Clark rallies late and prevails in playoff to win CPGA Assistant title

Stuart Clark thought for sure he had squandered his opportunity.

The Pawleys Island resident and golf instructor at the Steve Dresser Golf Academy at True Blue Golf Club shot a 4-under-par 68 Monday to take the lead after the first round of the National Car Rental Carolinas Assistant PGA Professional Championship at River Run Country Club in Davidson, N.C.

But by the 18th hole in the second and final round on Tuesday, Clark was 3 over for the day, leaving him two shots behind his two playing partners and one shot behind a third competitor who had completed his round.

Clark made a birdie on the tough 550-yard par-5 finishing hole, then watched Anthony Cordes of Pinehurst, N.C., miss a 4-foot par putt for the win, and Aaron Black of Charlotte, N.C., miss a 3-foot bogey putt that would have qualified him for a playoff at 2-under 142.

An 8-foot par putt on the first playoff hole – the 18th – was good enough for the win in a three-man playoff over Cordes and Savio Nazareth of Kernersville, N.C., who each had par putts of 6 feet or less on the 18th.

“I tried to give this tournament away all day, and when it mattered everyone just sort of fell off and I started hitting shots and making putts,” Clark said. “I’ll take it, I’m not going to lie.”

Clark, 41, won $1,400 of an $11,500 purse and was one of five players to earn spots Tuesday in the 40th $100,000 Assistant PGA Professional Championship from Oct. 27-30 at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“I teach, but I love to play. I love the competition,” Clark said. “I’ll be representing the Steve Dresser Golf Academy and the Grand Strand in Port St. Lucie, Fla.”

Nazareth, Cordes, Black and Barry Pierce of Charlotte also qualified for the national assistant championship.

Clark is a former head men’s golf coach at the University of North Alabama who moved to the Strand three years ago and has worked at the Dresser Academy for the past 18 months.

Samantha Swinehart of River Hills Golf & Country Club in Little River tied for 10th at 4-over 148, Nicholas Johnston of the Players Club at St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C., tied for 21st at 153 and Grant Bolin of The Reserve Club in Pawleys Island tied for 39th at 159.

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Clark rallies late and prevails in playoff to win CPGA Assistant title."