VALDOSTA — The 2009 Plowboy Open golf tournament raised a bunch of money for the Lowndes High football program, and took an extra hole to decide a winner.

The top flight was decided in a playoff. Bill Love sank a birdie putt on the first playoff hole, earning himself and Travis Pate first place in the tournament, which was played at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.

Love and Pate defeated Ty Howze and Doug Rayford. Both two-man teams shot a 131. Howze and Rayford shot the best round of the tournament with a 64 on Sunday.

Sam and Sepp Straka, two brothers that play with Howze on the Lowndes High golf team, shot a 65 on Sunday and finished third in the top flight with a 132.

Pat Powell and Art Avant finished fourth with a 135, and Jason Shaw and Jeff Parrish were fifth with a 136.

Ryan and John McAllister won flight 2, shooting a 138. The McAllisters shot a 67 and won their flight by three strokes.

There was a three-way tie for second at 141 between Scott Simpson and Kevin Hiers, Buck Buchanan and Mike Lisi, and Mark Shaw and Frank Moss.

Justin Smothers and Jared McGahee shot a 67 on Sunday and won flight 3 with a 140. Hal Harwell and Larry Taylor shot a 68 and finished second at 141. G.C. Ratliff and Cody Califf finished third at 144.

In the fourth flight, Gary Prine and Dustin Walton won with a 155. John Bowman and Glenn Wilson tied for second with Brian Touchton and Nathan Smith at 156.

The winning teams in each flight received a $400 gift certificate to the pro shop at Kinderlou.

Second-place teams received a $300 gift certificate and third-place teams got a $200 gift certificate.

Howze won the Closest to the Pin contest on Sunday.

The real winner of the tournament, though, was Lowndes High’s football program. The Plowboy Open was held as a fundraiser for the Vikings.

“I think everything went well, everybody had a good time and everything went as planned,” said Farmers and Merchants Bank vice president Brett Whiddon, one of the tournament’s organizers and a former Lowndes player. “We were pleased. Overall, it was a 100 percent success.”

There were 33 teams competing in the tournament. Whiddon was grateful for all of the support the tournament received.

“There were a lot of people that helped out,” he said. “Kinderlou did a lot of big things for us. Wal-Mart did a lot for us, and Sunset Farms. We had 35 hole sponsors. Most of the people we talked to were willing to help us in some manner.”

Whiddon played with Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson, and the pairing shot a 73 on Sunday and a 149 overall. Lowndes assistant coaches Randy Hill and James Brown played in the first flight, and shot a 140. Assistant coach Danny Redshaw and trainer Philip Pieplow tied for fourth in the third flight at 147.