FRIEDENSBURG - The consecutive four-peat in Schuylkill County amateur golf remains an elusive goal.
For Jim Rattigan, No. 5 was pretty fine Sunday.
Rattigan, 35, of Deer Lake, captured his fifth overall Schuylkill County Amateur Golf Medal-Play Championship after defeating Jason Marks, 34, of Barnesville, in a one-hole playoff.
While it was Rattigan's fifth win, it was his first since 2007, a comparatively lengthy drought for the tournament veteran. His other wins came in 2000, '01, '05 and '07.
"The last couple years I always felt like I was in contention but couldn't get it quite done," Rattigan said. "So today I did a little something different and kind of visualized my game before I played.
"No matter what happened throughout the tournament and no matter where anybody else was, there's a way you can play this course and I stuck to that game plan the whole way."
Rattigan added that he took advantage of the holes he should have, did not press because of what other players were doing and "played the course the way I know I can play it best."
Among the keys to that, Rattigan said, were some clutch chips for tap-in putts - which he said were real stress reducers - and smart position shots.
Defending champion Randy Kurzinsky's bid for the fourth consecutive medal-play title ended when he shot a 3-over-par 75 to finish two strokes behind Rattigan and Marks.
For Rattigan, it was two days of consistent play and no major errors. He shot a 1-under 71 on Saturday and an even-par 72 on Sunday for a two-round total of 1-under 143.
Marks came back from an opening-round 75 to shoot Sunday's lowest score, a sizzling 4-under-par 68, as he and Rattigan were the only two golfers to finish under par.
When the pressure was on, Marks birdied Nos. 15 and 16 to get himself to 1 under for the tournament, good enough to match Rattigan, who parred three of the last four holes, but bogeyed 16.
Rattigan and Marks went to hole No. 1 - a 329-yard, uphill par-4 - for the sudden death playoff.
Rattigan drove the green but put the ball in the right side, greenside bunker. Marks hit a solid drive to the left side of the fairway and then chipped to about 10 feet.
Rattigan played a superb bunker shot to about eight feet. Marks missed his birdie putt, but Rattigan made his to close it out.
"I played pretty solid today. I hit the driver very well, pretty much kept it in the fairway and putted very well," Marks said.
Speaking about the playoff, Marks said, "I gave myself a shot, but the putt turned a little bit left, passed over the left edge and he knocked his in."
A number of other golfers made a run at Rattigan, who took the lead after a birdie at the 306-yard, par-4 No. 5.
Kurzinsky got in trouble early after holding the Day 1 lead with a 2-under 70. He double-bogeyed the par-3 second hole, bogeyed No. 4 and double-bogeyed No. 5. That put him three strokes behind Rattigan. He got back to within one, but a bogey at 17 ended his title bid.
Former champion Sean Misstishin of Ashland shot a 2-under 70 and also got within one stroke of Rattigan, but bogeyed Nos. 14, 16 and 18 to finish tied for third with Kurzinsky.
Nick Michels of Pottsville also shot a 2-under 70, but bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18. Michels' 147 was good enough to capture the A Flight crown.
Leon Trusky of Ringtown and Mike Kacelowicz and former champ Dennis "Soup" Campbell, both of Orwigsburg, each got to even par for the event at one point or another in the second round, but couldn't break through to the red numbers.
Rattigan credited friend and fellow competitor Brent Jones of Orwigsburg with an assist to his victory. He said Jones gave him a tip Monday, which Rattigan said changed his whole game.
"Literally one tip is sometimes all it takes to bring it around, so I give Brent some credit for getting my game back," Rattigan said.
What was the tip?
"That's a secret," Rattigan said.
Other flight winners were Ryan Laudeman of Orwigsburg (81-76-157) in B Flight, Gary Hess of Pottsville (84-79-163) in C Flight and 14-year-old Luke Reiter, an eighth-grade student at Pine Grove Middle School, who shot 91-87-178 to capture D Flight.