Through 53 holes, Brian Lamberti and Tele Wightman stood in a deadlock at 17-under-par. From 232 yards in the center of no. 18 fairway, a 576-yard par-5, Lamberti grimaced as his 5-wood sailed into the trees on the right. As quickly as it went in, it caromed back into the center of the fairway, some 75 yards from the pin. Twenty minutes earlier, Wightman, playing one group ahead, struck a similar pose over his second shot as it also found the right woods. This time, though, the collections of trees swallowed up his ball and his chances of winning. From an ideal position, Lamberti knocked his approach to 8-feet then canned the putt for birdie, claiming his maiden CGT victory and denying Wightman of his second Tour triumph.

"I wasn’t about to miss it left," said Lamberti, who fired rounds of 66-61-68 to finish at 18-under 195. "I wasn’t thinking about hitting it in the woods, but” in the woods it went. Lamberti's final hole fortunes completed a clutch comeback in which he birdied four of his final 11 holes to hold off Wightman, who carded a 4-under 67.

“I had goose bumps," Lamberti said of the clinching putt. "It feels like a relief. This whole week proves to me that I can finish. My mind is better than it’s ever been.”

Despite the misfortune on the final hole, Wightman, following rounds of 63-66-67, recorded his best finish on the CGT in more than two years.

“I played good," he said. "I can’t complain. I’m pretty happy with how I hung in there on the back nine.”

Wightman's tree troubles on 18 were preceded by a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th that ran up to the front edge of the lip, stopped then trickled back two inches.

“I thought it was dead center," Wightman said of his narrow miss.

CGT money leader Rob Oppenheim jumped up the leaderboard with a final round 67, finishing solo 3rd. Four behind beginning the day, Oppenheim made enough birdies (8) to make a move but also carded two bogeys and a double.

"It could have been good," said Oppenheim, whose has now played seven consecutive competitive rounds, a stretch that will extend to 10 following the Maine Open, which begins Thursday.

The Tour now travels to Bloomfield, CT, Aug. 16-18, for the first annual Wintonbury Hills Open.