NATCHEZ — The 22nd annual United Way Golf Scramble ended abruptly due to a heavy afternoon thunderstorm.

Before the tournament was called off, organizer Tammy Prince rallied a group of golfers inside Beau Pre Country Club’s clubhouse after Entergy’s Bobby Brown predicted the heavy rains would stop soon.

“Do y’all want to play in this?” Prince asked the golfers with the rain still coming down hard outside.

“Yes!” They answered emphatically in unison.

Unfortunately, the weather prohibited the group of golfers to resurface on the green, forcing the second rain stoppage in the last three years for the United Way Golf Scramble.

“If these people want to stay and play late tonight, that’s fine with me,” Prince said. “But things happen that are out of your control.”

Because of the abrupt ending, tournament organizers took to the scorecards and declared a winner based off of the best scores after the first nine holes. Isle of Capri, the four-man team of Chip Bunyard, Tom Bryant, Priss Bryant and Tommy Geoghegan, had the best score after nine holes, earning them the victory.

“We were 9-under after nine holes,” Tom said. “My wife, Priss, played really well. We all played well, actually. It was a group effort.”

Tom was also the winner of the closest to the hole award, while Kevin Smith of United Mississippi Bank had the longest drive. Ruthie Hinton won the ball drop.

Teams that participated in the event were Concordia Bank, The Markets, UMB, Isle of Capri, Callon Petroleum and Entergy.