Asheboro, NC (June 25, 2009) - Normally the last thing you would want in a sudden-death playoff for a Major Championship is to hit a poor shot out of a sand trap, but that's the route John East of Rockingham took to win the Championship Flight at Pinewood Country Club in the Harris Teeter Senior Tour event today. Both East and Cary's James Dill finished regulation play with even par 72s on the 6,358 yard track, and then headed back out for extra holes to determine a winner. They halved their first two holes with pars, and then faced the tough 193 yard, par-3 12th hole. Dill struck his tee shot on the green while East found the greenside sand trap. "I just chunked the ball out of the bunker", stated East afterward. "Left myself with about 25 feet". East, however, snaked in the long putt, and Dill was not able to convert the 2-putt par to keep the playoff going. Being a "Major", East's victory (like the winners of the other three flights) earned him an automatic invitation to the year-ending Tour Championship, to be held in Pinehurst in November. "Everyone is pretty excited about the Tour Finals this year, as the venues announced for play are Pine Needles, Mid-Pines, and The National" explained Tour Director Bruce Hallenbeck. Pinehurst's William Hiner will likely be making that short trip for himself to the Finals as well. His 73 took top honors in the A Flight for a one stroke margin over Zebulon's Randy Bunn. The B Flight was also hotly contested, as a single stroke was the difference there with Tom West of Holly Springs edging out Advance's Dawson Strider, 78 to 79. Mark Campanella was the only Flight winner to enjoy a relatively comfortable margin of victory as his 85 was 3-strokes better than 5 other C Flight competitors. THE HARRIS TEETER SENIOR TOUR PINEWOOD COUNTRY CLUB - MAJOR TOP FIVE SCORES BY FLIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (6,358 yds) John East, Rockingham 72 James Gill, Cary 72 John McCallie, Durham 73 George Kennon, Greensboro 75 David Michaels, Greensboro 75 A FLIGHT (6,358 yds) William Hiner, Pinehurst 73 Randy Bunn, Zebulon 74 Peter Crook, Burlington 75 Tom Fagerli, Yadkinville 75 Al Makila, Raleigh 76 B FLIGHT (6,358 yds) Tom West, Holly Springs 78 Dawson Strider, Advance 79 Darrell Hagwood, Raleigh 81 Sonny Peoples, Norlina 81 Richard Pfister, Pittsboro 81 C FLIGHT (6,358 yds) Mark Campanella, Greensboro 85 Jeff Brown, Youngsville 88 Harry Mathews, Cary 88 Greg Postlethwait, Durham 88 Dale Rucker, Rockingham 88 Charlie Williams, Autryville 88