Drew Czuchry and Brooks Thomas played the 18th hole at Signal Mountain Golf and Country Club four times in the final 90 minutes of the Signal Mountain Invitational.
They also played No. 10 twice in that time frame.
They had to.
Thomas and Czuchry each shot 9-under-par 204 through 54 holes. Then their sudden-death playoff lasted almost until sunset with Czuchry finally winning with a birdie on No. 18.
"I had three putts from that left side of the green," said Czuchry, who recently played for Georgia Tech. "It was shorter than the others but on the exact same line as my putt in regulation."
He missed it the first time from about 50 feet. He buried the one in the playoff from about 40.
"I wanted to make sure it didn't go that far beyond the hole," Czuchry said. "It turned a little and went right in the hole."
The putt came under pressure. Thomas stuck his approach to about 15 feet from the cup. It didn't bother Czuchry, who has incorporated stepping away from putts into his routine -- similar to what Jim Furyk has been doing.
"I started doing it in my U.S. Open (local) qualifier," he said. "Under pressure situations, I like to get set up then back off to make practice strokes so I don't feel cold."
Thomas, a rising University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior from Ringgold, and Czuchry held off Taylor Lewis and Taylor McCullum, who tied for third at 7-under 206. Neil Spitalny won the senior division with a 271 by four shots over Randy Yoder. Future UTC golfer Lake Johnson had the best round of the tournament, a 64, on Sunday.
Lewis birdied three of his first five holes Sunday and made the turn at 11 under and tied with Czuchry, who grabbed the lead with a birdie on No. 10. Thomas almost fell out of contention on No. 11 when his tee shot required a search to the right of the cart path.
Lewis made the biggest mistake of the day when he pushed his tee shot on the par-5 No. 13 out of bounds -- triple-bogey 8.
"I felt like I was in control all day until I made the snowman," Lewis said. "A triple-bogey will kill you every time."
Thomas lurked and pulled closer to Czuchry with a birdie on the same hole. One contender faded and another replaced him as the crowds following the final two groups kept growing, in part to watch the Chattanooga grouping of Scott Stevens (who finished fifth) and Mikey Feher (who tied for sixth with Ricky Honeycutt).
Thomas, who told UTC coach Mark Guhne he didn't like the feeling of missing NCAA regionals as a team and vowed to improve, closed with three pars and finished regulation with the same score as Czuchry.
"Once Brooks realized that he doesn't have to do everything perfectly, it took pressure off of him," Guhne said between text updates to friends and his players. "He's playing to his strengths. This course doesn't fit his game very well, so he's had to hit the right shots and make good decisions.
"He's just breaking through. He's maturing and learning how to practice like a great player."
Thomas and Czuchry essentially followed each other shot-for-shot, mistake-for-mistake and break-for-break as they rotated between holes No. 10 and 18 in the playoff. Thomas assumed a loss on the third playoff hole until Czuchry's short putt lipped out. They both caught a break on the next hole, No. 10, because Czuchry pulled his tee shot left. Thomas went right, his ball hit the cart and a tree bounced it into the fairway, instead of out of bounds. Two pars later they played No. 18 again.
Czuchry won with his lengthy birdie putt. A few handshakes later, Thomas still felt incredible about his weekend.
"It speaks volumes about the work you have to put in," Thomas said. "Working on the short game -- chipping, putting and wedges -- really helps out here."
It could be helpful for a long time.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP