NATCHEZ &045; Just like Day 1, Day 2 of the 2004 Beau Pr Cup was very competitive and filled with emotions from both Team St. Andrews and Team Carnoustie.

But for the first time, the outcome of this event was actually in doubt going into Sunday’s singles matches &045; and it came down to the final hole of the final match Sunday between St. Andrews’ Trampus Butler and Carnoustie’s C.C. Barnes &045; which is the way team captains Rob Smith and Bill Lambert wanted it.

Butler and Barnes ended up splitting the 18th hole as Butler won 1-up to give St. Andrews a 14 1/2 point to 13 1/2 point win over Carnoustie and the Beau Pr Cup for the second straight year as both teams teams had seven points on Sunday.

&uot;The last few years this event has been decided before Sunday’s matches,&uot; Smith said. &uot;Bill and I paired up the individual matches with the most competitive matches possible. It went down to the final match.&uot;

Taking a 7 1/2 point to 6 1/2 point lead after Saturday’s best ball and alternate shot matches, St. Andrews appeared ready to run away with the Beau Pr Cup after Smith defeated Gary Farmer 3 & 2, Mel Beltzhoover defeated Jeff Anderson 5 & 4, and a tie between Jerry Pyron and Carnoustie’s Bill McKenzie to give them 2 1/2 points right off the bat.

But Carnoustie showed a lot of resolve in winning the next four matches, none of which made it to No. 18 &045; Mike Cook defeated Richard Edgin 2 & 1, Bobby Meason defeated Kent Hudson 4 & 3, Lambert defeated Paul Sparks 3 & 2, and David Harris defeated Bubba Kaiser 5 & 4.

&uot;It was kind of ugly,&uot; Cook said of his match against Edgin. &uot;The truth is I hit one less ugly shot than Richard did, so I won the match. It was a fun match. Everyone had a good time. We both hit it kind of sideways today, but I was lucky enough to hit one less bad shot than he did.&uot;

Carnoustie took an 11-10 lead on the strength of those four matches, but St. Andrews’s Mitch Ashmore defeated Carnoustie’s Robin Punches 3 & 2 for an 11-11 tie with six matches remaining &045; and that’s when the fun started.

Hayden Kaiser defeated Ward Graning 1-up by winning 18 to give St. Andrews the lead once again at 12-11, but Lloyd Trisler defeated P.Z. Brewer 4 & 3 to tie the score at 12.

Then it appeared like Team Carnoustie was ready to take back the Beau Pr Cup for the first time in two years when Kurt Russ hit his third shot from 170 yards out on 18 that rolled in and then out of the hole and landed just inches from the hole that gave him a 1-up win over Kevin Smith.

Then Chuck Fields made a dramatic birdie putt from about 40 feet after narrowly getting on the green on his third shot from the bunker and watched Dan Bland, who was 1-up on Fields going into 18, miss his birdie putt as Fields won the hole to finish the match all-square and a half-point for both teams as Team Carnoustie took a 13 1/2 to 12 1/2 point lead with just two matches remaining.

&uot;I felt at that point we were going to win it,&uot; Lambert said. &uot;We had to win the last hole and we tied it. The teams were matched up better than they ever have been. We really couldn’t have played much better. We matched our best players with their best players. It came down to the last hole of the last match.&uot;

Before the Butler-Barnes match went to 18, Tom Matthews defeated Howard Jones 2 & 1 that gave Team St. Andrews the one point it needed to even things up at 13 1/2 points each, giving both teams a chance to win the Beau Pr Cup.

&uot;This is the first time in the six years of this event that this went down to the final match,&uot; Smith said. &uot;That’s what we were trying to accomplish. It’s been pretty much even.