The 2000 Oldsmobile Scramble Sectional Tournament at Beau Pr\u00E9 Country Club ended in dramatic fashion Monday as two teams were forced into a playoff to determine which team would play in the national championship.

One team already knew it would be playing in the Oldsmobile Scramble National Championship, to be held Sept. 27-Oct. 1 at Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

The team of Bill Mullican, Davy Orgeron, Mark DeTillier, Coley DeTillier and Jay Curole, representing Tidelands Golf and Country Club, had the lowest net score with a 55 (a net score of 59 minus a team handicap of +4).

Mullican said after coming up so close so many times, he was glad and relieved that he and his teammates were finally on their way to the national championship.

&uot;It’s our first time we’ve been in the nationals,&uot; Mullican said. &uot;We’ve come up one shot short five or six times before.

&uot;It was a team effort,&uot; he said. &uot;I made a 30-foot downhill putt for birdie on the last hole to cinch it.&uot;

The team of George Baker, John Cogan, Timothy Crochet, Verlin Baker Jr. and Phil Colombo, representing Stonebridge Country Club, finished second in the net division with a score of 57 (61 minus a team score of +4).

Two teams had the same gross score of 58 and had to go to a playoff to decide which team would go to the national finals.

In the end, the team of Carl Poche, Corky Barras, Terry Billings, Frank Stire and Lance Ranlett, representing Chateau Country Club, won on the first playoff hole on a birdie putt from 10 feet away.

The team of Danny Tilton, David Dueham, Mark Wiegand, Vic Veillon and Steve Eaves, representing Beauregard Country Club, finished second in the gross division.

&uot;Our last hole at 17, we made a 30-footer to get in the playoff,&uot; Poche said. &uot;I didn’t think we would be in a playoff.&uot;

&uot;My team’s made it (to nationals) before, but this is my first time,&uot; Poche said.

&uot;We used reverse psychology,&uot; he said. He and his teammates told themselves they had no chance at the scramble.

&uot;We don’t have a chance at nationals,&uot; he added.

The team of Joan Reich, Mildred Lopez, Chris Bourgeois and Tommy Vizenza, along with Jeff Dupin, representing Lake Charles Country Club, won the Women’s Oldsmobile Scramble with a net score of 60 (64 minus a team handicap of +4) and will play in the national finals, which will be held concurrently with the men’s nationals.

The team of Mona Richey, Susan Drury, 0Johnson, representing Beau Pr\u00E9, came up one shot short of being in a playoff in the gross division with a 59.

The team of Marvin Gray, Paul Sparks, Chad Huber, Hayden Kaiser III and B.J. Guido, representing Duncan Park Golf Club, had a net score of 61 (62 minus a team handicap of +1).