NATCHEZ — Once the first two individual matches of Sunday afternoon’s action at the 2007 Beau Pré Cup were over, it wasn’t a matter of when Team Carnoustie would defeat Team St. Andrews, but by how many points.

With team captain Gary Farmer leading the way with a 7 & 5 win over St. Andrews team captain Hayden Kaiser, Carnoustie dominated the individual matches 10 1/2 points to 3 1/2 points and wound up with an impressive 17 1/2 points to 10 1/2 points win to keep the Beau Pré Cup for the second year in a row.

“We didn’t do too well on the alternate shot matches. Four ball matches, the team came back strong,” Farmer said. “I played really well against Hayden. He’s a good golfer, but he didn’t play his best golf today. I got up on him on the first hole and never looked back.”

Chad Huber, Farmer’s captain’s pick, followed up with a 5 & 4 win over Wade Heatherly, Kaiser’s captain’s pick.

“Chad got up on him early. He let him back in a couple of times before beating him 5-up,” Farmer said.

After the alternate shot matches Saturday morning, St. Andrews had what appeared to be a commanding 5 1/2 point to 1 1/2 point lead over Carnoustie, only to see Carnoustie rally in the four ball matches in the afternoon to tie things up at 7 points for both teams.

Carnoustie kept the momentum going in the individual matches, winning seven of the first eight matches to go up 14 points to eight points. Farmer’s team needed just one-half of a point for Carnoustie to retain the Beau Pré Cup.

“They had the better team,” Kaiser said. “They played well. Everybody thought we were the underdogs going into the weekend. I’m proud of my team for playing well in the alternate shot matches. They outplayed us in the afternoon both days.”

Oddly enough, the only player on the St. Andrews team to win a match early on was Chuck Fields, who defeated Keith Rayborn 2-up. Fields was the captain of the Carnoustie team that defeated St. Andrews last year when he defeated St. Andrews team captain P.Z. Brewer in a playoff.

“It was a great match,” Fields said of his battle with Rayborn. “I got him down, but he won 15 and 16 to stay alive. But I knew he wasn’t going to go away easily. His driver let him down today. We came out strong (Saturday) morning, but they came back on us in the afternoon.”

The clinching point for Carnoustie was won by Bill McKenzie, who defeated Randy Johnson 5 & 4. The rest of the matches were played for pride. St. Andrews and Carnoustie had three matches finish all square. David Cothren of Carnoustie defeated Christian Krueger of St. Andrews 2 & 1 and Tom Matthews of St. Andrews defeated Trampus Butler of Carnoustie 1-up.

One of the matches that went all square was between Carnoustie’s Rob Smith and St. Andrews’s Howard Jones. Smith was 3-up on Jones at on point, but Smith’s putter let him down and Jones took advantage, winning three holes coming in to end up with a half-point for both players.