John "Spider" Miller, 48, of Bloomington, Ind., won three consecutive holes on the front nine versus Chip Holcombe, 37, of Casselberry, Fla., and held on to win, 1 up, at NCR Country Club Thursday for his second U.S. Mid-Amateur title in three years.

A beer distributor and 1996 winner of this age 25-and-older championship, Miller won holes six through eight to go 2-up. His birdie on the eighth was his third birdie of the match. While Miller never trailed after the seventh hole, he never got further ahead than 2-up. In fact, Holcombe squared the match with wins on the next two holes.

Miller remained 2-up through 16 before Holcombe won the 17th hole. The two halved the last hole with par 4s to close the match and become the championship's oldest winner.

"I played sloppy today, but I just hung in there. I had been playing well all week," said Miller, who was 6 under par for his six wining matches. "I always thought maybe I'll have one more chance to play at the Masters," said Miller. "I played poorly there the first time, and I'll thrilled to have a chance to go back."

Holcombe narrowly missed a few key putts down the stretch, but was not too disappointed.

"I'm probably not as disappointed now as I will be later tonight or tomorrow," said Holcombe, a retail golf store manager who had quit the game for six years until 1995.

"This was very dreamy situation," said Holcombe, who survived a 13-way playoff at 147 for one of the final five spots after 36 holes of stroke play. "It's almost surreal, and I'm very appreciative of everything that has happened."

In his semifinal match, Miller won holes 8, 12 and 16 to close out Wolstenholme. He saved par with up-and-downs from greenside bunkers on the last three holes and held Woltenholme without a win hole after the seventh hole.

In the other semifinal, Holcombe, won the 15th hole which proved to be the difference in beating Paul Simson, 48, of Raleigh, N.C., 1 up.

The U.S. Mid-Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.