It's a shame someone had to lose.

Can it get any better than this?

Grit. Determination. Birdie putt after birdie putt going in top of each other.

Roger Newsom and Chip Sullivan produced the kind of excitement in the SunTrust State final round until he made double bogey on the par-3 ninth. He slipped to 10 under for the tournament, one behind Sullivan, but as Newsom has done in each round when he hit a bump, he bounced back strong. He birdied the 11th and 12th holes to retake the lead and get back to 12 under.

"My golf game has matured. You know getting terribly upset is going to hurt you. You have to let it go," Newsom said.

Sullivan rolled home a curling 22-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th to gain a share of the lead. He had good birdie opportunities on the next four holes but didn't make the putts.

At the final hole in regulation, Sullivan stuck his approach shot on the par-4 5 feet from the cup. Newsom wound up 9 feet away. Newsom holed his birdie putt. So did Sullivan.

"I told him if someone had told us before the tournament we would be in a playoff, we'd have taken it," Sullivan said. "I told him let's have fun and have a guy win it and not lose it."

The playoff began on the 18th hole. Both two-putted for par, although Sullivan's first putt ran 8 feet by the hole. They went to the short par-4 10th next, where Sullivan hit his second shot 15 feet above the hole. Newsom hit his to a foot. Sullivan sank his putt and emphatically jabbed the air.

It was back to the 18th, where it was Sullivan's turn to hit his second shot to 2 feet, and Newsom had to hole a 15-footer for birdie.

They returned to the 10th. Newsom again put his approach shot close. Sullivan's 12-foot putt for birdie lipped out on the low side. Newsom rolled in his 2-footer to win. Teary-eyed, he embraced his brother, Tim, director of golf at Riverfront Golf Club in Suffolk.

"I've been wanting to win a major tournament for awhile," Newsom said. "I'm not playing just to play. I guess that's the doctor in me or the excellence factor. I don't play just to beat it around. I play to win. I want to win."

Sullivan, runner-up for the third time in four years, picked up the low pro money ($6,000), but the title is what he wants.

"We both made some good putts to keep the playoff going," Sullivan said. "He did it better than I did on the last hole. I'd never have thought if you told me I'd shoot four rounds in the 60s and lose the tournament, I wouldn't have believed you."

Professional Cameron Yancey (69) of Blackstone finished third with a 9-under aggregate of 279. He shot 32 on the front nine yesterday and reached 11-under with a birdie on the 13th, but a bogey on 14 stopped the momentum.

Professionals Faber Jamerson (two-time State Open champ), Steve Jenkins (last year's runner-up) and past winner Rick Schuller filled the next three spots.