WATCHING IT FLY—Oak Knoll golf professional Jake Narro won the PGA’s Gulf States Senional title for the third time in his career this week at The Bluffs in St. Francisville. File Photo by John Lenz

ST. FRANCISVILLE — Oak Knoll Country Club pro Jake Narro was right where a golfer wants to be going into the final round of the Gulf States PGA Section Championships Wednesday — in first place by six strokes.

It was also a spot golfers worry about being in.

"I got off to a good start and was leading the tournament by two after the first day," Narro said. "The next day I shoot 72 and increase the lead to six with one round to go, which I was obviously thrilled with.

“However, that's a little different pressure than being tied because I certainly didn't want to be the guy who had the big lead and lost it. I played good the last day the whole day. I kind of messed up a little bit at the end, but I had a big enough lead to where it really didn't matter."

Narro shot a 1-under 215 for the three-day tournament at The Bluffs to win by three strokes over Phil Schmitt of Baton Rouge. Narro had previously won the Section Championship in 2000 and 2004.

The tournament got off to inauspicious start for Narro as he hooked his shot on the first hole into a water hazard and made a double bogey 6. But he rallied with a back nine 32 with birdies on the final five holes to finish with a 3-under 69.

"It certainly didn't feel like a round of 69 until the last five holes," Narro said. "The hole got in the way five times and I got a 69."

Narro said the run got started with a nice putt on the par-4 14th.

"Golf is a funny game," Narro said. "Sometimes when that happens, it just changes the way you feel. I felt like I could make the next one and they kept going in. I didn't want the day to end."

Narro took a two-stroke lead over Phil Schmitt of The Bluffs and Derek Sanders of English Turn into the second round. Narro took the momentum from the previous day into the front nine, shooting a 3-under 33. He shot a 3-over 39 on the back nine to finish at even-par 72, but had increased his lead to six over Schmitt and Steven Driggers of Greenville (Miss.) Country Club.

Narro birdied the par-5 12th to build the lead to seven. But after parring the par-3 13th, he made a mistake common among golfers.

"I walked off that green and said, for the first time, I really feel like I have this," Narro said. "That's a mistake. All I was doing up until then was playing golf. That's the way you have to do it. I started playing defensively and you can see that I bogeyed three of the last five holes (14, 16, 17). Luckily I had a big enough lead to shake those last few holes in and get that trophy."

Narro finished the round with a 2-over 74 while Schmitt shot a 1-under 71 to clinch second with a three-day total of 2-over 218. Driggers was third at 6-over 222.

Narro was among the leaders in nearly every statistic, leading the field with 14 birdies and 25.9 par breaker percentage.

"My short game was working, especially my putting, and chipping also," Narro said. "I didn't have one three-putt all week. My ball stroking was pretty good 80 percent of the time but my putting was good all the time. That can kind of cover up some bad shots.

"I hit the ball good when I had to hit the ball good. The Bluffs is a pretty demanding golf course, There are a lot of hazards you can hit it into on plenty of the holes and with the wind blowing as hard as it was for two of the three days, bogeys weren't that bad sometimes. I made a lot of birdies, 14 birdies in three days, so that kind of covered up some of my bad holes."

The event was originally scheduled for early September but was postponed due to Hurricane Gustav. With so much time off between tournaments, Narro did not know how he would fare going into the Section Championships.

"I haven't been playing a lot of tournament golf," Narro said. "I've been playing some golf at the club with some of the members but that's not like tournaments. The season was kind of over and this is normally not a time we would be playing that event. Going into the event, I certainly didn't have a feeling that would happen, that's for sure."

Schmitt wrapped up Player of the Year honors with his finish, earning him exemptions into the two PGA Tour events in the Gulf States Section — the Zurich Classic in New Orleans and the Viking Classic in Madison, Miss.

Narro finished second in the Player of the Year standings and said the last few years that has meant an exemption into the Nationwide Tour event (the Chitimacha Louisiana Open) in Lafayette held the same week as the Zurich. This year's event is scheduled for March 23-29.

"I'll kind of put the clubs up for awhile and get through Christmas and the New Year's and start thinking about golf again," Narro said of his plans for the next couple of months.