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Unlikely ace aids Newsom's victory at Players Invitational We'll tee up this column each week through the spring and summer. But for starters, we'll take a look back. One tournament that comes and goes without much fanfare is the Players Invitational at Quail Point Golf Course. Earlier this month, it brought together many of the area's top golfers for fairly high-level play. The annual two-day event is for players with handicap indexes of no greater than 8.7. What was supposed to be a 36-hole tournament actually turned into considerably more for Brooks Newsom and Scott Tuttle because they were involved in a sudden-death playoff to determine the winner. Six extra holes were needed before Newsom, who had a remarkably eventful day, defeated Tuttle. "I've been in playoffs before," says Tuttle, "but six holes is pretty long. It felt like we were going to be out there all night. We were thinking we might miss dinner, and no one likes that." The two had tied at even-par 140 through two rounds, but that occurred only after Newsom made a hole-in-one on the par-4 third hole. Yes, par 4. Three-hundred-and-eleven yards. Uphill to a blind green. He gained three strokes to par with the shot. "I needed it," says Newsom, a former Medford resident who now lives in Portland. It enabled him to tie Tuttle by the end of regulation. In the playoff, Newsom had to scramble while Tuttle cranked out routine par after routine par. "I was the one doing the surviving," says Newsom. "I made quite a few putts." He needed about a 10-footer to save par on the first extra hole, then had to chip out from behind a tree on the third hole and make a 15-footer to save par. At the sixth hole, Newsom found the middle of the green on his second shot, but Tuttle's approach sailed long and left him with an awkward, downhill stance and a tough chip with which to get up and down. "All I could do was get it on the green," says Tuttle. Newsom, the 1999 champion of the Southern Oregon, two-putted for par; Tuttle, who would win the low-amateur division in a pro-am the following week, missed a 25-footer that would have prolonged the epic. It never would have gotten that far were it not for Newsom's hole-in-one on his 30th hole. Newsom didn't play well the first day and figured he'd have to come in at 5 under the second day to have a chance. Through nine holes, he was on pace at 3 under. "That was exactly how I wanted to go out and play," he says. At the 10th hole - which is actually the first on the nine-hole layout - he shanked a shot into the creek and made double bogey. "I thought that was a back-breaker for me," he says. He got to the 12th hole thinking he needed at least birdie, possibly eagle, to salvage his chance to contend. "A one put me ahead of schedule, so to speak," he says. Newsom had been around the green with his drives both days but was coming up just short. "I hit that one very well," he says. "I would have been disappointed if it was not on the green." One of his playing partners, Dave Boals, also hit one very well. When they reached the green, they found one ball. It belonged to Boals. Newsom went searching beyond the green. "I went from thinking I had a 20-footer for eagle to being over the green and not being able to find it," says Newsom. That's when Boals glanced in the cup and saw a ball. "Needless to say, I was surprised," says Newsom. It was Newsom's third career ace. His fourth came in his next round a week later at Columbia-Edgewater Country Club in Portland, where he jarred a 200-yard-plus 3-iron. "I hit my quota," he says. "I went from having two to four in a six-day span. The other two were 120, 125 yards. These two looked a lot different than those." � PAUL WINTERBOTTOM of Quail Point has earned certification from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Winterbottom has been the superintendent at Quail Point since 1998. He has a bachelor of science degree in horticulture from Oregon State. Nationwide, approximately 1,800, or 22 percent, of golf course superintendents are certified. To gain certification, Winterbottom had to have three years experience as a superintendent, complete an extensive exam and pass an on-site inspection by certified superintendents. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.