Morris County Tournament golf decided in one-hole playoff

MOUNT OLIVE — As Roger Rice put his putter back in his bag after winning the Morris County Tournament, he said to Brady Grippo, "You have no idea how bad my hands were shaking on that putt. " Rice, a Chatham junior, had sunk a birdie putt on the first playoff hole to hold off Grippo and win the MCT title on April 30 at Flanders Valley. Though Rice had bogeyed his final hole of regulation to force the playoff, he knew from the other Cougars' reactions that it was enough to win the team plaque.

Chatham edged Madison by one stroke, 308 to 309. Randolph finished third at 310, with two-time defending champion Delbarton fourth at 313. Led by two-time champion Olivia Gaglione, Morris Knolls captured its third straight MCT girls golf title on April 23.

"It always comes down to one stroke. It always does," Rice said. "I've been fortunate enough to be in a situation like that before, and I learned from it.

You get more and more used to it. It doesn't take away the value of it, but you stick to what you know. " For Grippo, a Kinnelon junior, it was his first time in a playoff.