CONCORD, Mass., July 28 (UPI) -- Bob Gilder won a Senior PGA Tour event in a playoff for the second straight week Sunday, tapping in a birdie putt on the third extra hole to defeat John Mahaffey and claim the FleetBoston Classic.
Last week, Gilder won the SBC Senior Open by beating Hale Irwin on the first playoff hole. On Sunday, it took him two holes longer to dispatch Mahaffey, who caught Gilder with a final-round 65.
The duo played evenly through the par-5 18th and par-3 17th before returning to the 18th. Gilder's second shot landed just short of the green while Mahaffey was still 100 yards from the hole in two.
Mahaffey was left with a 30-foot birdie attempt while Gilder's pitch-and-run shot stopped 18 inches from the cup.
After Mahaffey just missed his long putt, Gilder tapped in to claim the $225,000 first prize.
Gilder held or shared the lead after each trip around Nashawtuc Country Club. He held onto a share of the lead Sunday at 13-under 203 with a closing-round 70.
"I missed a lot of putts, but I made a couple I needed to make," he said.
Jim Thorpe missed a pair of putts on the final hole of regulation that cost him the tournament. With a chance to win outright, he rolled a seven-footer past the cup, then missed the comeback three-footer for a bogey that dropped him to 70-214.
