NATCHEZ &045; After plenty of hard work the last few days to try to dry the course Beau Pr out in time for the club championship, it was in pretty good shape, club pro Tom Bryant said.

&uot;We spent a lot of time getting the course in shape after the rains, trying to get the bunkers somewhere near dry,&uot; Bryant said. &uot;And I think the greens speed is back up about where it should be.&uot;

Sunday’s scores reflected some of the still-tough playing conditions, as almost every player in the field was several shots higher than Saturday’s scores. The course played as tough as some of the club members had ever seen it.

&uot;It was a hard course today. It probably played the longest I’ve ever played it,&uot; Dan Bland, who won the club championship, said.

Bland shot a 69 Saturday for the best round of the tournament and backed it up with a 76 Sunday, the second-best round of the second day. Which isn’t to say that Bland had an easy time out on the course.

&uot;I had five three-putts, but I just stayed in there,&uot; Bland said. &uot;My putting could probably use some work, but everybody out there had that kind of thing today.&uot;

Even so, Bland won the club championship by three strokes.

Gary Farmer, who finished in a tie for second place with Tom Matthews, agreed that the course wasn’t easy Sunday.

&uot;It was tough out there,&uot; Farmer said.

Matthews shot a 75 Sunday for the best score of the day from the black tees, good enough to move him into a tie with Farmer for second place in the championship. The championship, first and second flights all played from the black tees while the third flight played from the blue tees.

Bland was happy to get the win, especially considering he could have entered the tournament in the senior’s bracket.

&uot;I did one for the old guys out here,&uot; Bland said. &uot;I could have played with the seniors, but I wanted to win this thing.&uot;

Bland may have some competition coming from the youngest group of golfers at the tournament soon. Jordan Farmer, a Cathedral student, finished seventh in the championship flight and was at even par on the front nine before running into some problems down the stretch.

&uot;I thought he was ahead of everybody the way he was playing,&uot; Gary Farmer said.

Kurt Russ shot rounds of 75 and 76 to take top place in the first flight. In the second flight, Al Guido turned in a 73 Sunday, four strokes better than his first round score, to take the flight as one of the few golfers to play better in the second round than the first.

Paul Sparks shot 12 strokes better in his second round, shooting a 73 to take the third flight. Charles Merritt held off Charles Yarbrough to take the senior division with a combined score of 157 and Pete Buttross, the only golfer in the super senior division, shot rounds of 94 and 90.