Sports

Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

Four playoff holes can’t produce a winner

The teams of Gore and Marsh and Fleming and Bratton leave San Luis Obispo as

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Three pairs of headlights were shining on the 18th green.

With stars twinkling overhead, pros Jason Gore and Tim Fleming and their amateur partners were kneeling down to size up putts with funhouse mirror shadows leaking from their feet, the offspring of two pairs of golf cart headlights and one from a spectator’s car in the parking lot.

The scene was the culmination of an effort to ensure the Straight Down Fall Classic Golf Tournament at the San Luis Obispo Country Club would have a definite winner Sunday.

But after two rounds, four playoff holes and one impromptu change in pin placement, neither team could get one shot of separation. The team of Gore and former college teammate Kevin Marsh was named co-champion along with Fleming and partner Alan Bratton, a pair of Oklahoma State graduates.

“It was getting a little tough seeing at the end,” Fleming said. “And you know what? Quite honestly, I’m kind of glad it ended in a tie. Even a three- or four-footer, when you can’t really see the break and it’s not necessarily real easy, you’d hate to see it go either way.”

Both teams rallied down the stretch to finish at m17 under and separate from a pack of chasers at 13 under.

Both Gore’s and Fleming’s teams scored par on the first three playoff holes, then leapt into golf carts and tore down the path back to the tee to rousing cheers of “one more hole!” and racing the inevitable retreat of the sun below the western hills.

“This is a lot of fun, that’s all I kept thinking,” Gore said. “It was a shame somebody has to lose. Now, nobody has to lose.”

Organizers did what they could to aid the golfers in their birdie attempts, including moving the hole to a more central location on the green after the second playoff hole.

Previously, the pin was placed on a downhill slope near the front edge of the green, a steep drop-off and a nearby sand trap providing little room for error.

“That hole was brutal,” Gore said. “It was just going to make a bunch of pars. I’m glad it worked out.”

Fleming had a chance to end it before the playoff but missed one of the downhill birdie putts that made the 18th hole such a challenge.

“There’s pressure, absolutely,” Fleming said, “but I had a good partner, and he played terrific. We both just played real solid. We fit well. We don’t get into much trouble.”

Gore made a 10-foot birdie on the final playoff hole. Bratton, who nearly ended it when his approach shot one-hopped in front of the hole and bounced off the pin, sank a birdie putt from about 2 feet away to ensure the tie.

The pros each got $20,000, with Fleming picking up an extra $2,500 as the low club professional for the second straight year.

Chris Tidland and amateur Sam McNaughton finished third at 15 under. Defending champions Roger Tambellini, an Atascadero High alumnus, and Mike Rowley, the tournament host, were at 13 under.

After ending Saturday’s first round at 3 under, PGA Tour pro Fred Couples and teammate Ricky Barnes, shot a 62, tying the third-lowest round in the 12-year tournament history. They also finished at 13 under.

Tambellini and Rowley carded a 60 in 2002, and Couples and Lee Mikles shot a 61 the same year.

But this Sunday belonged to a quintet of golfers all linked by NCAA championship ties.

Fleming won an NCAA team title at Oklahoma State in 1987. Bratton did the same in 1995 and helped coach the Cowboys to a title in 2006.

Gore and Marsh were college teammates at Pepperdine in the mid 1990s. The year after Marsh graduated, Gore helped lead the team to an NCAA title in 1997 with Marsh filling in for the team’s ill head coach at the championship tournament.

Since Gore became a professional in 1997 and advanced to the PGA Tour in 2005, he hasn’t spent much time on the course with his former college roommate, but after Sunday’s duel in the dark, he’s looking forward to doing it more often.

“Kevin and I have been good friends for a long time,” Gore said. “He’s a great player. Once he brought the idea up (of playing in the Straight Down), I was like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect.’

“We haven’t played for a long time. Our schedules have been crazy and he lives in (Las) Vegas now. And whenever I go to Vegas, I don’t want to be playing golf. So hopefully, we’ll be doing it more often now.”

Complete final results will appear in Tuesday’s paper.