Barrington's Dana and Brett Quigley fire a final-round 61 and tie for second place, their best finish in the CVS Charity Classic.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 29, 2005

BY ROBERT LEE
Journal Sports Writer

BARRINGTON -- Home-course advantage?

Not exactly.

Barrington natives Dana and Brett Quigley have played in the CVS Charity Classic at Rhode Island Country Club all seven years of its existence and never have won the tournament. And after Dana hurt his right hip while playing in the Bank of America tournament (tie for 12th) last weekend, winning the 2005 CVS event seemed unlikely. Especially after they finished three strokes behind in the first round of the two-day tourney.

But the two Quigleys made a terrific run at the title yesterday.

"I thought we needed to shoot at least 60," said Brett, an RICC member.

That's 11 under par. Nobody in the tournament shot that well. But the Quigleys did have the low round yesterday, a 10-under-par 61 that tied the low round of the tournament and gave them a tie for second place with Brad Faxon and Sergio Garcia, at 17-under 125, two strokes behind winners Fred Funk and Chris DiMarco. Dana Quigley made four birdies and Brett rolled in six. And they didn't make a bogey.

On the 398-yard par-4 18th hole, Dana missed a 15-foot putt for birdie that would have moved them into a tie for first with eventual winners Fred Funk and Chris DiMarco (123).

Dana's miss put the pressure on Brett, who had a 10-foot birdie opportunity.

"I knew I had to make it," Brett said. "That's the hardest thing, hitting a put when you know you have to make it. I was hoping Dana would make it so I wouldn't have to putt."

Brett lined up the birdie bid and rolled it in. But DiMarco and Funk, who were leading most of the day, still had three holes to play, and they birdied the last two holes to split the $250,000 first-place prize.

"Brett was strong, and we needed him to play strong," Dana said. "If he plays like that on Tour, nobody will beat him."

"The only difference today, I feel like I had confidence with my putter," Brett said. "I had been struggling for the last three months. Today it felt good . . . If I have confidence, it just goes in."

Brett sank short putts (10 feet or less) for birdie on Nos. 3 (par 4), 9 (par 4), 11 (par 5), 12 (par 5), 16 (par 4) and 18 (par 4). Dana birdied Nos. 4 (par 4), 8 (par 5), 10 (par 3) and 14 (par 4).

"We dug ourselves a pretty good hole through the first seven (holes)," Dana said after the Quigleys had carded four birdies on the front nine before adding six on the back nine. "After that, we weren't trying to catch the leaders, we were trying to make birdies."

Their second-place finish, worth $175,000, was their best in the tourney. Last year, they tied for fourth.

"We are getting closer," Dana said. "If we get invited back three or four times, maybe we'll figure it out."

But winning isn't the Quigleys' main reason for playing in the event.

"We want to give the people of Rhode Island a chance to watch big-time golfers," Dana said. "There are a lot of great fans here and they deserve to see guys like Sergio Garcia."

The Quigleys earned a Skin on the 10th hole and took home a $25,000 prize.

Dana's right hip is bothering him so much that he will be forced to miss out on the annual father versus son competition that he, his son Devon, his brother Paul and Paul's son Brett compete in every time the family gets together. They were scheduled to play today at Metacomet. Dana said he won't miss any pro tournaments, though.

Dana, the Champions Tour's money leader, has earned more than $630,000 in his first eight events in 2005. Brett finished in the top 100 on the official PGA Tour money list for the third time in his career last year, and has earned more than $600,000 in his first 13 events this year.