TROY — Sunday’s final round of the Troy City Golf Championship at Miami Shores may not have been the round defending champion Ross Ferrell envisioned.

But, when the Shawnee State golfer rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole with Ryan Groff to defend his title — he wouldn’t have changed anything.

“I was fortunate today, God got me through it,” Ferrell said. “It was an up-and-down round for sure.”

Ferrell had a two shot lead after carding a three-under par 69 on Saturday. Justin Weber, who would finish a shot back, had carded a 71 and Groff had an even par 72.

“At the start of the day, I was thinking if I could finish even par, that would be a good score,” Groff said. “And that is the way it played out.”

It was a little bit of a struggle on the front nine for all three, with Groff carding a 38 and Ferrell and Weber carding 40s.

“I think we would all tell you we didn’t play our best golf on the front nine,” Ferrell said.

But, all three turned it around with under par scores on the back nine.

Groff and Ferrell were even at the turn and when Groff started the back with a par on 10 and birdie on 11, he had a two-shot lead.

But, Ferrell would birdie the par-4 13th and par-5 15th to pull back even.

When Weber rolled in a birdie putt on 17, he was just one shot behind the two leaders going to the par-5 18th hole.

“It was an up and down round for sure,” Ferrell said.

Groff was pleased with his back nine.

“I thought I played pretty well,” I just needed to get a few putts to drop.”

All three birdied 18, leading to thee playoff between Ferrell (69-75—144) and Groff (72-72—144)— with Weber finishing one shot back (71-74—145).

On 18, Groff was in the greenside bunker in two and blasted it to a foot.

“I had a pretty good lie,” Groff said. “And I have been playing better from the bunkers this year than in past years.”

Ferrell was just right of the green.

“I was short sided,” he said. “But, I had a good lie and was able to get under the ball and hit it to about three feet and make the putt.”

The playoff started on par-4 10th hole.

Ferrell was just short of the green in two.

Groff was left of the green in deep rough in two.

“I had a really tough shot in there,” he said. “I had to hook it and it just went dead straight. Fortunately, the long grass stopped it from going out of bounds. I hit a pretty good shot, considering the lie.”

Groff had a 12-foot putt for par and just missed it.

“I thought I had made it,” he said.

Ferrell chipped past the hole and had a five-foot putt for par for the win, but missed it.

“It was a tough putt,” Ferrell said. “I just had a feeling standing over it that I misread it.”

On the par-4 11th, after Ferrell had hit it 35 feet left of the pin, Groff hit his approach to 12 feet.

“Ryan (Groff) is a great player,” Ferrell said. “I was definitely thinking I needed to make that putt.”

Which was exactly what he did.

“I heard Ryan (Groff)say yes when it was about five feet from the hole,” Ferrell said. “But, I wasn’t sure until it went in.”

Groff then missed his birdie putt to extend the playoff.

“Ross (Ferrell) dropped a bomb on me and I wasn’t expecting that,” Groff said. “He is a great player. It was another putt where I hit a really good put, it just didn’t go in.”

Ferrell wouldn’t have had Sunday go any other way in the end.

“Honestly, if I had shot another 69, it wouldn’t have been as much fun as today was,” Ferrell said. “The three of us battled back and forth all day and God was with me.”

Brueckman fourth,

Chen cards ace

Kyle Bruekckman had the low round of the day Sunday in the championship flight, carding a two-under par 70. That gave him a 146 total for two days, good for fourth place and just two shots out of the playoff.

Jacky Chen recorded the shot of the tournament Saturday.

He aced the 155-yard 12th hole with a 7-iron. Witnessing the ace were Nate Davis and Nelson Lair.

Chen had rounds of 77 and 73 for a 150 total to finish fifth.

First Flight

Lance England recorded a one-shot victory in the first flight.

He had rounds of 78 and 82 for a 160 total.

Jim Rohr was second with rounds of 78 and 83 for 161 and Ryan Helmer took third, with rounds of 80 and 85 for a 165 total.

Seniors

Mike Anticoli had a six-shot victory in the Senior competition.

Anticoli had rounds of 75 and 78 for a 153 total.

Jeff Poettinger was second with rounds of 75 and 84 for a 159 total and Dave Gregorovic was third with rounds of 79 and 81 for a 160 total.

Super Seniors

Jim Ross won the Super Seniors by five shots.

Ross had rounds of 73 and 71 for an even par 144 total.

Jeff Goodall was second after round of 72 and 77 for a 149 total.

John Mutschler took third with rounds of 74 and 76 for a 150 total.

Super Duper Seniors

Don Wogoman won a two-hole playoff for the Super Duper Seniors title.

Wogoman and second-place Mike Walpole had matching rounds of 76 and 75 for a 151 total.

Gary Weaver finished third with rounds of 82 and 79 for a 161 total.