NATCHEZ — Once Team St. Andrews captain Dr. Jeff Anderson saw the results of eight of the first 14 singles matches inside the clubhouse at Beau Pré Country Club Sunday afternoon, he realized his team was in trouble.

Team St. Andrews entered the day with a one-point lead, but Team Carnoustie won six of those eight matches to take a three-point lead. Trampus Butler’s win over Stephen Hollingsworth sealed the deal as Carnoustie ended up with nine points to just five points for St. Andrews en route to a 15 ½ point to 12 ½ point win over St. Andrews to reclaim the Beau Pré Cup for the first time since 2007.

“A pretty good comeback. Our goal was to have a playoff if it came to that,” Team Carnoustie captain Robin Punches said about what would have happened if the final result would have ended up at 14 points for both teams.

“I’m really proud of my guys. They came to play today. The talent this year was better than it’s ever been. It was fun. Craig (Bradford) played lights out,” Punches added.

Team Carnoustie led 13 ½ points to 9 ½ points, and the Butler-Hollingsworth match turned out to be the deciding and clinching match.

“Started out 2-down after 2. Won No. 5 to go back 1-down. We just kept fighting it out from there. Won No. 9 with a chip in for birdie to make it all-square,” Butler said. “I won 12 and 13. On 15, he hit his second shot over the green. I hit my second shot to six feet.”

At that point, it looked like that match was on the verge of being over. But Hollingworth had other ideas as he made a remarkable chip shot from off the green for birdie and, somehow, Butler missed his birdie putt. Just like that Hollingworth was just 1-down.

But on No. 16, with the back tees playing from left of the cart path for the first time ever, Hollingsworth’s tee shot went in the water and Butler won the hole to go 2-up with two to play.

“I hit an 8-iron to within six feet on 17 to win the hole,” Butler said. “This was my biggest win individually out here since I’ve been at Beau Pré and a big win for Carnoustie.”

After Butler’s Cup-clinching win, Team Carnoustie halved two matches for the three-point win.

Bradford defeated Bill Lambert 4 & 2 to start Carnoustie’s comeback. It continued with wins by Mike Cook, Hayden Kaiser III, Al Guido, Lee Jones and Mark Carter. Carter rolled to a 6 & 5 win over Joel Dupre’.

“I played really solid today. Nothing spectacular. I was able to put some pressure on him and he made a few mistakes,” Carter said. “It’s a tough course from the black tees. If you hit a lot of fairways and greens, you’ll normally play smart.”

The match of the day had to be between the two team captains. Anderson and Punches battled back and forth, but Punches was never able to grab the momentum and an errant tee shot on No. 18 cost him as Anderson won 1-up.

“Robin was a tough player. I got up on him on the front side and he battled back n the back,” Anderson said. “He won 14 and 17 to even the match.”

“Jeff is a very good competitor. Our match was a good match,” Punches said. “I never could get over the hump. I had been hitting hook shots all day and I tried to aim at the clubhouse (on the tee shot) and I blocked it.”

Anderson’s win over Punches was one of the few highlights for Team St. Andrews on Sunday afternoon.

“When I was finished, we only had two points. We needed to win out and we didn’t,” Anderson said. “They played better than we did. Congratulations to them. Tom Bryant did a lot of hard work. I like to thank him. Perfect day. Golf course is in good shape.”