SUMMERFIELD – Garland Yates has probably seen a hung jury a time or two in his years as a district attorney. On April 6 at Greensboro National, he was firsthand witness to golf’s version of that courtroom scenario -- a lengthy sudden-death playoff.

This time a verdict was reached, but not until after five extra holes were played. Yates emerged with a dramatic victory over high school sophomore Nathan Spoon of Graham to claim the championship of the seventh annual Triad Golf Today Tournament of Champions.

Yates, a 51-year-old Denton native who resides in Asheboro and serves as head district attorney for Randolph, Moore and Montgomery counties, used a par on the par-4 fifth hole to end the fourth playoff in the seven-year history of the event.

“It was a heck of a playoff,” Yates said after closing with the last of several clutch putts in the playoff that finally ended Spoon’s title bid. “He’s a good young player. If he keeps at it, we’ll be reading about him.”

Yates can only estimate how many tournaments he’s won in his career – something like 25 or 30. The two that came in 2002 (Bud Kivett Memorial and John Ridge Classic) qualified him for the tournament of champions. Spoon, 16, earned his invitation by winning the Southwick Amateur and he also claimed the club championship at Quarry Hills.

While Spoon had been getting in his practice almost every day while playing for his high school team at Southern Alamance, Yates was busy being a district attorney.

“The last two weeks I hadn’t played a lot,” he said. “I had a D.A.’s conference in Wilmington and last week I had a murder case in Moore County. In fact, the jury just came back at 5 o'clock on Friday.”

Yates wasn’t deterred by the fact that court time took priority over course time.

“It’s probably the best thing. I just tried to keep it in play,” he said, adding that a new set of custom-fit irons kept him on track. “I hit my irons better than normal. It’s a long course anyway for me and you’re not going to make a ton of birdies out here.”

Yates fired an even-par 72 in the first round, mixing one birdie with one bogey. That left him in a tie for third, one shot behind Marc Cox and defending champion Todd Chadwick.

He got off to a fast start Sunday, scoring four birdies in his first 11 holes and taking the lead by going three under par for the tourney. But he double bogeyed the par-4 No. 12 hole and suffered bogeys at 15 and 18 coming in to complete a one-over 73.

“I thought I had to make a birdie to tie,” Yates said of his play at 18. “I had to make about a 5-footer coming back for a bogey. So I put my stuff in the car and was ready to go home when they told me I was in a playoff.”

Spoon, who opened with a 73, put together a brilliant stretch of play in the second round. After turning the front nine in 38, he birdied 10, 11, 13 and 14 to get to two under for the day and he followed with pars at 15, 16 and 17.

Spoon didn’t know where he stood going into the par-5 finishing hole and went for the green in two.

“My second shot went in the bunker beside the hole and I had a bad lie,” Spoon said. His third shot zipped past the green and he ended up with a double bogey and a card of 72.

The playoff began with matched pars at No. 1 and bogeys at No. 2, but a dramatic turn came at the 579-yard third hole.

Spoon launched a 300-plus yard drive that bypassed the lake that guards the right of the fairway and was left with only 200 yards to the green. Yates, meanwhile, hit the fairway and left his second shot 60 yards short. Spoon hit the green with his second shot and two-putted for birdie from 30 feet, leaving it up to Yates to make a testy, downhill 15-foot putt to keep the match going.

Yates did just that, sending the playoff to the par-3 fourth hole where both players two-putted for par.

The break came at the par-4 fifth when Spoon missed the fairway to the right and was blocked out by some trees. He played a superb escape but his knockdown shot skipped over the green and he was unable to get up and down to save par. Yates found the left fringe with his second shot and he left his long approach putt about six feet short. He calmly made it to end the second longest playoff in the tournament’s history.

“He’s a good player,” Spoon said. “He can putt really good. I couldn’t get anything to fall and he made them from everywhere. He’s good around the greens and he won’t make many mistakes.”

Spoon said he hopes to learn from playing with the veteran players.

“It’s fun playing with the older guys. They’ve been around the game a long time. They know how to play.”

Spoon has grown up playing in tournaments and has a national ranking of 32 among sophomores by the Junior Golf Scoreboard.

“It’s nice that they have the all the junior tournaments now,” Yates said. “We didn’t have that when I was growing up. It really helps them playing in a lot of tournaments.”

Yates played high school football and basketball at Denton and took up golf at about age 16. He has a law degree from Wake Forest.

He loves the competition of tournament golf and plays in a lot of individual events every year.

He remembered two other playoffs he has been involved in, both in the Asheboro City Amateur. He won in two holes in 1993 but lost a one-hole playoff a couple of years later.

The five-hole marathon at the Tournament of Champions was the longest playoff he had ever been involved in.