Photo by Paula Merritt / The Meridian StarDoyle Bryan punches a shot from the 10th fairway at Northwood Country Club Monday during the Bill Davis Northwood Invitational.

Jarrod Moulds and Joe Tew secured a spot in the championship bracket of the Nicklaus Flight by topping the John Rea/Scott Morgan duo in four-ball match play Monday in day three of the Bill Davis Tournament.

Northwood Country Club’s annual Fourth of July tournament will see Moulds and Tew square off against the father-son combo of Eddie and Nicholas Brown when play resumes Tuesday. Moulds and Tew were able to stave off a strong effort by Rea and Morgan that included a hole-in-one by Rea on the 11th hole.

Moulds said he and his partner have done a good job picking each other up throughout the past three days, and he hopes it will continue one more day.

“We’ve been brother-in-lawing well,” Moulds said. “When I’ve been out of the hole, he’s made birdie or par, and when he’s been out of the hole, I’ve made birdie or par. The greens have been running really well. We’ve gotten lucky and had a few long putts go it.”

For two of the tournament’s first three days, Moulds and Tew have had morning tee times, which has helped not only with the greens, but also with avoiding the heat of the day.

“This morning, the greens were perfectly,” Moulds said. “They were rolling smoothly. This afternoon, they’ll get a little quicker with the sun and wind.

“The heat of the day really takes it out of you. On the first day, on the last couple of holes, we really had to focus on just getting it in. It’s 90-plus degrees with lots of humidity and not much wind, and there are a few places (on the course) where it gets really, really hot and sticky. This morning, playing early was nice. Really, the only bad thing was dealing with the gnats.”

Moulds also said he’s grateful for the mostly clear weather the tournament has seen. Saturday’s heavy rain didn’t come until after the opening round was finished.

“We’ve actually gotten really lucky with the weather,” Moulds said. “At the beginning of the week, we didn’t know if we’d even have a golf tournament. The Lord’s blessed us with some good, dry weather, and the greenskeepers and (Northwood Golf Pro) Billy Pomeroy have done a really good job getting the course ready. It’s drying up, the bunkers and greens are great, and we were just blessed to get to play.”

Moulds and Tew will face a formidable team in Eddie and Nicholas Brown in Tuesday’s championship round. Nicholas Brown is a former scholarship golfer at Southern Miss, and the elder Brown said they’ve developed a good camaraderie over the years.

“We won three state father-son championships over in Jackson about seven or eight years ago, so we have some experience playing together,” Eddie Brown said. “I mostly picked him up when he’s missed holes, and he’s played really well. I’m just making a few pars along the way.”

Eddie Brown said he’s enjoyed the match play format of the past couple of days, as it allows for a more relaxed atmosphere without too much pressure on either golfer.

“You can have a bad hole and shrug it off and go onto the next hole,” Eddie Brown said. “It’s fun, and it’s something different to do. All of the other tournaments are medal play.”

With one more day of golfing ahead Eddie Brown said he and his son have their work cut out for them in challenging the Moulds/Tew team for the trophy.

“Jarrod and Nick have won this tournament about five times, I think (starting) when they were 15 years old,” Eddie Brown said. “They’re big friends friends, so it’ll be a friendly match. Jarrod and Joe Tew are very good players, so we’ll have to play really well to have a chance to win it.”