NATCHEZ — Despite a gloomy sky and the threat for severe weather, the Shane Seyfarth Benefit Scramble went on as scheduled Saturday morning at the Duncan Park Golf Course.

And, believe it or not, the sun was shining brightly as play was coming to an end. The wind was the only thing the 23 teams participating in this fundraising event had to really deal with.

While this was a four-man scramble, there were a few teams of three players. One of those teams ended up in first place. The team of Clay Arnold, Gene Williams and Richard McKinney, which started on No. 8, had two eagles in its first seven holes and finished with a round of 17-under-par 54.

“Some days in golf everything clicks. And everything clicked for us,” Arnold said. “Every shot we hit was right at the pin. We made three eagles from within 15 feet. It was fun because it was for a good cause.”

The winning team had eagles on No. 10, No. 14 and No. 5 – all par-5 holes – to go along with 11 birdies and four pars.

As for how they battled the wind, Arnold said, “We just kept the ball low.”

The team of Kevin Smith Jr., Christian Krueger, Russ Simonton and Hunter Ogden, which started on No. 9, finished one shot back in second place at 16-under-par 55.

“I had three players that hit the ball pretty well,” Ogden said. “We made some big putts. I had three players who can play. We knocked it up close when we had to. We had one eagle, on 5, and 14 birdies. For the most part, it (the wind) didn’t affect us too much.”

The golf tournament was part of “A Day at the Park for Shane”, tournament director Tee Cotten said.

“We ended up with 85 players. We had a great turnout. The generosity the community has shown for Shane is amazing,” Cotten said. “You never know what the weather’s going to do. But the good Lord’s blessed us with some good weather.”

Seyfarth, a single father of two, was diagnosed with colon cancer back in January and will have surgery sometime in May. The proceeds from the golf tournament will go to the Shane Seyfarth Fund. Cotten said his goal was to raise $5,000 and that it could have been exceeded.

“Shane’s got a huge personality. He loves being around people,” Cotten said. “Just a great outpouring from the community. We had a concert at the Vidalia Ampitheater last night. We had the golf tournament this morning. There’s a family-oriented get-together with food, music, kid jumps, and silent auctions.”