CLEVELAND, Tenn. - William Nottingham is just following family tradition - in several ways.
Nottingham won the Tennessee Junior Amateur golf tournament Thursday at Cleveland Country Club.
His uncle, Ricky Hudson, won the same event in 1976 at Stones River Country Club.
"I guess I can give him a hard time now," said Nottingham, a rising senior at Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport. "He says he's a lot better than me."
Nottingham defeated Cooper Sears in a sudden-death playoff that lasted two holes after both shot 7-under-par 206 for three rounds on the course that changed each day after weekend rains dumped more than five inches onto the course.
Knoxville's Davis Shore, the 2014 champion, tied for third at 5-under 208 along with James Beckner of Kingsport and Jacob Sherlin of Hendersonville. Chip Thomas of Knoxville placed sixth at 211, and Scott Stevens led the Chattanooga-area participants with a tie for seventh at 214.
"I had a lot of fun. I like feeling that pressure," said Shore, a junior at Christian Academy of Knoxville.
Shore has chosen to play at Alabama over several other Southeastern colleges, and Stanford as well. He visited Tuscaloosa multiple times including a one-on-one tour with coach Jay Seawell and another trip to the 2014 Iron Bowl.
"I played three solid rounds," he said. "They just were not quite good enough."
Nottingham not only is following his uncle by winning the State Junior, but he's following Hudson and his father by attending Clemson.
"I did that in January or February," said Nottingham, who wore Clemson gear each round this week, pronouncing his love for the Tigers and their golf program.
Clemson coach Larry Penley is adding a state champion to his squad. That championship, which seemed to be a foregone conclusion Wednesday night, turned out to be a dramatic victory.
William Nottingham replaces the flag at the 15th green during play in Thursdays final round of the State Junior Amateur golf tournament at Cleveland Country Club. Nottingham withstood a charge by Cooper Sears and won on the second hole of a two-hole playoff."I was thinking about the final day a lot last night," Nottingham said. "I was just laying in my bed."
There were reasons to worry. Shore, the defending champion, and Sherlin, who's headed to Walters State this fall, trailed Sears - who will be a U.S. Junior Amateur participant - by one and Nottingham by four entering the final round.
All three pressured the eventual champion, but none could break him.
Just three holes into Thursday's round, Sears trimmed the lead to two. Sherlin applied the most pressure as the sun rose to its peak of the day. He pulled within one on No. 11.
Nottingham, playing one group behind Sherlin, had no idea. He concentrated on the competition from within his own group.
"They both got off to a hot start, so we were all really close," Nottingham said.
Nottingham executed a shot on the 53rd hole of the 54-hole tournament that would make Penley proud. He stuck a 6-iron shot from the 175-yard par-3 to within eight feet of the cup and made the birdie to put him two ahead of Sears.
The gallery full of players who had completed their rounds as well as their parents and a few club members swelled to watch Nottingham win on the final hole.
He delayed the drama.
Nottingham chose the safe route off the tee on No. 18 but chunked his approach from a downhill lie short of a bunker, resulting in a bogey. Sears, knowing he needed a birdie and a little luck, hit driver to the narrow fairway and then an approach from 82 yards to within four feet. The result was a tying birdie.
"I had to play a lot of break," Sears said of the putt.
Both parred the first playoff hole. An errant tee shot, one that hit the side of the cart path, cost Sears. He attempted a punch shot over a pond and into a hill, thinking it would bounce onto the green. But he missed the hill, leaving him with an impossible chip to the hole on the front edge of the green.
"It was a steep slope," he said.
Nottingham followed a series of strokes by sinking a four-foot sweeping putt for the victory and winning the same trophy his uncle hoisted 39 years ago.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP