NATCHEZ &045; The team of Mary Kate Byrne and Neil Partridge was almost unstoppable and definitely unbeatable, and that was not good news for the other four teams in the championship flight of the Guys-N-Dolls Scramble.

Byrne and Partridge finished with 12 birdies on Beau Pr’s golf course, seven on the back nine, and only a bogey on No. 14 temporarily slowed them down en route to an 11-under-par 61 to back up their first-round 62 for a two-day score of 123 and the championship.

Byrne and Partridge had only one birdie on their first three holes, but a string of birdies on Nos. 4, 5 and 6 got them going and there was no looking back.

&uot;We tried to keep it in the fairway. We were playing real well,&uot; Byrne said. &uot;I was putting pretty good today. Neil is a very good player. He crushes the ball on every hole. It was fun. It’s a great tournament.&uot;

As for what happened on No. 14, Byrne said, &uot;The second shot was tough. We couldn’t get on the green in two. We were just trying to get a par. We missed the putt for par.&uot;

After that, Byrne and Partridge birdied three of the last four holes, with Byrne making birdie putts on Nos. 15 and 17. She narrowly missed a putt for eagle on the par-5 18th hole after they got on the green in two.

&uot;Mary Kate putted real well,&uot; Partridge said. &uot;I hit the ball real good and she hit the ball real good. We had one mistake on 14.&uot;

Partridge said he had a feeling he and Byrne would have to shoot at least what they shot on Saturday for them to have a chance to win.

That final-round 61 turned out to be more than enough.

Stephen Hollingsworth and Sally Durkin, who entered the final round tied with the Byrne-Partridge team, couldn’t keep their momentum going, yet still shot a bogey-free, 6-under 66 to finish at 128 and second place.

&uot;We couldn’t get the putts to fall,&uot; Hollingsworth said. &uot;We didn’t play much worse. We just didn’t score today. Twenty-one under for two days is pretty strong. They’re good players. We had to play lights out today and we didn’t do it.&uot;

&uot;They played great,&uot; Durkin said of Byrne and Partridge. &uot;They made all the putts. We couldn’t get on the greens. The heat was a factor.&uot;

There was also a hole-in-one during the Guys-N-Dolls Scramble.

Debbie Ward of Vicksburg had her first-ever ace on Saturday on No. 7 from 98 yards out with a pitching wedge. Witnesses were Debbie’s husband Thomas Ward, also from Vicksburg, Judy and Sandy Smith, and Doug Deloney and Stacie Roberson.

&uot;It hit on the green, took one bounce and rolled in,&uot; Thomas Ward said.

&uot;I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t see it go in,&uot; Debbie Ward said. &uot;I was hard to believe until I pulled it out of the hole. They were hollering and shaking hands and hugging me.&uot;

Brandon Wells and Peggy Berniard shot a final-round, 4-under 68, which included five birdies, to win the first flight with a two-day score of 140.

&uot;We made putts today,&uot; Wells said. &uot;We couldn’t make any putts yesterday. We knew we could do it (shoot a 68) yesterday. A lot of missed opportunities. We made up for it today.&uot;

Gussie and Royce Dunn took the second flight as they shot a final-round 76 to finish at 155.

But 36 holes weren’t enough to determine second place in that flight. The teams of Doug Deloney and Stacie Roberson and Gaven and Keith Ravencraft had to settle it in the first-ever putt-off in Beau Pr history.

Deloney and Roberson shot a final-round 78 to finish at 158 while the Ravencrafts shot a second straight 79 to also finish at 158. They then went to the putting green next to the clubhouse.

Roberson’s putt was the closest to the hole and she and Deloney took second place.