Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada May 27, 2012 – 19 year old Clayton Presant of Kingston rode a day one lead through the final day of the 4th Flagstick Amateur Shootout at Smuggler’s Glen on Sunday to earn what he called the “biggest win of my career.”
Presant
had shot four under par, 68 on day one to take a three stroke lead over
a foursome of golfers heading into the final round of the 36-hole
stroke play event.
He
built on that lead in the closing round by posting an opening nine of
32 strokes. At that point he had surged to six strokes ahead of the
second place player, Sean Lackey, the three-time defending City of
Kingston Champion who now resides in Oakville.
As
strong as that lead was almost everybody knew it might not be safe on
the very tricky Smuggler’s Glen layout where the Canadian Shield often
makes its rocky presence known. By the time the final groups made
their way through the 15th hole of the day, Lackey had
reached two under par overall while Presant had given away two strokes
to narrow the gap between them to just three.
“The
nerves were acting up, a lot,” said Presant about his play on the
closing holes which looked a little more ragged than it had been all
weekend long. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I tried to stay the
same but, it just gets to you.”
Presant says things changed a bit for him when he spotted the leader board behind the 15th green and realized that his lead had diminished. “I saw that and figured I better pick up my game.”
Despite another bogey on the 17th hole, Presant was able to keep things together and eventually sink the winning putt on the 18th hole to the applause of the crowd who recognized his victory.
The
new champion says he just tried to stay focused all weekend long. “I
just wanted to play my game and that’s what I tried to do. I tried not
to do anything ridiculous and just keep my ball in play.”
Asked
what had helped him through the weekend Presant was quick to credit one
club alone, “My putter was on fire this week; I pretty much made
everything I looked at.”
With
the win the champion also received a special prize, an exemption into
The Great Waterway Classic, the Canadian Tour event that will play out
at Smuggler’s Glen this September 3-9th.
Unfortunately
had to pass on the exemption to the second place finisher, Sean Lackey,
as he recently signed a golf scholarship to attend Limestone College in
South Carolina and felt it would be too difficult to get back for the
tournament which takes places several weeks into his first semester.
David
Dargie, Tournament Director for The Great Waterway Classic was on hand
to congratulate Clayton, and subsequently Sean, on earning the exemption
into their Canadian Tour event.
Flagstick
Golf Magazine Publisher Jeff Bauder was pleased by the event that saw a
solid field of 72 golfers enjoy competition and camaraderie over the
course of the weekend. “We could not have asked for better weather and
we look forward to doing it all again next year for the 5th anniversary. We have another great champion and I think that just shows what a quality tournament this is becoming.”
Providing
tremendous support for the tournament was Mike Doyon, Territory Manager
for Eastern & Northern Ontario for Nike Golf Canada.
Additional sponsors included Smugglers Glen Golf Course, Glen House Resort, and Aquafina.
For more information Jeff Bauder, Tournament Director (Publisher, Flagstick Magazine) 1-613-302-2108, jbauder@flagstick.com
Photo
Caption: Clayton Presant (centre) is presented the Flagstick Spring
Amateur Shootout Trophy by Flagstick Golf Magazine Publisher Jeff Bauder
(left) and Smuggler’s Glen Director of Golf, Doug Wark (right)
Full field scoring available at www.flagstickshootout.com
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