Steve Isley, of Oak Island Golf Club, won the title in the Carolinas PGA Head Professional Championship held at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C., but Jeff Peck, of Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte, secured the berth in the Heritage PGA Tour event in Hilton Head.

Isley shot 74-70—144 to come from four shots back and win the event, but Peck’s opening round 70 in the qualifier earned him a spot in the Heritage.

“My goal was to qualify for the Heritage,” Isley said, “but coming away with a win is always good.”

Carolinas Mid-Am: Preston Edmondson, of Morrisville, led sectional qualifying results for the Carolinas Mid-Amateur Championship, shooting 73 in the Devils Ridge Golf Club event in Holly Springs.

The cut line fell at 7-over-par 79 with 32 players advancing to the Carolinas Golf Association event, scheduled for Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte this weekend.

John Wright, of Aberdeen, shot 78 and tied for 18th. Ryan Whaley, of Huntersville, led the qualifying event held in Gaffney, S.C., with 71, with 11 players gaining spots in the championship.

S.C.’s Finest: The South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel has ranked the Grande Dunes Resort Club, Pine Lakes Country Club and Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation as some of the best non-private courses in South Carolina.

The Grande Dunes contains a spectacular layout and is positioned on a high bluff that affords stunning views of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Pine Lakes, the oldest course on the Grand Strand, is nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Highway 17. It features numerous lakes and rolling fairways.

Tidewater spans the Little River Neck peninsula from the Intracoastal Waterway to the tidal saltwater marshes of Cherry Grove and the Atlantic Ocean. Tidewater is one of the most honored courses along the Grand Strand and is regularly listed among the country’s top 100 public courses by Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and Golfweek.

Golfweek Am: Mark Macejko, of Vass, made the short drive to Southern Pines Golf Club pay off when he shot 72 to win the Golfweek Amateur Tour event last week. The 1-over-par figure edged Rob Clarke, of Raleigh, by one stroke.

“Mark played well,” said tour director Bruce Hallenbeck. “The wind was gusting up to 30 miles per hour, which didn’t help scoring, but the perfect condition of the course — particularly the greens — helped keep scoring on track.”

There was a dogfight in Flight A where tour points leader Kevin Hamilton, of Fayetteville, nipped Jim Goulding, of High Point, with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff after they had tied at 77. Will Gwinn, of Raleigh, and Dan Anthony, of Thomasville, were tied for third with 78.

Roger Sullivan, of Rocky Mount, won Flight B with 78; John Brooks, of Youngsville, won Flight C with 81; and Mike Gwinn, of Raleigh, won Flight D with 90. Eric Friar, of Whispering Pines, was runner-up with 97.

Senior Am Golf Tour: Alan Dirk, of Sanford, waited a while to get his 2011 Senior Amateur Golf Tour schedule going. The wait turned out to be worth it, as the two-time National Tour Champion returned to tour play at Southern Pines CC and emerged as the winner of the championship flight competition in his 2011 debut. Tour regular Mike Smith, of Lewisville, was one back of Dirk — 74 to 75.

Pinehurst’s Arch Reed, a tour “rookie,” got his first career victory “on tour” with the lowest score of the day in any flight — 73. “While the A Flight played from one tee box closer than the Champ Flight guys, Arch still posted a heckuva score,” said tour director Bruce Hallenbeck.  Finishing three back of Reed was Southern Pines’ Wiley Barrett.

The B Flight had to go one extra hole to determine a winner, as Zebulon’s Jim Alford nipped Durham’s Twig Avent on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff after both had turned in regulation 77s.

Unfortunately for Avent, he found the greenside bunker on his approach, and was unable to extricate himself from the bunker to challenge Alford.

The C Flight saw John Henely, of Pinehurst, continue his strong play of late with an 81 while cruising to a seven-stroke victory over Raleigh’s John Hall and Jimmy Dollar, of Franklinton.  They were the only three flight members to break 90.

Although the weather forecast called for steady rain, only a few drops fell on the field late in the round. 

“This was a disappointingly small turnout for a course that was in perfect shape. The greens were great, the fairways green and the tee boxes lush,” said Hallenbeck. “Best shape I’ve seen the course in over the 20-plus years I’ve played here.  Although it was a small field, the winning scores were impressive, and I’ll be interested to see if some of these guys might be moving up a flight after today’s efforts.”

The Senior Amateur Golf Tour

Southern Pines Country Club

Event Top Five Scores By Flight

Championship (6,268 yards)

Alan Dirk, Sanford  74

Mike Smith, Lewisville  75

Chuck Taubersmith, Pinehurst  79

Rick Luzar, Pinehurst  80

Dave Coolidge, Winston-Salem  86

A Flight  (6,005 yards)

Arch Reed, Pinehurst  73

Wiley Barrett, Southern Pines  76

John East, Rockingham  77

Bob Rudolph, Raleigh  77

Fred Berman, Sanford  79

Gene Jones, Thomasville  79

Sonny Rose, Rockingham  79

B  Flight  (6,005 yards)

Jim Alford, Zebulon  77

Twig Avent, Durham  77

Dexter Barbee, Burlington  78

Ron Caulder, N Myrtle Beach, SC  79

John Doster, Winston-Salem  81

C  Flight  (6,005 yards)

John Henely, Pinehurst  81

John Hall, Raleigh  88

Jimmy Dollar, Franklinton  88

Richard Payne, Kernersville  90

Don Michaux, Greensboro  91

James Eatmon, Sims  91

Rader School: The PGA of America announced that Dana Rader Golf School and the school’s senior instructor Nancy Harvey have been named to the list of Play Golf America’s Top 100 Performers in 2010.

This distinguished list gives The PGA of America an opportunity to recognize PGA and LPGA Professionals for their extraordinary efforts in using Play Golf America programs to increase interest in the game.

Designation is based on PGA’s analysis of their various Play Golf America programs.

Rader, a nationally recognized leader in the golf industry and founder of the Dana Rader Golf School, has announced the addition of an indoor golf training center located in uptown Charlotte. The golf learning center provides a golf simulator game improvement practice and playing facility at the Charlotte Athletic Club, 101 South Tryon, in Charlotte.

Tee Auction: As the launch nears for golf’s great online auction of tee times in the Southeast, the number of courses on offer is about to top 400. Some of the most elite private facilities in the region will open their doors to winning bidders as the golf industry rallies to raise money for turfgrass research.

Among such facilities are East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., homes of tour championships on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour, respectively.

A host of other world-class courses are on offer, including Long Cove Club in Hilton Head and Sage Valley in Aiken, S.C., which are ranked among the best 100 in the country by Golf Digest magazine.

Another top 100 course, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort in South Carolina, which has hosted a Ryder Cup and will host the 2012 PGA Championship, is also on the menu.

The auction opens today and runs through April 17. Prospective bidders can visit Rounds4Research.com for a constantly updating list of participating courses and to register for an email reminder as the auction nears.

Contact Howard Ward at howardward@att.net.