A gimme for the championship

DALLAS – They weren't just putting around.

Chuck Brand and Joe Weiscarger were putting them in.

With such consistency, it turned out, their opponents had little choice but to put up their hands.

Weiscarger's winning shot Wednesday turned out to be a gimme birdie on the sixth playoff hole, as he and Brand upended defending champions Jim Breck and John Mulhern to capture the Potentate Tournament at Irem Country Club.

"My first win here, so it's nice," said Weiscarger, who has also captured the Wyoming Valley and Fox Hill tournaments in previous years. "I feel very fortunate."

Favorable fortune had with the outcome for the winners.

Instead, it was pure putting that decided the tourney's championship match.

Weiscarger was so close to the hole on an approach shot he was awarded a birdie, while Breck's bid at matching that feat barely bounced out.

That only highlighted a tournament of crucial – and incredible – play from the green. Or anywhere near it.

Brand hit a beauty of a 40-foot chip for birdie on the 18th and final hole Sunday to force two overtime holes after hard rains Sunday drenched, delayed and eventually caused the suspension of the match with darkness setting in.

"Oh, we felt good coming up 18 1-up," Breck said.

The teams picked up Wednesday by starting their third playoff hole on No. 1 – where Weiscarger's 12-foot putt saved the hole and had him pumping his fist.

"Yeah, I was excited," Weiscarger said.

"He's always tough," Brand said of his partner. "He's skilled and always tough."

Then it was Brand's turn to hit the tough shot. Again.

He sank an incredible putt from the lip of the green for birdie on No. 3. But Breck answered with a nifty, downhill 20-footer of his own, forcing a sixth playoff hole.

"My partner was terrific in the clutch," Weiscarger said. "Chick is one of the best putters in the area. If he's around the green, he's dangerous. If it wasn't for his putts on 2 and 3, we wouldn't have made it to four."

Once they did, Weiscarger's third shot on the par-5 No. 4 settled within a foot of the hole. Mulhern and Breck nodded their approval to give Weiscarger the make without an attempt – a decision Weiscarger called "very generous."

"Joey's a good putter," Mulhern said. "It was 10 inches (from the hole), if that."

"He'd never miss that," Breck said.

Breck just missed his own attempt at sending the championship to another hole.

But he rolled another 20-foot putt a tad too hard, as the ball lipped out and finally settled the score.

"It just hit the back of the hole," Breck said. "I thought it was in. Should have been in.

"But that's golf."

And that's how the Potentate's highly-competitive championship match was finally settled.

"John gave me the putt for the 4 (score)," Weiscarger said. "They hit the hole and (the ball) came out.

"They got 5 (on the card), we got 4."