NATCHEZ &045; It was a great two-day period for the state of Texas in Week 5 of the 2005 Isle of Capri Gals-N-Pals Tournament at Beau Pr Country Club.

Sam Baker of Lakeway, Texas, at the age of 72, had his first-ever hole-in-one and Mark and Tammy Greene of Kilgore, Texas backed up their first-round, 7-under-par 65 on Monday with an even more impressive 8-under 64 on Tuesday to finish at 15-under 129 to win the championship flight by an astounding four shots.

&uot;We’re used to playing in the heat, so it wasn’t that bad,&uot; Tammy Greene said. &uot;He plays every day. It was really him. Mark’s the real golfer in the family. We’re very excited.&uot;

&uot;Tammy got us going,&uot; Mark Greene said. &uot;She made a long putt on No. 3. We had made a bogey on No. 2. We then ran off five straight birdies after that. On the first day, we scored better on the back nine. Today we scored better on the front nine.&uot;

Dan and Judy Murphy of Hernando was one of the few non-Texas teams to play well and it showed in their second-place finish with solid rounds of 67 and 66 to finish at 133.

Don and Debra White, also from Kilgore, won a scorecard playoff over Bob and Tina McCurdy from San Antonio, Texas on hole No. 10 after both teams finished at 135. The Whites had rounds of 67 and 68 while the McCurdys had rounds of 68 and 67.

&uot;We played pretty good. We just couldn’t make any putts,&uot; Debra White said.

&uot;They (their scores) were pretty good, but they could’ve been better,&uot; Don White said. &uot;On the 67, we had two bogeys.&uot;

&uot;We were really surprised that we did (finish third),&uot; Debra White said. &uot;It was fun. Very hot, but lots of fun.&uot;

Baker’s hole-in-one on Tuesday was on No. 7 with a 9-iron from 130 yards away. Witnesses to his ace were his wife Jana Baker and Bill and Patsy Graser from Bella Vista, Ark.

&uot;It hit the flagstick and went straight in,&uot; Baker said. &uot;It stayed in the cup. I was completely surprised and thrilled to death. They were ecstatic.&uot;

And it was a good early birthday present for Baker, who turns 73 on June 30 and received a golf bag during the awards dinner at the Isle of Capri Casino’s Caribbean Cove.

There were six flights, championship through fifth, and of the total of 18 teams that finished in the top three in each flight that automatically qualify for the Grand Finale next month, 13 of them were from the Lone Star State.

Jess and Janice Stephens, also from Kilgore, won the first flight with rounds of 70 and 68 to finish at 138, one shot ahead of Ken and Candy Francis of Austin, Texas, whose rounds of 70 and 69 gave them a two-day score of 139.

Jim and Ann Hollingsworth, also from Hernando, had rounds of 71 and 69 to finish at 140, good enough for third place.

Stan and April Hix from Pasadena, Texas broke a five-way tie for first place after round one to win the second flight. The Hixes had rounds of 74 and 71 to finish at 145.

And after two bad holes midway through the back nine, they rallied down the stretch, including birdies on two of the toughest holes on Beau Pr’s golf course.

&uot;We didn’t think we could do it,&uot; April Hix said. &uot;We had a double bogey on 13 and a bogey on 14. We then had birdies on 15, 16 and 17 and almost had a birdie on 18. We were mad when we had that double. But we fought back.&uot;