Sports

LOCAL GOLF

MATTHEW SHUTT For The Times Leader

EXETER — Three days and 66 holes of golf were not enough to crown a winner of Fox Hill Country Club’s John A. Allan tournament.

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Jamie Anzalone putts on the 18th green during the final round of the John A. Allan tournament at Fox Hill Country Club in Exeter on Sunday afternoon.

BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

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The top two teams of Paul Keating and Eric Plisko and Dave Kluger and Eric Williams remained tied at 16-under par after a three-hole, sudden-death playoff that had to be suspended due to darkness.

According to club professional Francis Hayes, the tournament will resume with an 18-hole playoff at a date and time to be determined.

“Fairness prevailed and luckily we halved that last hole, because it wouldn’t have been fair for anybody to win under those conditions,” said Keating, who agreed with the decision to suspend play. “For all that golf, it would have been lousy for somebody to win in the dark.”

Coming into the day trailing by two strokes, the tandem of Kluger and Williams absolutely blistered the course over the morning’s first 18 holes to the tune of a 10-under par 61, recording eight birdies and an eagle along the way.

“I chipped in for eagle on 12, and once I chipped in, we knew something special was going on. Then we got on a nice roll and birdied 14, 15, and 16,” said Williams of the performance. “Every single hole we were just in sync and hitting good shots.”

Despite registering their third consecutive 67 over 18 holes, Keating and Plisko were four strokes behind heading into the last nine holes of the day. Refusing to go away, the duo came out and birdied four of the last five holes to bring things even before Keating stepped up with what may have been the shot of the day.

Trailing by a stroke with one hole to play, Keating found the bottom of the cup with a downhill, side-winding putt from 9 feet away to birdie the hole and tie the score, eliciting a chorus of cheers from the gallery.

“It was the best putt I’ve ever hit in my life,” said Keating. “Sideways, 90-degree turn. It rolled in very slowly, but I was very happy to see it roll in to keep us square at that point.”

The clutch putting seemed to become a theme for the pair late in the round as Plisko stepped up over two of the last three playoff holes with par-saving putts to keep the score even before play was halted.

“Yeah, I was feeling a little pressure,” Plisko admitted afterwards of draining two twisting and turning shots of his own. “I practice a lot, though, and trust what I work on. And those are the moments you practice for.”

Rounding out the rest of the top finishers were the teams of John Mulhern/Len Coleman and Bob Gill/Brian Corbett, both at 10-under, Ed Hennigan/Bill Musto at 9-under, Mark Answini/Joe Weiscarger at 8-under, Santo LaFoca/Jim Gardas at 7-under and Don Crossin/Bill Briggs at 2-under.