Coming down the stretch in the final round of Legends Tour Q-School, Cameron Clark had every reason to feel nervous. Not only was he on the verge of earning one of the four cards that the 89 Q-School entrants had all been battling for, but he’d been in a similar position the previous year and saw his aspirations end in a watery grave on the final hole.
The 51-year-old may speak with an English accent – he’s spent most of his life there, after all – but don’t let that fool you. The son of a Scottish-born PGA Professional, he was born in Ballymena while his father, Iain, served as the Head Professional at Ballymena Golf Club after stints as an Assistant Pro at Malone and Lurgan.
And Clark proudly plays under the Northern Irish flag today, as he did during brief stints on the European Tour back in the 1990s.
“You probably wouldn’t think I’ve an English accent if you heard me talking to my dad,” he laughs. “But no, I’ve always been very proud to play under the Northern Irish flag. My mother was from Belfast, and I was born there too.”
Clark earned a European Tour card via Q-School in 1997 after competing for most of that season on the Challenge Tour, but early season starts were few and far between and when he suffered a broken wrist playing in the French Open in June, it effectively put an end to his hopes of retaining his playing rights.
He’d already completed his PGA Professional training under his father’s tutelage at Hagley Golf Club in Worcestershire and, after five years of attempting to carve out a career as a touring professional, he felt it was time to look for something a little more secure.
In 2003, he applied for the Head Professional role at Moor Hall Golf Club on the outskirts of Birmingham. He was offered the job, and he’s been there ever since.
Clark turned 50 in April 2024, qualified for the Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie, finished fourth in the Senior PGA Professional Championship, and entered Legends Tour Q-School for the first time at the end of the year.
After rounds of 68, 67 and 70, he was one-under through 17 holes of the final round at Gloria Golf Club’s New Course in Belek, Turkey. The equation was simple: birdie the par-5 closing hole to qualify outright, par for a playoff, bogey or worse and go home empty-handed.
The resulting double bogey was a bitter pill to swallow, and it would’ve been near impossible for him to have shut it out of his mind facing into that same closing stretch 12 months later.
“It was all I could think about really,” he admitted. “I was just literally telling myself, ‘Don’t do what you did last year’. I think that was only natural though. Anyone that says they can block that out of their mind; they’re not telling the truth. It was a really difficult one to take.”
This year, back-to-back 69s saw him in pole position at the halfway mark, but a 73 in round three and a couple of early bogeys on the final day saw him briefly slip outside the top four, but he reached the 17th with a one-stroke cushion.
But as finishing stretches go, an island green par-3 and a par-5 with water hugging the entire left side is far from ideal when the stakes are as high as they were. But Clark produced one of his best swings of the week on the 17th tee, sticking his approach to around six feet and rolled in the putt.
“A pal of mine was following us and he’d told me coming off the 15th that fifth place was at level-par at that stage, but because it was a shotgun start on the final day, it was hard to know exactly where I stood and the only leaderboard on the course was beside the 18th green,” he recalled.
“But after that birdie on 17, I figured I probably had a two-shot cushion playing the last.”
He was right, and after playing safe, comfortably got up and down for a par which saw him finish in solo fourth and he’ll gain entry to all of the Legends Tour events this season.
Along with the Senior Open Championship appearance, he played in two Staysure PGA Senior Championships – he gained access to the 2024 event via his fourth-place finish at the Senior PGA Professional Championship and then won the 2025 staging to gain access again – and made the cut in all three, leaving him confident that he’s got the ability to compete with the legends on a regular basis.
“Over the last two years, my game has probably been as good as it’s been in my whole career,” he said. “I’m very happy personally – I’m happily married and we’ve got a great lad, and I’m very settled in my job. I don’t know, maybe when I go to play in tournaments now, I’m relatively relaxed because I know I don’t need to do it – I want to do it.
“Maybe that gives me a slightly different mindset to some of the other guys who are really playing for their jobs. It’s a nice thing that I’ve always got something to come back to, although that didn’t really ease any of the pressure on that final day. It was as much pressure as I’ve ever felt on the golf course because of what happened last year – there was probably more pressure on me than on anybody else because of it – and because of the enormity of what was at stake. You know, fifth place got you nothing.”
Though the full Legends Tour schedule has yet to be finalised, Clark will be making the trip to Marbella at the end of February for the season-opening Marbella Legends, and he’ll not be alone.
“My son turned 16 while I was in Turkey, and he’s caddied for me in the three previous Tour events, so he’ll be coming to Marbella as well. But he’s got his GCSEs this year, so he’ll be studying for those afterwards, but once school breaks up, he’ll come back out with me for the summer events.”
One event which has been roughly pencilled into the calendar – though the date is yet to be cemented – will be an emotional one. The Black Desert NI Legends at Galgorm Castle will take place just minutes from the place he first called home.
“That one will be particularly sweet,” he enthusiastically declared. “I asked for an invite last year but wasn’t lucky enough to get one, so it’ll be really nice to be able to go and play there this year.
“I’ve still got a lot of family in Belfast, so it’ll be a great opportunity to catch up with all of those as well.”
In the meantime, he’s back to his day job as the figurehead at Cameron Clark Golf at Moor Hall where he’s been inundated with well-wishers from the club, thrilled that their man of 22 years is going to be teeing it up alongside some of the genuine legends of European golf.
It does present a minor problem, however, though as problems go, it’s very much of the ‘First World’ variety. He’d very much like to tee it up in every Legends Tour event that he has exemptions into but first has to get the all-clear from the club management.
“My club have been very supportive of me all along,” he said. “But though I haven’t had the chance to sit down with them yet since returning, I’m sure that will continue. There’s been great excitement among the members, and they’ve all been following it with great interest, and I think will continue to do so.
“I think it’s great for the club to have a Head Pro that’s out there competing at that level.”
Another event that’s not been finalised on the schedule is the Irish Legends, which moved to Mount Juliet in 2025 after two years at Seapoint, but that’s not the only event on Irish soil this year that Clark will be keen to be present at.
In 2019, he captained the Great Britain and Ireland PGA Cup team that narrowly lost out to the United States at Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas, having been a vice-captain to Albert MacKenzie at Foxhills two years prior and been a playing member of the 2015 side that recorded GB&I’s first and only victory on U.S. soil.
“I had three great PGA Cup experiences,” Clark recalled. “Winning at CordeValle in 2015 to become the first side to win away was incredible, then being vice-captain was a great honour and to be named captain was just the icing on the cake.
“I would love to be able to go and support the GB&I team at The K Club this year, but that will depend on the Legends Tour schedule, of course. And I might have all my leave used up by then as I’d love to go and try to defend my Senior PGA Professional’s Championship at Royal Dornoch in May as well.”
First World problems they may be, but they’re a far cry from the disappointment he carried away from Turkey a year ago.
As his 52nd birthday approaches, Clark isn’t chasing a last chance so much as enjoying a well-deserved one.
Leave a comment