Girardeau area," she added. "There are ladies who will come in and spend two or three nights here."

The tournament also includes some good competition. Last year, Cape Country Club members Robyn Young and Leslie Steele won on the second playoff hole against defending champions Harriette Myers and Diane Fowler of New Madrid.

Myers and Fowler had won in 2004 in a playoff for their sixth title.

Other past champions in the field are the team of Vickie Long and Janice Hoffman and the team of Martha Hamilton and Barb Johnson. Past champions Betty Belote and Judy Brey are part of different pairings this year.