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Jeff Osberg wins Philadelphia Open in playoff

Jeff Osberg sank a five-foot birdie putt Tuesday on the final hole of a four-hole, aggregate-score playoff against Chris Crawford to win the Philadelphia Open, ending an odyssey that took 40 holes and 121/2 hours of golf over two days to decide.

Jeff Osberg sank a five-foot birdie putt Tuesday on the final hole of a four-hole, aggregate-score playoff against Chris Crawford to win the Philadelphia Open, ending an odyssey that took 40 holes and 121/2 hours of golf over two days to decide.

Osberg, 32, of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, fired a 1-over-par 17 over holes six through nine at the Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, N.J., for a 1-stroke victory, and finished off the first father-son combination to post wins in the 112 years the championship has been contested.

His father, Rick, won the event in 1999 during his days as one of the top players in the Philadelphia Section PGA.

"To be the first father-son winner and to kind of do something that my father did, is pretty special, and it's something that I feel fortunate to have done," Osberg said.

It wasn't an easy road this week for Osberg. He had to make up a 6-shot deficit on Crawford in the last nine holes of Monday's afternoon round, which was delayed by rain for more than an hour and a half, and rose into a tie after Crawford double bogeyed his final hole.

In the playoff, Crawford, 22, a former Drexel star who competed in this year's U.S. Open at Oakmont, fell behind by 1 shot early. He later had an opening on the third hole, a par-3, after Osberg's tee shot caromed off rocks to the left of the green and into the water, resulting in a double bogey.

Crawford, however, was able to make up only 1 shot after three-putting from 40 feet for bogey. Still, the two were even going up to the last hole, a 409-yard par-4.

Osberg struck a near-perfect sand wedge to five feet. After Crawford missed a 30-foot birdie try, Osberg coolly stroked his birdie putt into the cup for the win.

It was a satisfying win for Osberg, the runner-up to Michael McDermott in last month's Philadelphia Amateur.

"First I was happy that I was able to execute under the pressure of the last hole and go ahead and make that putt," he said. "Then I was overwhelmed with joy, just to be able to come out on top. To be able to do that after coming so close in the Philly Amateur, it was really nice."

Crawford called it "ultimately a disappointing result" despite having shot 67 in the morning round Monday.

"When you're playing against a player like Jeff, you know you can't let things like that happen," he said. "He's going to capitalize on it because he is such a good player. He's been such a good player for so long. It was just a little sloppy."

jjuliano@phillynews.com

@joejulesinq