NATCHEZ — The final round of the 2008 Guys-N-Dolls Scramble went on as scheduled Sunday at Beau Pré Country Club despite strong thunderstorms that barreled through the Miss-Lou earlier in the morning.

The rain softened up the course even more than it was on Saturday and Lou and Alan Hart of Meridian took advantage as they shot a final-round 9-under-par 63 to win the championship flight by six shots over Chester and Ashley Thompson of Baton Rouge.

“My husband (Alan) and I hit the ball well. He’s been working on his game and he really played well,” Lou Hart said. The Harts had nine birdies in their final round as they finished in first place for the second straight year — this time by themselves.

“We wish Ronnie and Pam (Posey) were here. They had a scheduling conflict,” Alan Hart said of the team that finished in tie for first place with the Harts a year ago. “It’s always fun to come here. We enjoy the people, enjoy the golf course, and enjoy Natchez.”

And even though there were scattered reports on downed tree limbs and power lines in Natchez, Beau Pré itself didn’t have the torrential downpours and strong winds that accompanied that particular line of storms.

While one round of storms missed Beau Pré to the east, the second round did not. And even though most of the groups were able to finish their rounds before the horn sounded at 1:20 p.m., the Harts and the Thompsons were not so lucky. Those two teams had to wait 32 minutes before deciding to finish their round on No. 18, which was their last hole of the day, instead of taking a par as golf pro Dwayne David suggested a couple of times.

“It was an interesting day,” Alan Hart said. “We were lucky to get it in. Lou played good. We hit the ball better and we hit it closer, especially Lou.”

As for the Thompsons, a slow start took away any chances of possibly catching the Harts. They wound up shooting a 6-under-par 66 to finish with a two-day score of 133.

“We played poorly on the front nine, but we birdied the last two holes,” Chester Thompson said. “On the back, we were 4-under. I don’t think we would have caught them.”

“He played well. My dad played well,” Ashley Thompson said about Chester.

Randal and Alice Daniel, also from Baton Rouge, finished third despite a final-round 72 to finish at 139.

“We didn’t putt as well today,” Randal Daniel said. “Yesterday we had six (birdies). Today we had two.”

“This is a beautiful course,” Alice Daniel said. “This is the first one of these we’ve played in and we’re getting used to the competition. We met some delightful people to play with. We had a lot of fun. We were paired with Shelton and Loretta Watts. Randal and Shelton used to play high school sports against each other. Shelton went to Central and Randal went to Zachary.”

Another team from Baton Rouge, Robert and Kathleen Garrison, finished fourth after firing a 3-under-par 69 to finish at 140.

“We missed 10 birdie putts. We played well,” Robert Garrison said. “The golf course is in fantastic shape. Randal Daniel is a sandbagger. We play every Sunday at University Club in Baton Rouge. We see Ashley and her father here every year.”

Sam and Nona Fowler won the first flight after shooting a final-round 74 for a two-day score of 152, two shots ahead of Mike and Sandra Taylor.