After spotting themselves to a four-stroke lead in the first round, the duo of Teresa Gumm and Alane Studley used consistency on Wednesday to lock down their first Highland Classic golf championship at St. Joseph Country Club.

“We held in there, basically,” said Gumm, who along with her teammate fired a 4-under par 67 for a two-day total of 135 to maintain their four-stroke advantage over defending champions Trish Herzog and Erin Priddy.

Both teams displayed consistency, shooting 34 on both the front and back nines.

“No bogeys,” Studley said of her team’s key to success. “We made a few clutch putts to save par. And we hit the fairways — that was kind of our game plan.”

That was especially important on a course that features long rough that has been allowed to grow even longer in preparation for next week’s Missouri State Amateur Championships.

“That rough is going to be pretty tough,” Priddy said of next week’s men’s event.

It was already tough on the team of Uli Holliday and Connie Thorson, who started the day in third place at 72 but missed too many fairways and skied to a 10-over-par 82 on Wednesday to finish out of the top four.

Despite being unable to defend their title against the 2008 runners-up that got off to a hot start on Tuesday, Herzog and Priddy were pleased with their performance, even giving one another a reserved high-five before they left the 18th green.

“We were not disappointed with how we played,” Herzog said. “We were bogey-free for two days, just like (Gumm and Studley) were.”

Added Priddy, We putted for a lot of birdies; they just didn’t fall.”

This became a two-team race early, with the runners-up holding an 11-stroke margin over the rest of the field.

Third place in the 36-annual best-shot tournament went to Bev Cockrell and Juanita Janssen, who followed up Tuesday’s 76 with a 74. They entered the day tied for sixth place with Kathy Stuntz and Linda Larison, who shot a 75 on Wednesday to finish in fourth.

Nancy Schriner and Wanda Evants won A-flight (154), shooting a 76 on Wednesday for a five-stroke margin over Tayler Humphreys and Meredith Humphreys.

Karen Hass and Bonnie green took B-flight (163), Tammy Steinkamp and Betsy Bing prevailed in C-flight (170) and Chri Alfrey and Jodie Diemer took D-flight.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached

at rickd@npgco.com