NATCHEZ — In his first year competing in the Beau Pré Cup Championship, Michael Blain wanted nothing less than a win.

Though the captain dropped his individual match Sunday morning, Blain led Team Carnoustie to a one-point victory over Team St. Andrews in this year’s cup action, 14.5-13.5.

“It feels good now that it’s over,” Blain said. “The team played well even though they had to carry their captain.”

Carnoustie was able to hold onto the slight lead it held after Saturday’s action, with each team winning half of the 14 individual matches on Sunday.

“We ended up needing that one point from yesterday,” Blain said. “Everybody wanted to see it close, so it worked out good. It was fun being close because everyone ends up watching. You don’t want it to end when there are three or four matches out that essentially don’t mean anything.”

Blain was matched Sunday morning with Keith Rayborn — captain of St. Andrews — in which he was defeated by six holes with fives holes to play.

Rayborn — also playing in his first Beau Pré Cup — said though his team did not come out on top, he was still pleased with its performance.

“Even though I didn’t win, it was fun. When you get down to one point, you can’t complain about that,” he said. “When Michael and I sat down to do the pairings, we matched the teams up the best we could. It worked out good. They were great matches.

“We have a lot of good golfers here, and these are the best we have. Nobody slipped in and got a free ride this year. You can’t beat it.”

Beau Pré Golf Pro Bobby McCrimmon agreed the cup is all in good spirit.

“They talk smack, but they have fun too,” he said.

McCrimmon also noted the high caliber of competition and said it was all up to the captains to decide the matches.

“Out of all the clubs that I have been at, there are more single-digit handicap players here,” he said. “All I did was scoring, so I stayed out of it.”

With his first win in the books, Blain said he can’t wait to do it again.

“We are all friends, so it’s a great tournament,” he said. “Everyone always told me how fun it was, and now I can say it is.”