Golfers push to finish tournament

Published 12:02 am Monday, April 8, 2013

Jay Sowers / The Natchez Democrat — Jesse Moore watches his chip shot approach the hole during the Harvest Club golf tournament on Saturday morning at the Duncan Park Golf Course in Natchez.

Jay Sowers / The Natchez Democrat — Jesse Moore watches his chip shot approach the hole during the Harvest Club golf tournament on Saturday morning at the Duncan Park Golf Course in Natchez.

NATCHEZ — Pete Powell didn’t play as well on Sunday as he did Saturday, but he played well enough to win the championship flight of the 37th annual Harvest Club Open at Duncan Park.

Powell finished with a final-round score of 3-over-par 74 to finish with a two-day total of 143 and a three-shot win over Rodney Griggs despite having some problems on the back nine.

“I just kept leaving my chip shots short. Then I just simply hit the next one six or seven feet short,” Powell said. “The whole group struggled a little bit. When you start struggling, the whole group starts struggling.”

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It wasn’t that way on the front nine for the eventual champion as Powell shot a solid front-nine score of even-par 35. And even though Powell had three bogeys on the closing nine holes, no one was able to mount a charge on the first-round leader.

Griggs, who is from Birmingham, Ala., hurt himself with a two-over 37 on the front nine and finished at 1-over-par 72 on the day for a two-day total of 146.

“The golf course played tough,” Griggs said. “I birdied 10 and 11. I chipped in for birdie on 15, the par-3, and just held it together on 16, 17 and 18. Pete played steady all day. I played for second place all day.”

One player who was hoping to gain ground on Powell was Greg Brooking. Instead, he did just the opposite and shot a final-round 5-over-par 76 to finish at 150 — still good enough for third place.

“I was tickled to finish third. I did OK,” Brooking said. “It was windy. It was tough out there, but I was satisfied. I still feel like there were tough pin placements.”

Brooking had two birdies, two bogeys and two costly double bogeys during his round.

A scorecard playoff determined first, second and third places in the first flight. James Malveaux came in first with a two-day score of 161 after a final-round 82. Morris Hughes came in second despite a final-round 80 for his 161. Sylvester Hoskins was third even though he, too, shot an 80 to finish at 161.

Wilbur Cox won the second flight in a scorecard playoff over Don Breaux after both players had two-day scores of 165. But the two had very different paths to get there. Cox shot a final-round 77 while Breaux fired an 80.

Then some confusion came in as to who should have won the third flight. Frank Ball, who started the day in the fourth flight after an opening-round score of 100, shot a final-round 77, was bumped up to the third flight and ended up in first place in that flight.

Lawrence Hill would have won that flight had it not been for Ball’s stunning round. Hill shot an 84 on Sunday to finish second at 178.

Because of Ball being bumped up a flight, Theo I. Johnson ended up winning the fourth flight. Johnson had a final-round 96 to finish at 197.

In the Masters division, Herman King shot a final-round 72 to finish in first place at 148. He ended up one shot better than Herbert Chaffold, whose final-round 73 put him at 149. First-round leader John Broussard wound up in third place after he fired a 86 to end up at 151.

Cornelius Lewis had back-to-back rounds of 85 to win the Grand Masters division with a two-day total of 170. Jimmy Champan came out of nowhere to finish second after his final-round 84 put him at 175.