NATCHEZ — Day two of the 2014 Beau Pré Cup Matches at Beau Pré Country Club had its share of rallies Sunday afternoon, but in the end Team St. Andrews defeated Team Carnoustie in a four-hole aggregate playoff to win the Beau Pré Cup.

“It was a great honor to be the captain of this team,” Casey Ham said. “Great matches all weekend long. This is how it should come down. This is what this is all about. It’s fun to come out here and play with your friends.”

“And it was a great honor to be his co-captain,” Jordan Farmer said. “Somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose. That’s how it is.”

Team Carnoustie went into the day’s singles matches with a one-point lead, but after nine matches were done, Team St. Andrews racked up 5 ½ points to 3 ½ points to take the lead at 12 points to 11 points.

However, in the final five matches, Team Carnoustie had a comeback of its own. Thanks to wins by Mel Beltzhoover and Lloyd Trisler as well as Jackson Bryant halving his match with Matthew Hall of Team St. Andrews, Team Carnoustie was had a chance to force a playoff. The only win in that span by Team St. Andrews came from Al Conn.

In the final match of regulation, David Cothren made a putt from five feet away on the par-5 18th hole to finish all-square with Mike Cook and force the playoff.

“I really didn’t want (aplayoff). Tom (Bryant, Team Carnoustie captain) and Lloyd (Trisler) read it. We said that it would go straight. I kept my head down. It was a good stroke and I made it.”

Ham picked Farmer to be his partner and Bryant went with Lee Jones as his partner in the playoff. The playoff took place on Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18. On the 15th hole, Farmer won the hole for Team St. Andrews with a birdie while Team Carnoustie had to settle for a par.

“We got off to a hot start and we needed to,” Farmer said. “Tom was firing right behind us. I thought I made 1, then I thought I made 2, then I made a 3.”

The par-3 16th hole provided a lot of excitement. Bryant’s tee shot ended up very close to the hole and he tapped in for birdie while Farmer narrowly missed his birdie putt and the two teams went to the par-4 17th hole tied up.

That’s where the momentum swung to Team St. Andrews. Ham lined up his second shot from 115 yards away with a gap wedge and he figured it would land close to the hole for a tap-in birdie. It was even better than that – it wound up rolling into the hole for a rare eagle-2 and a two-shot advantage.

“After I hit it, Jordan asked me if I hit it good. I said, ‘Yes, I hit it good,’ I knew it was going to be really close. It landed on the green and spun in. I got lucky,” Ham said.

Unfortunately for Team Carnoustie, both Bryant and Jones ended up missing their birdie opportunities and it was two shots down heading to the par-5 18th hole.

Both Bryant and Ham had their second shots land on the green in two. Bryant narrowly missed his eagle putt and had to settle for a birdie. Farmer missed the putt for eagle, but Ham made the birdie putt and the celebration was on.

“Tom and I played well this weekend. Lee played really good,” Farmer said.

It was indeed a tough loss for Bryant and Team Carnoustie, but he and other golfers who played in the two-day event said that this was the best Beau Pré Cup ever.

“They were better (in the playoff) than we were. I hit a good shot (on 16). Then Casey holes out on 17 and he made birdie on 18,” Bryant said. “Most of the matches were close. The putt David made on 18 that got us in the playoff, all the credit to him. Some of the pairings faired good. Some of them didn’t.”