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GREENWOOD, Miss. — 30 under. That was the goal for many teams heading into the week at the Mississippi Men’s Four-Ball Championship presented by Cannon Motors.

With Greenwood Country Club as the site, much of the field was familiar with the course, playing the Delta gem just two weeks prior for the coveted stroke play event — the Greenwood Invitational. Tipping out at just over 6,200 yards, the old-school course is conducive for going low, especially in a four-ball format. 

While no duo hit the lofty goal, one team came dangerously close to the mark en route to victory. Oxford’s Brett Patterson and Hattiesburg’s Ben Snow made a Sunday charge that would garner respect from Tiger Woods himself.

Patterson and Snow opened the weekend with an opening round 61 (-11). That would hold the lead in most events, but not in Mississippi. Southern Miss men’s golf head coach Eddie Brescher and Austin Smithers blew the lid off of Greenwood CC with a first-round 58 (-14).

Three back of the lead heading into Saturday’s penultimate championship round, Patterson and Snow closed the gap to just one shot with a 65 while Brescher and Smithers fell off their record-breaking pace with a 67.

Knowing Coach Brescher and Smithers could have a repeat of Friday’s first round, Patterson and Snow knew they were up for a test.

“It’s more about attitude,” Snow told the MGA following Sunday’s final round. “Neither one of us doubted for a second that we didn’t have a chance.”

Patterson and Snow found themselves down to Brescher and Smithers by three shots in the first three holes. Just as quickly as they were down, they stormed back to finish the front nine up three shots on Brescher and Smithers with nine holes to play.

Taking the momentum to the back nine, Patterson and Snow were able to tack on a few more birdies to take a four-shot lead over Brescher and Smithers while commanding a three-shot lead on Michael Naaman and Drew Wilson who were the clubhouse leaders at 25 under.

Standing on the par-5 18th hole, Patterson and Snow knew they practically had the win in hand, but were wanting to hit the magic number of -30.

Pin-high in two, Patterson missed a chip-in for the walk-off, leaving the floor for the man with a hot putter. Snow had 25 feet, right to left, back up a slight slope. It looked good the whole way until it ran out of speed to hold the line, leaving a tap-in and forcing the pair to settle for 29 under.

Cleaning up his birdie and the win, Snow immediately turned to Patterson to celebrate. Job done.

The win was Patterson’s second win at Greenwood this summer. He took home the aforementioned Greenwood Invitational by five shots, getting to 20 under on his own. But when asked about this week specifically, Patterson knew he couldn’t have done it without his partner.

“Snow played unreal today,” Patterson said. “We would not have won today without him making the putts that he did. Honestly, he was due. He was rolling it well the last two days and nothing would really fall. Early on (in the final round) he just center-cut just about everything. It was really good to see.”