Southern Pines, N.C. – Scott Harrington of Scottsdale, Ariz. survived wind, rain and bitter-cold temperatures throughout the week at the eGolf Gateway Tour’s Mid Pines Classic to force his way into a sudden-death playoff on Friday afternoon, which he won on the first extra hole at host Mid Pines Golf Club, thanks to a 20-foot birdie putt to lock up the event’s $14,500 first-place prize.

Strong winds on Wednesday in the North Carolina Sandhills gave way to a heavy afternoon rainstorm on Thursday, forcing tournament officials to suspend play at Mid Pines Resort with round two to be concluded on Friday morning.

When second-round play wrapped up on Friday morning, four-time tour winner Drew Weaver of High Point, N.C. sat atop the leaderboard with rounds of 66-70—136 and a 6-under par tally.

Harrington, who opened his week with rounds of 69-69—138 (4-under), earned a spot in Friday’s final threesome alongside Weaver and Brendan Kelly of Annapolis, Md. – who also sat two back at minus-4.

Out of the gate, chilly temperatures in the mid-30s and a demanding Donald Ross venue took the tournament by storm, as players struggled throughout the afternoon to find birdies on a track measuring just a hair under 6,600 yards.

Scott Harrington

Weaver, the 2007 British Amateur champion, bogeyed three of his first four holes to drop to 3-under par, suddenly trailing the upstart Kelly, who was 1-under through four holes and 5-under overall.

For Harrington, a birdie at the first showed glimpses of a promising day, but a double-bogey on the tough par-4 third took the longtime Web.com Tour member to 3-under for the week.

At that point, the day’s final threesome began a barrage of pars that pulled many contenders back in the mix.

From Nos. 5 through 15, Harrington, Weaver and Kelly recorded a combined 29 pars to sit at 3-under, 3-under and 2-under, respectively.

On the par-4 16th, Harrington blinked with an unlikely three-putt to fall one shot back of Weaver with two holes to go.

“It was a day where our whole group was paring it to death. It was hard to give yourself many chances, so you wound up two-putting from 40 feet a lot,” said the 34-year-old Harrington. “After I bogeyed 16, it freed me up a little to go for it.”

While the 1:00 PM threesome off of No. 1 was paring the course left and right, former USC Gamecock Dykes Harbin of Augusta, Ga. was slowly climbing the final-round leaderboard.

Three birdies in his first 12 holes took the 23-year-old to 3-under for the week before a bogey at the uphill par-4 14th moved him back down to minus-2.

On 16, Harbin dropped a late birdie to ascend back to 3-under, where he eventually finished after pars on 17 and 18 left him with a final-round 69 and the clubhouse lead at 210.

Drew Weaver

With a target score to shoot at, the final threesome pared the 17th to arrive at the par-4 18th with Weaver tied for the lead at 3-under, and Harrington and Kelly one back needing a birdie each to have a chance.

With the sun fading fast at 5:50 PM, Weaver hit his approach to 20 feet in front of the iconic Mid Pines Hotel, while Harrington and Kelly hit their second shots to 3 feet and 10 feet, respectively.

Weaver, who starred on the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team and won the eGolf Tour’s money list in 2012, rolled his potential winning birdie try towards the center hole location on 18, only to see the putt narrowly miss as he backed away from the line for a possible game-winning fist pump.

With two already in the overtime playoff session, Kelly missed his birdie try from above the hole, while Harrington calmly rolled in his short putt for a closing birdie to post a final-round 72 and a matching 210 tally.

“That was big for me on No. 18,” said Harrington, who hit a pitching wedge from 114 yards at the last. “I knew I had to make birdie, and I hit two great shots in order to do so.”

With roughly 20 minutes of daylight on their side, the threesome headed to the par-4 first for the opening playoff hole, where Weaver was the only one to find the fairway.

After blowing his tee shot right into the tree line, Harbin pitched out short of the front-left bunker and 20 yards short of the pin.

Dykes Harbin

Next up to play was Weaver, who hit a short-iron approach to 4 feet, only to watch the ball spin off the front of the green onto the fringe, roughly 35 feet below the hole.

After “getting lucky” with his tee shot, which found the left side of the downhill hole, Harrington hit a gap wedge from 95 yards to 20 feet above the hole, giving the former Northwestern Wildcat star the advantage.

Harbin caught a tough uphill pitch a bit heavy, leading to a two-putt bogey that eliminated him from a possible first career win on tour.

Weaver, who had the luxury of giving his uphill birdie try a run, left his putt 3 feet short from well beneath the hole, in turn setting up an easy par putt he never got the chance to convert.

With tournament officials estimating enough light for one more playoff hole, Harrington ended the debate with a left-to-right breaking birdie try that “looked good the entire way.”

When Harrington’s ball trickled down 4 feet from the hole, the Oregon native slowly raised his arm with an ever-so-slight fist in tow to signal that it was game over.

The playoff birdie sealed the win for Harrington, who took home $14,500 in his first career win on the eGolf Gateway Tour’s east coast series.

“I love golf in North Carolina. Those first couple of days, you really had to control your ball with the wind,” said Harrington of the arduous conditions on Wednesday and Thursday. “This place makes you choose your shots and your spots, and I love that.”

The win was further continuation of a dominant season on the tour’s west coast series, where Harrington notched five top-10s in his fist six starts, including a win two weeks ago at Rustic Canyon Golf Club in Southern California.

With $41,228 in combined earnings between the two tours, he currently sits atop the universal eGolf Gateway Tour money list – nearly $10,000 ahead of the No. 2 spot.

“It feels really good to get this win. I’ve been playing really well, so it’s really nice for me to punch one through out here,” said Harrington, who has conditional status on the Web.com Tour this year. “I didn’t do much early outside of paring everything to death, but then to birdie the last and the playoff hole as well – that’s really validating.”

Weaver and Harbin each earned $7,850 for their matching runner-up efforts.

For Weaver, the T2 was another knock on victory’s door following a T3 effort at last week’s Palmetto Hall Championship.

The 27-year-old suffered a letdown in 2013 following his breakout 2012 campaign, but came back to life last season with a win and 12 additional top-25 finishes to finish sixth on the season-ending money list.

“I’m getting close. I know I’m getting close,” he said while walking off the first green in the playoff.

For Harbin, the T2 marked a career-best in a tour resume that dates back to 2013, when he finished a standout campaign in Columbia prior to turning professional. Entering the week, he had notched a pair of T5 finishes in 17 total starts.

Kelly and Zachary Caldwell of Dawsonville, Ga. finished in a tie for fourth, one shot outside the playoff at 2-under 211. They each earned $5,150 for their efforts.

• The tour would first and foremost like to thank Ms. Peggy Kirk Bell, Mr. Kelly Miller and Mr. Pat McGowan for hosting the Mid Pines Classic at their wonderful resort. A special thanks goes to Director of Golf Graham Gilmore and Head Golf Professional Brett Harless, and their respective staffs, for all of their efforts in helping the tour conduct the event. The tour was presented with a phenomenal venue this week, and all accolades should be directed towards Director of Agronomy David Fruchte and his crew for countless hours spent preparing the Mid Pines course, in and around trying weather conditions. Last, but certainly not least, the tour would like to thank the members at Mid Pines for opening their course to the tour and its players for the week, as well as the countless volunteers who helped to make the event run smoothly.

• The east coast tour will be off next week before returning to action for the Nova Tax Group Open, to be contested at NorthStone Country Club in Huntersville, N.C. on March 17-20.