There was a playoff between 10th-ranked Justin Rose and 246th-ranked Shawn Stefani on Sunday at Congressional Country Club. And the British Rose should thank his lucky stars that the unheralded American did not take from him his second win at this event.   

"That's the thing about a playoff," Quicken Loans National title winner Rose said, as quoted on the Washington Post. "You never underestimate anybody, because a playoff can be won and lost with one swing." 

It seemed certain a par would win at the 18th for Rose, but his tee shot went left and his ball was left to thread between two trees, a few feet apart. He didn't hit the trees, but he put too much right-to-left spin on the ball, and it scooted into the water to the left of the 18th green.

That was the excitement that went on for Rose, who has been into golf since his teenage years, when he holed out from the rough on the 1998 British Open. 

Stefani had one 20-footer to win the event but couldn't drain it, and so the playoff began. Going first, said the Washinton Post, he did a tee shot on the 72nd hole, which landed left of the cart path. Soon, he faced Rose's conditions. His ball bounced into the water left. The faceoff should be memorable for the 32-year-old Texan though, because he has a single appearance in a major championship under his name, the U.S. Open that Rose won. 

"This is the first time I've been in that position coming in on Sunday late," Stefani said, as quoted in the Washington Post report. The Congressional determined so many fates--with Woods missing the cut and unknowns dotting the leader board. But the same report said the anonimity of the finalists did not stop what could be the most exciting finish in the eight-year history of this event.    

Rose's closing 70 got him to 4-under-par 280 for the tournament. More than a year after his U.S. Open breakthrough victory, the report added, he has won again in the style he prefers--at the extra hole.

The 33-year-old won his sixth PGA Tour title, said BBC. Stefani was seeking his first PGA Tour win, but catching the water at Congressional ended his hopes.

Before the playoffs, Rose led by one going down the last, but drove into the trees and hit his second into the greenside pond. His rival, on the other hand, bogeyed 17 to slip out of a share of the lead but parred the last for another 70 to join Rose. 

The Washington Post said Sunday was a jumble in which no fewer than eight players held at least figured in the lead at one point or another, but it came down to two men, a group apart, over the final two holes; and then to Rose, who, the Washington Post said, had all his PGA Tour victories at difficult, classic venues: Muirfield Village, Aronimink, Cog Hill, Doral, Merion and now Congressional.  

 "I think Congressional wanted its reputation back," said Rose. "It tested all of us getting to four under par to win this tournament."  The 32-year-old Stefani's consolation was to qualify for July's Open at Hoylake.