Defending champions Dedham Country and Polo Club went the distance to defend their net title in the Goodwill Tournament yesterday, winning on the second play-off hole when Reed Foehl sank a six-foot putt for par to break a three-way tie.

In an unusual occurrence in this tournament -- the last play-off was 13 years ago -- three teams teed off at the same time at Port Royal...overnight leaders Belmont, Dedham and Bedrock Golf Club from Rutland, Massachusetts after all finished on 238 for the four rounds at Belmont, Castle Harbour, Mid Ocean and Mid Ocean.

And when Foehl, one of three family members in the Dedham team, sank his winning putt there was only a precious few minutes of sunlight remaining.

Foehl admitted he felt the weight on his shoulders as he lined up his crucial putt.

"There was a lot of pressure, and I had a taste of it on the first hole when I choked,'' said Foehl, who was part of the Massachusetts team that also included his father and brother, Bill and Curt, along with professional Jimmy Noris.

"I just took a deep breath and tried to relax. I figured we had to win it there. The next hole was a par three and nobody was getting strokes there. I knew it had to end there (second hole).'' Dedham trailed Cornell Bean's Belmont team by two strokes going into their last round at Castle Harbour. That lead was wiped out with a round of 59 by Dedham while Belmont, also including Chris Phillips, Wade Jerrett and David Rocha, shot a 61 at nearby Mid Ocean.

But another team also came into the equation when Bedrock, led by pro and long-time visitor Joe Carr, closed the five-stroke gap between themselves and the leaders with a round of 56 at Castle Harbour.

That put three teams into the play-off which didn't start until 5.15 and took 70 minutes to complete as the light faded quickly with official Henry Ascento speeding the players along as quickly as possible.

A sigh of relief echoed around the Southampton course as Foehl sank the winning putt.

"Today was probably the best we played as a team,'' said Noris, who was happy to see one of his amateurs pull the team through.

"In the first play-off hole we had a chance to close it but didn't. We thought it might come down to a play-off between us and Belmont, but we weren't sure Bedrock were going to be in there.'' Belmont finished second on retrogression over Bedrock, who had Hack McDonnell, Marty McGrann and Jeff Raymond as amateurs.

Three other teams were tied on 241, as local team Port Royal, led by Frankie Rabain and including Kevin Reeves, Michael Tavares and Jeremy Franklin, headed the St. Louis CC and Charles River CC on retrogression.

Just one stroke separated the top four teams in the gross division where Metuchen G&CC of Edison, New Jersey, won over Winchester CC of Massachusetts after finishing on 261.

Redding CC and Navesink had to settle for third and fourth on retrogression after also carding 262 over the four rounds.