ESPN Golf

JUNCTION CITY, Ore. -- Cliff Kresge won the Oregon Classic for his third career Nationwide Tour victory Sunday, beating former U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes with a par on the third hole of a playoff.

Leaderboard
x-T-1. Kresge (-17) T-1. Barnes (-17) 3. Wilkinson (-16) 4. Baryla (-13) 5. Dunlap (-12) • Complete scores x-won on third hole of playoff

Barnes forced the playoff, birdieing the par-5 18th to match Kresge at 17-under 271 on the Shadow Hills Country Club course. Kresge closed with his third straight 5-under 67, while Barnes finished with his third 68 in a row.

They opened the playoff with birdies on the 18th, then matched pars on the hole before moving on to the par-4 10th. Kresge hit his approach shot from left rough to 20 feet and two-putted for the victory to lock up a spot on the 2007 PGA Tour. Barnes sent his approach over the green, chipped to 5 feet and missed his par try.

"You never like to win like that, you always want to make one to win," said Kresge, 3-0 in playoffs on the Nationwide Tour. "Honestly, though, we'll all take them any way we can get them."

The 37-year-old Kresge, also the tour's 2002 Virginia Beach Open and Hershey Open winner, earned $81,000 to jump from 12th to second on the money list with $294,261. The top 20 at the end of the season will earn PGA Tour cards.

"Once you're in a playoff, the pressure's off because the worst you can do is second," Kresge said. "This feels great and now I'm just one place away from where I want to be."

Kresge birdied four of the first five holes, reached 17 under with a birdie on No. 11 and parred the final seven holes of regulation.

"I got off to another great start," Kresge said. "From there on in, I had a lot of good looks at it. My putter was the difference this week. I had a really hot putter on Saturday and Sunday and just rode it from there."

Barnes had three birdies on a bogey-free front nine, dropped a stroke on No. 13, rebounded with a birdie on No. 14 and caught Kresge with the birdie on the 18th.

The 25-year-old former University of Arizona star made $48,600 to move from 49th to 30th on the money list with $146,010. He won the 2002 U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills and was the low amateur in the 2003 Masters.

New Zealand's Tim Wilkinson shot a 69 to finish a stroke out of the playoff at 16 under. Canadian Chris Baryla (68) was fourth at 13 under, and Scott Dunlap (67) followed at 12 under.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press