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HANNIBAL, MO. -- When you think of the PGA tour, the names of Tiger Woods, Jack Nickalaus and even Phil Mickleson come to mind.

But did you know there's a different kind of golf tour in to Hannibal this weekend and one of the pro's has come all the way from Clinton, Mississippi?

The Missouri Open began Friday night at Sawyer's Creek and runs through Sunday.

The pro's and the top amateurs will play two rounds on Sunday to determine who will take home the first place trophy.

This is the second year William Pierce has been a member of the U.S. Professional Miniature Golf Association. And on the weekends he plays, packs up his antique Pontiac Catalina and marks his destination on the map. Pierce makes between four and five golf tournaments a year.

"My Sunday school department went to the local miniature golf course. We had a tournament for our group. So I beat them by four strokes and they said, " William, you oughta become a miniature golf pro." That was the first time I had played in 20 years. And I beat them. So I said, you know, I'm disabled with arthritis and I can't do nothing else, maybe I'll make new friends, find me a wife. It would be fun. I love playing," Pierce said.

The Mississippi native said he got his start in the mini golf world when he was a kid and it was just last year when he beat his Sunday School group by a few strokes that they told him he should be a pro. It didn't take long for Pierce to decide that being a mini pro golfer was the thing to do.

He adds that he played in last year's Mini Golf Master's at Myrtle Beach and he plans to play in the U.S. Mini Golf Open near Chicago later this year. He said it's a way to make friends, have fun and even maybe earn a paycheck.