Josh Richards' Team Claims PGA Tour Creator Classic Title After Philadelphia Cricket Club Playoff

Josh Richards' team recovered from a nightmare start to beat long-time leaders Team Brownlee in a playoff at Philadelphia Cricket Club

Josh Richards, Brad Dalke and Erik Anders Lang

(Image credit: Getty Images)

A three-player team of social media influencer and 16 handicapper Josh Richards, Good Good Golf's Brad Dalke and Random Golf Club's Erik Anders Lang has won the Creator Classic at Philly Cricket, beating the team of Marques Brownlee, Sean Walsh and Sabrina Andolpho in a playoff.

As well as the two who reached the playoff, Team Lowry, featuring Kyle Lowry, Josh Kelley and Claire Hogle, and Team Toney, made up of Tyler Toney, Matt Scharff and Paige Spiranac, also took part.

The first two teams to tee it up in the alternate shot contest were Team Brownlee and Team Lowry, with all four teams going from the 10th to the 17th, with the incentive being that the top two would make it to a sudden-death playoff at the 18th.

Team Brownlee got off to a flying start, racing into an early lead that set the tone for much of the eight regulation holes that followed, largely playing steady golf throughout, as typified early with Sean Walsh's pin-high approach on the opening hole.

For the other three teams it was a different story, as they were all dogged by errors at various points, even as early as the first hole in Team Lowry's case as the captain failed to find the green with a chip attempt, instead leaving the ball just a few yards in front of him.

It was a theme that would continue, interspersed by some undoubted moments of brilliance. For Team Toney, its problems began on the 11th, with an out-of-bounds tee shot necessitating a restart before making a triple bogey.

On the 12th, it was Team Richards' turn for a triple bogey, taking the three to an alarming six-over and five behind Team Brownlee after just three holes. At that point, you'd have been given long odds on Team Richards of the two emerging as the winners.

Team Brownlee's class then began to tell on the par-3 14th, when Sean Walsh wasn't too far off an ace before the team eventually settled for par. However, it was still three clear of Team Lowry and Team Toney on one-over with three to play and looking in control.

A moment that then summed up the erratic nature of the contest came at the 16th, when Sabrina Andolpho of Team Brownlee found a creek, before the ball skipped back out. After averting that near-disaster, the team marched on, with a playoff berth all-but secured as the three headed to the 17th and final hole.

At that point, Team Lowry and Team Toney looked the most likely of the three other teams to join them, but then a double bogey for Team Lowry at the 17th saw it fall to third at the worst possible moment.

Back at the 16th, Team Toney hit the buffers with its own double bogey to leave it one back of Team Lowry at eight-over with one to play. Even after a horror start, Team Richards was now the best-placed to make the playoff, until a sensational moment from Dude Perfect's Tyler Toney with a chip-in birdie at the 16th. Then, Team Richards' Brad Dalke responded with a brilliant par putt to leave them level going to the final hole.

Could one of them grasp the nettle? The answer was no, as each made bogey to give Team Lowry the lifeline of a three-way nearest-to-the-hole chip-in at the 17th. Team Richards' Brad Dalke got the closest, sending his ball to a foot or so of the hole, and it was they who would meet Team Brownlee at the 18th for the sudden-death playoff.

In the end, the first extra hole wasn't close as, just when it needed to keep the momentum of earlier, Team Brownlee fell apart, with an error-strewn playoff that ultimately left Erik Anders Lang to roll in the short bogey putt that confirmed Team Richards as the champions after Team Brownlee missed a triple bogey attempt.

Creator Classic field and teams

  • Josh Richards (captain), Brad Dalke, Erik Anders Lang
  • Marques Brownlee (captain), Sean Walsh, Sabrina Andolpho
  • Kyle Lowry (captain), Josh Kelley, Claire Hogle
  • Tyler Toney (captain), Matt Scharff, Paige Spiranac

Creator Classic scores:

+3 Brownlee, Walsh, Andolpho (Playoff)

+8 Richards, Dalke, Anders Lang (Playoff winners)

+8 Toney, Scharff, Spiranac

+8 Lowry, Kelley, Hogle

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HELLO ALL

WHAT'S THE FORMAT?

NEW CREATOR CLASSIC CHAMPION GUARANTEED

CREATOR CLASSIC TEE TIMES

AND WE'RE OFF!

THE FOUR TEAMS

EXCELLENT FROM WALSH

HOGLE HELPS OUT

FINAL TEAMS GO OFF

TEAM BROWNLEE ON FIRE!

PROBLEMS AT THE 10TH

ERRATIC STUFF FOR THE TEAMS

Anders Lang at the 11th chips onto - and then off the green, which does little to help Team Brownlee's cause. At least they're joing leaders with team Richards at even par.

LEADERBOARD UPDATE

STEADY FROM TEAM TONEY

PAIN FOR TEAM RICHARDS

TEAM BROWNLEE IN CONTROL

BACK AT THE 13TH...

TIDYING UP AT THE 14TH AND 15TH

Claire Hogle at the Creator Classic

(Image credit: Getty Images)

LUCKY BREAK FOR TEAM BROWNLEE

TEAM BROWNLEE MARCHES ON

PLAYOFF FOR TEAM BROWNLEE

BRILLIANT FROM TYLER TONEY

ONTO THE 17TH

IT'S A THREE-WAY CHIP-OFF!

THE CHIP OFF...

TEAM BROWNLEE VS TEAM RICHARDS FOR THE TITLE!

TEAM RICHARDS WINS THE CREATOR CLASSIC!