Herr and Reilly Take Four-Ball in Playoff
YORK, Pa. - Jake Reilly rolled in a six-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to capture the 27th Pennsylvania Four-Ball Championship along with his partner, Zach Herr, at Out Door Country Club. The championship, presented by Allegheny Health Network, looked to be decided at the end of the 36 hole competition before Drew Taylor and Ross Pilliod birdied the final three holes to force a playoff with a 36-hole total of 11-under par 133.
Herr and Reilly are cousins, and that close relationship showed on the golf course in round two as they started off with three straight birdies en route to a front nine score of 30. After a first round 69 (-3), the six birdies on the first nine holes in round two vaulted them to the top of the leaderboard.
"I was able to stick some shots and make some putts and we just got on a roll on the front side," Reilly said.
After beginning the back nine with three straight pars, the duo headed to the par-5 13th, where Herr was in for par and left Reilly a chance to be aggressive on his birdie putt. The putt fell in the bottom of the cup, and after another birdie on No. 15, they were at 11-under par for the championship. That set the stage for Pilliod and Taylor.
After a pedestrian front nine score of 35, Taylor made birdie on No. 11 to put them at -7 overall. After an eagle on No. 13 ("Probably the most emotion either of us have ever shown on the golf course," Taylor said.), Pilliod and Taylor were at 9-under and in position to challenge for the lead. But a three-putt bogey on No. 15 dropped them to 8-under.
"We knew we needed to birdie the last three," Taylor said.
On the par-5 16th, a birdie by Taylor got them 1/3 of the way there. As they were walking off the green, Pilliod made his intentions clear for the final two holes of regulation.
"I told him I was going to birdie 16 and 17 because I didn't contribute as much as I'd wanted to earlier in the day," Pilliod said.
His statement came true as he rolled in birdies on each hole to get his team into the playoff. For the playoff, the squads played the par-4 18th hole again. Each team made a routine par, so they went back to 18 again. Herr was in the fairway off the tee but missed the green with his approach, but Reilly was able to knock his approach to about six feet from the pin. With Taylor and Pilliod looking at par putts, Reilly sunk the putt to win the title.
Jake Reilly makes a 6ft for birdie on the second playoff hole to secure the win for Reilly/Herr in 27th 4-Ball. pic.twitter.com/BrL1jJthKO
— PA Golf Association (@PA_Golf) May 17, 2016
"We got redemption on that last playoff hole," Reilly said. "We hadn't made birdie on 18 yet and we finally made one and it won us the championship."
Finishing just a shot out of the playoff were Matthew Henry and Bobby Stiffler, who shot a second round 64 to finish at -10. Also tied for third with that score of 134 were Brent Will and Jeff Frazier, who followed up a first round 66 with a score of 68 in round two.
The Pennsylvania Golf Association would like to thank the staff and membership of Out Door Country Club for their support and hospitality during the event.
