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FLOWOOD, MS. — Two golfers put a dominant punctuation to the end of the 2024 Mississippi Golf Association's season over the weekend.

Brett Patterson and Dejone Lee left no doubt in their respective wins in both the Men’s and Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships. Patterson (-15) went wire-to-wire en route to a three-shot victory for his first solo-win of the season. Lee’s (+1) victory can be better described as a leisurely Sunday stroll as she cruised to a 14-shot win for the Women’s title.

Patterson, who currently teaches at Ole Miss, had spent his past month helping his students prepare and get through midterms which led to him woefully neglecting his golf game. Friday’s first round at The Refuge was the first 18-hole round he had played in nearly a month. But, for one of the state’s best amateur players, his rustiness may look a bit different than yours or mine.

Patterson carded an opening bogey-free, 7-under 65 to kick off the tournament, placing him one shot clear of the field ahead of the weekend. 

Surely it was a fluke, right? Wrong.

The 32-year-old Oxford resident backed it up with another bogey-free round 66. Now at 13 under, Patterson had plenty of company on his heels as the tournament, and the 2024 season, were coming to a close.

Hattiesburg’s Austin Smithers (-9) and Camilo Avila (-8) posed as the primary threat alongside Madison’s EJ Blanchard (-8). Lurking on the outskirts of striking range were Southern Miss men’s head golf coach, Eddie Brescher (-5) and Patterson’s four-ball championship winning teammate, Ben Snow (-4) who were both looking to apply the pressure and make a Sunday charge.

Snow and Brescher did just that. ‘The Snowman’ stormed through the pack to claw his way into a solo third place finish at -10 for the tournament with a final round 66. Brescher did one better with a final round 65 and the clubhouse lead at 12 under.

Still on the course, Patterson had a three-shot cushion to work with as he came down the stretch. His playing partners, Smithers (-8) and Blanchard (-4) simply could not get putts to fall, giving them a front-row seat to the conclusion of Patterson’s week-long clinic. They would finish T5 and 9th, respectively.

In the penultimate group, Avilia (-8) had a rollercoaster round, unable to keep momentum on his scorecard and matching his six birdies with bogeys for a final round 72 and a T5 finish.

Patterson went 41 holes without a bogey, netting back-to-back bogies on Nos. 6 and 7 on Sunday. After earning the dropped shots back with birdies on Nos. 11 and 12, Patterson closed his scoring with a birdie on the par-4 14th before cruising into the clubhouse with four straight pars for a final round 70.

“Today played a lot harder,” Patterson said following the win. “Eddie (Brescher), and I saw, Ben Snow both played really well. It definitely made me tighten up a little bit coming down the stretch there so I was glad to be able to shoot three under on the back, close out strong and it’s a nice way to close out the year.”

The win marks Patterson’s second MGA Championship of the season and his third total in 2024 (Greenwood Invitational).

On the women’s side, another form of domination was taking shape.

In her first year of mid-am eligibility, Richland’s Dejone Lee paced the field from start to finish. Her opening salvo of 72 gave Lee (E) a four-stroke advantage over 2024 Senior Women’s champion, Paige Phillips. With 18-holes left to decide a champion, it was practically a two-horse race come Sunday.

Lee stumbled a bit out of the gates on Sunday with a front nine 37, dotted with three bogeys. Despite a birdie on the first hole, Phillips was unable to exit the bogey train, with six bogeys and a double bogey to round out her front nine.

As the pair made the turn, Lee’s lead had doubled from four strokes, to eight with just nine holes left to play. With plenty of room in her rearview mirror, Lee tacked on three birdies en route to a final round 73 (+1) to secure the championship by a whopping 14 strokes.

“[I] was just trying to have fun,” Lee said after the round. “I love getting back into competitive golf so that was [the goal] to just get out here and have some fun.”

Full results here.