Western Amateur decided on 11th playoff hole at Moraine Country Club

“Definitely the craziest match I’ve ever been a part of or heard of,” Gilligan said in a press release. “I think I owe an apology to everyone for making it so long.”

Turner forced the playoff by winning No. 17 and 18. They each recorded the same score on 10 straight holes before Gilligan made a birdie 3 with an 8-foot putt on No. 11 as Turner parred the hole.

The golfers set a record for the longest match in Western Amateur history. Mitch Mooney and Scott Hoch played a 26-hole match in the 1979 event in the round of 16. The previous longest final match (22 holes) took place in 2017.

This was the first Western Amatuer final played by two college teammates since Wake Forest’s Curtis Strange beat teammate Jay Haas in 1974.

“Jack and I were talking about it on our ninth playoff hole and decided we were ready for it to be over,” Gilligan said in a press release. “But I just kept telling myself you’re playing for a tournament of the biggest magnitude and need to keep going.”

In the morning semifinals, Gilligan beat another Florida Gators teammate, junior Parker Bell, of Tallahassee, Fla., in a one-hole playoff with a birdie on No. 1. Turner also needed 19 holes to beat Henry Guan, a 16-year-old from Irving, Texas. Turner also advanced with a birdie on No. 1.

Gilligan, who ranks 14th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, became the 122nd winner of the George R. Horne trophy.