NATCHEZ &045; Two years ago, John Davis and Bill Land of Lafayette, La., had to settle for being co-champions of the Budweiser 4-Ball Invitational with Rod Baronet and Frank Brame.

This year, they have the championship all to themselves.

Davis and Land backed up their 8-under-par 64 on Saturday with an outstanding 7-under-par 65 on Sunday to finish at 15-under-par 129 and a commanding, yet perhaps surprising, six-shot win over Frank Maxwell and Greg Hogue of Rayville, La., at Beau Pr.

&uot;We’ve been playing together as a team for 10 years,&uot; Davis said. &uot;We didn’t get to defend last year.&uot;

As for if they thought they would put together two solid rounds and two low scores, especially with every team playing from the black tees and with tough pin placements on Sunday, Davis said, &uot;With the conditions of the golf course and the greens holding, yeah.

&uot;I hit it real close to the hole and made five birdies on the front nine,&uot; Davis said.

Those five birdies pretty much ended any chance for Howard and Lee Jones of Natchez, who were playing in the final pairing of the day with Davis and Land, to make a comeback.

Maxwell and Hogue finished a somewhat surprising second with a solid final-round 4-under 68 to finish at 135.

&uot;With the exception of two bogeys, we played real good,&uot; Hogue said. &uot;We had a couple of three putts that really cost us, but we made a couple of other good putts. That evened everything out. We also had a couple of good fairway shots that gave us some tap-in birdies.&uot;

The Joneses, two shots back and tied for second going into Sunday’s final round, struggled with both the long tees and the pin placements as they ended up shooting a 2-under 70, which included a costly bogey at the par-3 16th hole, to finish third in the championship flight.

&uot;(Tom Bryant) backed us up on the black tees and it just played a lot tougher today,&uot; Howard Jones said. &uot;We played well. Lee played well Saturday and I played pretty well today. We just couldn’t get it together at the same time.&uot;

Mac and Wes Watts of Baton Rouge shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday to finish at 140 and, thanks to a birdie on the par-5 10th hole, take first place in the first flight over two other teams in a scorecard playoff.

&uot;We made a few putts,&uot; Mac Watts said. &uot;The (pin placements) were harder today. We had five birdies and one bogey. We were really happy (with the 68). We hit the ball really good.&uot;

&uot;A 68 on this course is pretty good,&uot; Wes Watts said. &uot;It’s always good to win. We figured coming in we would have to shoot a 6-under to win. We three-putted No. 8.&uot;

Chuck Fields and Richard Edgin of Natchez shot a final-round 69 to finish at 140 and in a tie for second place with Randy Moore of New Roads, La. and Tommy Langlois of Zachary, La., who shot back-to-back rounds of 2-under 70.

&uot;We hit it real good and didn’t make many putts,&uot; Fields said. &uot;It was one of those days where we could’ve shot real low, but we didn’t. Actually, I’m pleased with (a tie for second) because there weren’t some better scores. A 69 and second place, I’m happy with that.&uot;

Fields said that with the course being in such great shape and perfect weather all weekend long &045; no rain, no wind &045; he was stunned that the scores did not go as low as they could have.