OXFORD - Scott Seiler and John Byroads unseated two-time defending champions Todd Seiler and Bryan Smith at this past weekend’s Bluestone Golf Course Men’s Member-Guest championship.

With Todd Seiler and Bryan Smith not at their best, Seiler and Byroads – runners-up the previous two years – shot a nine-under-par 61 second round to claim a three-shot win over Ken Seiler and Dave Popovich. Todd Seiler and Bryan Smith finished alone in third place.

“We kind of expected them to go out and shoot a good number today,” Scott Seiler said off his brother Todd and Smith..

“We wanted to put a little pressure on them, and they just didn’t putt it as well as they normally do,” Byroads added.

Seiler and Byroads did not have the type of start that would indicate a low number. Playing with the first-round leaders, the duo was even par after the first five holes, but picked up birdies on six, seven, and nine to square them with Seiler-Smith. A birdie on the 10th hole gave Seiler-Byroads the lead for the first time setting up a huge momentum swing on the par-five 12th.

“That was the big turning point,” Scott Seiler said of the short par-five

Seiler-Byroads laced a drive to within 125 yards of the green, and stuck the approach to two feet for eagle. Meanwhile, Todd Seiler and Bryan Smith each hit their tee shots into the hazard, and settled for a bogey. The one shot margin quickly turned to four, and Seiler-Byroads stepped on the gas the rest of the way with three more birdies.

“We figured we could get to 8- or 9-under-par, and we thought for sure Todd and Bryan would get to five or six (under) no matter what,” Scott Seiler said. “It was a slow start, but we were solid all day.”

In other flights: Brothers Ken and Chris Benjamin emerged from a logjam in the first flight shooting a second-round 66 to edge hard-charging Jason Golden and JR Bogert by one stroke. The Benjamins had all five of their birdies between the par-three 8th and par-five 17th holes, with the lone bogey coming on the difficult par-three 11th hole. Golden and Bogert, meanwhile, had a bogey-free five-under-par 65 with all five birdies coming in a 10-hole stretch between the end of the back nine and the start of the front nine...in the second flight, brothers Bill and Rich Van Orden matched the low score of their flight with an even-par 70 in edging first-round flight leaders Jeff Cola and Greg Binelli by one shot. The VanOrdens lived off par with just two birdies on eight and 17 balanced by a pair of bogeys....Terry Finch and Larry Thorne picked up their second flight title in three years capturing the third flight by one shot. Finch and Thorne notched a one-under-par 35 on the back nine – the best back nine of the flight – to edge John Cruz-Rick Thorpe and the tandem of Brian Willis-John Pickering.

Championship Flight

S. Seiler-J. Byroads 66-61-127

K. Seiler-D. Popovich 66-64-130

T. Seiler-B. Smith 64-67-131

D. Cappadonia-Ju. Bennett 70-62-132

C. Seiler-Jo. Bennett 70-64-134

S. Seiler Jr.-L. Skillin 69-66-135

G. Wood-D. Caldwell 67-71-138

First Flight (top six)

Ken Benjamin-Chris Benjamin 72-66-138