Joe Bendetti won the 2012 Morris Williams Spring Mid-Amateur by making par on the first hole of a sudden death playoff with Peter McGibney.  Both players finished regulation play at 146, two over par on Jimmy Clay golf course.   McGibney birdied the final hole in regulation play to gain a berth in the playoff.  

In the playoff, Bendetti had the honor and played an aggressive shot off the tee over the water with a three wood to the middle of the fairway about 140 yards from the green. McGibney then played an iron off the tee and pulled the shot into the water.  After dropping McGibney played his third shot from about 200 yards to within about 40 feet of the cup.   Bendetti then played his second shot onto the green slightly inside of McGibney.  After McGibney lagged to within gimmie range, he marked and Bendetti putted.  He left his first putt about four feet short.  After carefully lining up the putt he made it for the win and received congratulations from McGibney.

Finishing in third, one shot out of the playoff, was Steve Patterson at 147.  Patterson played well most of the second round but did not hole enough putts to pull into the lead or make the playoff.  Patterson's  playing companion for the day, Mike Allen, had the lead at one over par for the tournament after fifteen holes and then hit the par 5 16th in two.  After his eagle putt rolled two and a half feet past the cup, he missed the birdie.  He then proceeded to drive it to within 120 yards of the 17th green and miss the green to the left by about six feet.  He played his chip shot from a fluffy lie and experienced a rare double hit, resulting in a double bogey 6.  He then proceeded to bogey the last hole to finish at 148, tied with Peach Reynolds for 4th place.

The course played difficult with the wind in the 15-20 mile range all day.  The head pro, Steve Hammond, did give the field a break by moving the tees up on #3, # 17, and # 18 but the only person to post a sub par round during the tournament was Joe Bendetti, who shot 70 in the second round. 

Click on this link to see the full field results. Spring Mid Am Final

Here is a swing sequence of Bendetti's tee shot on #1 in the sudden death playoff for the Morris Williams Spring  Mid-Am.  You can click on the image to expand the frames.