EAST PROVIDENCE _ Rob Grossguth made RIGA history, but it was the team of  George Donnell and Jon Fasick that walked off with the championship hardware Tuesday in the Ed Perry Senior Four-Ball Championship at Agawam Hunt.

         The 25th edition of the event named in honor of the association’s first executive director turned out to be one of the wildest.

          Four teams tied at 3-under 135 totals. Four more posted 136, another foursome had 137 and still four more teams shot 138, meaning 16 teams finished within three shots of the lead.

         The playoff was a surprise, as well. Fasick got up and down from over the green on the uphill par-4. Everyone else bogeyed.

        The others in the playoff were the teams of former champions Mike Soucy and Paul Quigley,  Tom Goryl and Marc Forbes and Joe Hassett and Steve Edwards. Hassett and Edwards had shot 67, the lowest score among those in the playoff. They finished about two hours before the others and left thinking they had no shot at winning, so they did not take part in the playoff. 

      The title was the second for Fasick and Donnell. They also won in 2009. They had not competed in the event for several years, though, because Donnell was living full time in Florida. Donnell, in fact, only recently returned from Florida.

     Several hours before the outcome was decided, Grossguth created a stir by doing something that, as far as anyone knows, has never been done in the association’s 116-year history.  He had a hole-in-one on a par-4 hole.

         The 15th at Agawam was a par-5 until a few years ago. It was a controversial hole. Good players could not hit driver because the hole had a severe dogleg left, then many had to lay-up because there was a pond in front of the green.

           "It was an awful hole then," Grossguth said. "You had to hit 4-iron off the tee then maybe lay-up. It’s a lot better now."

         Grossguth was not alone. Many spoke about their dislike for the hole, to the point where Agawam official changed it to a par-4 that plays about 325 yards from the regular members tee. It can play as long as 350 or as short as 285, which is where Jim McKenna, the association’s tournament and rules director, decided to put it for the final round. As is being done is so many tournaments these days, McKenna wanted to give players an option to drive the green.

        "We moved it up. Why not?" McKenna asked rhetorically. "The pin was in a spot, front left, where you could roll up and go right at it."

        Grossguth and his partner, Mike Petrarca, had just birdied two of the previous three holes to get to 2-under on the day. So when they got to 15, the long-hitting Grossguth, one of the RIGA’s top players for the past 25 years or so,  he decided to go for it. He hit driver.

        "I hit it well," Grossguth related. "I even said go in." The ball landed short of the green and headed toward the hole, but everyone lost sight of it. They especially lost sight of it when it went in the hole.

        Amazingly, the ace was the 15th of his career for the West Warwick product.

         "Last year, I made two in one tournament at the club, one on Saturday then one on Sunday," Grossguth said. "I’ve been averaging two a year for the last six or seven years. It’s crazy. Golf is a crazy game."

         After the ace, his team suddenly was 5-under on the day and contending. However, they bogeyed each of the last two holes and settled for a 3-under 66 and a 136 total, missing the playoff by one. When they posted their score they were tied for the lead with fellow West Warwick team of Don Wright and Norm Levesque. They eventually finished only one stroke out of the playoff. Wright and Levesque had the low score of the day, a 65.