Butler, Moore win Beau Pré tournament

Published 12:26 am Monday, July 23, 2007

NATCHEZ — While one team struggled, another team flourished in the final round of the 2007 Beau Pré Member/Guest Golf Tournament Sunday at Beau Pré Country Club.

Trampus Butler and Randy Moore backed up their first-round 66 with a bogey-free, 7-under-par 65 to finish with a two-day score of 131 and a four-shot win in the championship flight.

“It was good. Randy played real good,” Butler said. “I knew we had to (shoot a low score) with the competition that was out there.”

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Butler and Moore were at 2-under on the day and figured they had to get things going on the back nine if they were going to have any chance of at least staying in contention. They did that and then some.

“I thought we were going to be way behind the leaders,” Butler said. “We had to step it up.”

Butler made birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 12 to get the team to 5-under on the day and 11-under for the tournament. After Butler hit a couple of bad shots on Nos. 14 and 16, Moore made key par putts on both holes. In between those holes, they got a birdie on No. 15 and finished their round with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole.

After that, it was a matter of waiting to see what the two teams in the final pairing would do.

Tom Matthews and Jason Rooks had the lead going into the final round with a 64, but couldn’t get much going and finished with a disappointing 1-under 71 to finish at 135 while Bill Byrne and Kevin Smith shot a 3-under 69 to finish in a tie for second with Matthews and Rooks at 135.

“We just didn’t make any putts,” Rooks said.

Only two other teams in the championship flight shot under par in the final round. Jeff Anderson and Casey Hamm fired a 67 to finish fourth at 136 while Craig Bradford and David Harris had a 71 to finish sixth at 143.

“I had a guest in today, my wife’s cousin from Houston, Texas,” Bradford said. “We played good. We had a good time. The weather was beautiful.”

Chuck Fields and Charlie Fife had a final-round score of 1-under 71 and won the first flight with a two-day score of 146.

“We played a little better today. We putted better today,” Fields said. “We didn’t have any three-putts today. Had a lot of fun.”

“It was good,” said Fife, from Lafayette, La. “Got to play with one of my oldest friends of 40 years. The course is perfect. If you’re not standing right over your ball, you’ve lost it. Championship rough.”

Richard Edgin and Charlie Rogers had a good round going and were a 4-under for the day going into the 14th hole. But bogeys on Nos. 14 and 17 and a quadruple bogey-8 on the par-4 15th proved to be costly as they finished at 2-over 74 and finished one shot back at 147.

“We gassed,” said Rogers, who lives in Hattiesburg.

Clay Arnold and Jamie Spring won the second flight as they shot a final-round 74 to finish at 150.

“Honestly, it was pretty hard,” said Spring, who lives in Vidalia. “It’s a great course, but it’s tough. It was nice this morning. Made a few more putts. That’s what it came down to today.”