08/31/2026
Jimmy Clingan knew what he needed to do to garner his third consecutive Southern Delaware Golf Club Club Championship Sunday afternoon.
Holding a one-shot lead and facing a 189-yard second shot from just off the 18th fairway, Clingan needed a par to secure the title.
"Stewart (Fisher, the SDGC director of golf) came to me on the fairway on 18 and asked if I wanted to know (where I stood) and I said, ‘Yes’ immediately. I knew I had a one-stroke lead and I had to par it to win," said Clingan, who shot a two-over 72 to go with his opening round 76 to claim a one-shot victory over Derek Eckenrode.
"I pulled my drive a little bit, but it was fine. I had an opening and I had 189 out. I had a little extra juice in there, but I wanted to know because I wanted to know what I had to do and I was able to pull it off.
"I had a little bit of wind behind us. With the rough and everything, I just had to make sure I had a clean lie, and get to the back of the ball and I hit it pretty good."
Clingan's second shot ended up pin-high on the fringe to the back right pin location.
"I was over there in the fringe and I had been lipping out chips all day," he said. "I debated on chipping it or putting, but I decided to go with the flat stick (putter), and I was able to get
up and down for par."
Clingan's heroics weren't the only ones on the last hole.
Eckenrode, playing in the group directly in front of Clingan, had chunked his tee shot, but came through with three brilliant shots to turn the screws on Clingan.
"I don’t know what I was doing because on 17, I hit a second shot and chunked that, and I felt like my swing was fine. I made par on 17, and on 18, and the same thing (as 17), I don’t know what I did but I just topped it.
"I probably had 350, 360 (yards). I put a utility wedge up to about 130. Then, I wanted to go for the center of the green and did it."
That left Eckenrode, who fired a tournament-best 71 on Sunday, with an uphill, left-to-right slider for his par to put the pressure squarely on Clingan who was standing in the fairway.
"When I was looking at it, sometimes you can just see the line. I just saw it, but I was just so worried about the speed," he said. "And when that thing dropped, I haven’t felt that emotion in a
long time. I just started tearing up."
And when the putt fell, it finished a tournament-best 71 and three-under par 33 on the back nine for Eckenrode.
"Things started going well on 11, I was just holding on for dear life," said Eckenrode, who shot a 43 on the inward nine on Saturday. "I had memories from yesterday (Saturday) on that back nine and I didn’t do well on the back nine yesterday."
The third title for Clingan was probably the toughest, he said.
"I’m glad," he said. "We need more members out here. The
more people we get out here, the better off the tournament will be. It pushed me, it made me play good. I had a little bit of physical stuff going on, but I kept through it."
First round leader Mike Campion finished the final round with a 78 to finish third.
In the men's senior division, Archie Pearmon made it a two-peat after finishing Sunday's final round with a 75 to follow up Saturday's 74.
Steve Wrede took the senior net crown with rounds of 76 and 82.
On the women's side, Ann Reed made it two in a row with two solid days of play. Linda Kauffman finished second to earn the ladies' net championship.
