The winning put was almost a mirror image of one Lou Hart made decades earlier

Hart, a Meridian resident, opened 3 back of the lead in the Mississippi Golf Association’s Women’s Senior Amateur Thursday afternoon at Northwood Country Club. On the 18th hole, she needed to make a putt from 15 feet out for birdie to edge Ridgeland resident Sheila Haynes and win the tournament. It being her home course — Hart is a Northwood member — she had a little bit of insight on what to do.

Back in 1976, Hart was playing in the Women’s State Amateur and was tied with a woman named Peggy Brady going into the 18th hole. Her father, Hunter George Weddington, was her caddy that afternoon and offered her daughter some advice.

“Dad said, ‘The ball breaks to the right,’” Hart recalled. 

She made the putt back then, and she did the same Thursday afternoon, giving her a first-place finish at 143. She shot 73 Wednesday and Thursday, and making that final putt from 15 feet out was special for more than simply putting her over the top.

“As I was walking up to 18, I said, ‘I know how this hole breaks, and it did exactly what Daddy said it would do in 1976,” said an understandably emotional Hart.

Hart also credited her twin brother, Alex Weddington, for the win by convincing her to play in Northwood’s Labor Day tournament. She also said divine intervention played a part.

“That gave me the tournament toughness that helped me today,” Hart said. “The Lord also helped me today. It being so long and so wet, I had to have some divine intervention.”

Bailey resident Pam Posey came in third, shooting 149. Meridian resident DeRina Usher won the Grand Lady Division with a 166, while Margaret Carver came in second in the Grand Lady Division with a 174.