NATCHEZ — Despite the excruciating heat and high humidity, Lou and Alan Hart of Meridian shot a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 Saturday to lead the championship flight at the 2008 Guys-N-Dolls Scramble at Beau Pré Country Club.

“We got all out of it we could today,” Lou Hart said. “We were tickled. The golf course is in great shape, which makes it conducive to good scores.”

The Harts ended up in the lead thanks to a birdie on the par-4 15th hole and an uspectacular birdie on the par-5 18th hole. They played their third shot from the bottom of a hill left of the green and Alan Hart chipped it to within three feet for birdie and he made the putt.

“We call that a natural,” Lou Hart said. “Al made every shot.”

As for how their round went, Alan Hart said, “Lou said it best. We got everything out of it we could. We made some long putts and Lou made a good chip. We were very fortunate.”

The Harts are one of only four teams that played in last year’s Guys-N-Dolls Scramble that made the trip to Natchez to play this year. In all, 15 teams are playing in this year’s event.

One of those teams was the father-daughter duo of Chester and Ashley Thompson of Baton Rouge. They were paired up with the Harts as both teams started on the first hole. The Thompsons nearly eagled the 18th hole and finished in a tie for second with a first-round score of 5-under-par 67.

The 67 they shot on Saturday was a lot better than the 72 they had in their first round a year ago, but they felt like they could have done even better.

“Lucky,” was how Chester Thompson described their round. “We had to get up and down a bunch. We had a lot of fun. “(The course) is in great condition. The ball was rolling real well. This is the third time we’ve played here and it’s the best I’ve seen it.”

On the 15th hole, Chester Thompson hit his second shot from the right rough and it landed inches from the hole before Ashley Thompson made a short putt for birdie to get them to 4-under-par for the day. Then on 18, Chester nearly holed out from just off the green for eagle.

Randal and Alice Daniel also shot a 67 while Shelton and Loretta Watts are in fourth place after shooting a 3-under-par 69.

Surprisingly, there are no local teams playing in this year’s Guys-N-Dolls Scramble and the turnout is two teams fewer than last year.

“Most of them are from southern Louisiana. Most of them are repeat teams who’ve played before,” Beau Pré golf pro Dwayne David said. “We had several area teams that signed up, but they backed out at the last second.”

That included the team of Tommy Geoghegan and Ashley Magee, which won the first flight last year. David said they were unable to play because Geoghegan’s knee had been bothering him and Magee had recently found a new job.

“The timing is tough. We might try to reconsider moving it next year and push it to a fall date,” David said. “The economy is tight. People are really watching their money this time of year.”