Ames’ Ricky Costello (pictured above) knew after his opening nine holes in the final round of the 70th Herman Sani Tournament presented by Coppola Enterprises at Echo Valley Country Club he had nothing to lose.

Costello put together a bogey-free 33 (-3) on the back nine to get into a playoff with three others including Charles Jahn (Sperry), Frank Lindwall (Cedar Rapids) and Lachlan Barker (Ames), who all finished at 211 (-5) for the tournament. Costello, Lindwall and Barker are all teammates on the Iowa State men’s golf team.

Costello, who held the lead after the opening round with 68 (-4), admitted he wanted to play more aggressively in the final round. His aggressiveness paid dividends, after all four players made par on the first playoff hole (#18), as he almost drove the green on the second playoff hole (#11) and chipped up to tap-in range. His birdie was good enough to win and take home the title after birdie attempts failed from the other three players.

“The first day I had conservative approach to the course,” Costello said. “I made a lot of putts that day. Coming into today I told myself I am coming here to win. I wanted to play more aggressive than I had the first couple of days and I did. I tried to put confident swings on the ball. I figured I didn’t have much to lose (by hitting driver on #11 in the playoff).”

Costello, even after making a 25-foot birdie putt on #18 thought he was probably a shot or two short.

“I was able to make a couple birdies down the stretch to get it to -5,” Costello said. “I didn’t think it was going to be enough. I had a rough start (today) and was two-over par after seven holes. I was able to birdie #9 and I thought let’s see what we can do those last nine holes. I couldn’t of asked for anything more than that.”

In the Senior Division Gene Elliott (West Des Moines) put together rounds of 69-67-72 (-8) to win by three over Jon Brown (Adel). West Des Moines’ Joe Palmer and Terry Cook (-2) tied for third place.

Rob Christensen (Marshalltown) won his second Super Senior Division title in a row in this event with a five shot victory over Jim Campbell (Albia). Polk City’s Stephen Larson finished third, eight shots back of Christensen.

Jewell’s Trevor Ullestad (-3) finished at the low professional for the event.

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