NATCHEZ — The team of Frank Maxwell and Johnny Futch shot a 7-under-par 65 Saturday afternoon to take the lead in the championship flight of the 2009 Pilgrimage Four-Ball Invitational at Beau Pré Country Club.

The team of Eddie Meche and Todd Weber of Lafayette, La., who, like Maxwell and Futch, started its round on the first hole, shot a bogey-free round of 6-under-par 66 to end the day in second place and will be part of the final pairing when those two teams tee off at 2:12 p.m.

Meche said he and Weber were surprised at how well their round turned out to be, especially considering how windy and cool it was throughout the day.

“We were very much surprised,” Meche said. “We partnered very well today, and that’s how we got our score. We were pleased.” He and Weber started their round on the first hole.

Another person who felt that the cooler temperatures and windy conditions played a big part in how the first-round scoring turned out was Beau Pré general manager Tom Bryant.

“It was a huge factor. With the cooler temperature and the wind, the ball travels shorter. The scores are a little higher than I expected,” Bryant said. “We set it up to be difficult. For much of the day it was in the 50s. At 11 o’clock it was 47, 48.” He noted it was a far cry from the mid- and upper-70s the region has had for most of the past few weeks.

For most of the day, the two-man teams had to deal with strong west winds that at times gusted over 30 miles per hour. But with the temperature expected to max out in the mid-60s today and a lot less wind than they had to deal with on Saturday, scores should be lower.

Two teams are tied for third place in the championship flight at 5-under-par 67 — Bill Land and Page Breaux, as well as John Tally and Brian Saunier.

Several teams had a round of 4-under-par 68. Among them were Casey Ham and Jordan Farmer, as well as Lee Jones and Beck Troutman. Both of those teams played in the morning and started on No. 10.

“We birdied four of the last six (holes) to shoot 68,” Ham said. “We left a lot out there. We could’ve easily shot 65. We didn’t think 68 would be leading.”

A couple of other teams that shot 68 started played in the afternoon — John Davis and Marc Noel, who started on No. 1, and Trampus Butler and Randy Moore, who started on No. 10.

With 150 players participating in this year’s Pilgrimage Four-Ball Invitational, Bryant said he was pleased with the turnout considering how bad the weather was between late Tuesday night and early Saturday morning and also how the economy is doing.

“We started on time. The crew got on it this morning. I commend Dee Barron, the (course) superintendent, for it,” Bryant said. “Half of them are from out of town. I think the Pilgrimage helps a lot. We get a lot of players from south Louisiana. It helps Natchez and Beau Pré.”

Today’s morning tee times start at 8 and the afternoon tee times start at 1