NATCHEZ &045; Last year John and Cecilia Vinson of Batesville, Ark., had to shoot a 59 to win the Isle of Capri Gals-N-Pals Tournament’s Grand Finale at Beau Pr Country Club.

This year, it looked like they were going to have shoot a similar score to overtake Mark and Tammy Greene of Kilgore, Texas, who shot a blistering 11-under-par 61 to take the first-round lead by two shots over the Vinsons on Monday.

However, that would not be the case as the Vinsons shot a 9-under 63 on Tuesday to finish at 126 to become Grand Champions for the second straight year. The Greenes ended up with a final-round 67 to finish in second place at 128.

The first-place winners in each flight won a four-day, three-night round trip to the Bahamas. The second-place teams in each flight won a vacation to the new Isle of Capri Resort in Biloxi. The third-place teams in each flight won a free entry to next year’s Gals-N-Pals Tournament.

&uot;We made several long putts both days. But we missed some short ones, too,&uot; John Vinson said. &uot;We birdied four of the last five coming in.&uot;

&uot;But we didn’t think it was going to be enough,&uot; Cecilia Vinson said. &uot;We thought we were going to have to shoot another 59.&uot;

Yet things didn’t go the Greenes’ way on Tuesday like it did on Monday, which as Tammy Greene said, was &uot;an awesome round of golf.&uot;

&uot;We made a lot of putts,&uot; she continued. &uot;Then the wheels fell off. We made a birdie on the first hole and we thought, ‘here we go.’ But we couldn’t get going after that. We had a good time and loved the course.&uot;

When asked how it felt to be Grand Champion for the second year in a row, Cecilia Vinson said, &uot;We wanted to do it, but we didn’t know if we could do it.&uot;

&uot;I knew we could,&uot; John Vinson said.

Ken and Janet Miller of Tulsa, Okla., finished third in the championship flight with solid rounds of 64 and 66 to finish at 130.

&uot;Since we have come to Gals-N-Pals, we have come to love Natchez,&uot; Ken Miller said.

Bill and Joan Rigsby of Houma, La., shot a final-round, 5-under 67 to finish at 137 to win the first flight.

&uot;We hit it pretty good,&uot; Bill Rigsby said. &uot;We played all right.&uot;

&uot;This is the first time we’ve placed in the Finale,&uot; Joan Rigsby said. &uot;He hits the ball really good. He hit some excellent shots. We love this tournament. Anne (Flowers) and Baxter (Lee) are so nice.&uot;

Don and Debra White, also from Kilgore, defeated Colbert and Doris Gill of Cherokee Village, Ark., on a scorecard playoff to determine second and third place in the first flight after both teams had two-day scores of 138.

&uot;We made putts,&uot; Debra White said. &uot;We couldn’t make any putts yesterday, but we made a lot of them today. We were surprised we even placed. It was hot. The humidity was really high. But we had fun.&uot;

&uot;We didn’t expect to play that good,&uot; Doris Gill said. &uot;We had two bogeys and seven birdies. The greens were good. Every hole is different. It has a challenge to it. It’s a really nice tournament.&uot;

Dave and Becky Stritzel of Diamondhead defeated Dick and Faye Stewart of Rolla, Mo., on a scorecard playoff to win the second flight as both teams shot final-round 69s to finish at 142.

&uot;The first day was hotter,&uot; Becky Stritzel said.

&uot;We had a few putts drop in today,&uot; Dave Stritzel said. &uot;We were standing over four birdie putts. If they had gone in we would’ve shot a 65.&uot;