Even though he shot an opening-round 66 to take the lead in the championship flight on Saturday, Pete Powell was concerned that some of the “young competition” would catch him.

Well, one person did just that. Wesley Rogers overcame a three-shot deficit to start the day by firing a 5-under-par 66 on Sunday afternoon for a two-day score of 135, which was just enough to defeat Powell by one shot at the Bill McKinney Memorial City Golf Championship at Duncan Park.

Powell had one last chance at what would have been his 12th city title after he birdied No. 17 while Rogers bogeyed that same hole to put the two competitors in a tie. However, Rogers responded with an unbelievable birdie on No. 18 to take a one-shot lead. Even though Rogers didn’t birdie the final three holes of the day, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 2, neither did Powell. Both of them had to settle for par on each of those holes.

“On 18, I hit an iron off the tee and I pulled it left. I was at 168 yards. I hit about a 50-yard hook to about a foot and a half,” Rogers said.

As for how it felt to win his first city championship, Rogers said, “Great. There are a lot of great players. It’s great to finally be city champion. I have 10 to go (to catch Powell).”

Even though the players in the championship and first flights were teeing off from the blue tees and the pin placements were some of the most difficult in the history of this tournament, Rogers said he wasn’t surprised at his final-round score.

“I had a good practice round on Friday. I had 28 putts yesterday and probably had the same today,” Rogers said. “I had a great pairing with Pete Powell.”

Rogers had six birdies in his round to go with the one bogey on 17.

Powell had chance after chance to either maintain or overtake the lead during the final round, but his putter let him down at the most inopportune times. He had a final-round score of 1-under-par 70 for a two-day total of 136.

“It was nip and tuck all day. (Rogers) hit a sweeping hook on 18 and landed a foot from the hole. That put him one up,” Powell said. “Overall, I played good and he played great. I made some par putts, but I lipped out four birdie putts. I played good.”

There was some concern that the entire final round would not take place on Sunday because of the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie.