Clark linksters John Alvarez, Mark Pollak and Mike King hope to lead Clark to another Region IV golf title. Photo by Pat Turner

Mark Pollak looked at last year’s Class 5A Region IV golf tournament as his breakthrough.

Rain washed out the first day, forcing teams to play 27 holes in their big for a Class 5A state tournament berth. Pollak had his game clicking that day in earning medalist honors and helping the Cougars to the regional title.

Since then, Pollak has continued that pace. He had a solid showing during summer golf and has been strong during the high school season after leading the Cougars to another District 28-5A championship.

In between his play on the course, Pollak also learned he was accepted by Harvard and will continue his golf career at the Ivy League school.

Before that happens, Pollak wants to make this year’s regional tournament trip just as rewarding.

“Last year was such a big confidence boost for me,” Pollak said. “I had a good regional tournament and my game started improving. It carried over for me in the summer.

“I’m feeling better about my game now. I had a little senioritis earlier, but I think my game is coming back. I want to do well at regionals.”

Clark has another solid nucleus of golfers, who dominated 28-5A once again. In addition to Pollak, good play is coming from John Alvarez, Mike King, Hunter Gathright, Alejandro Flores and Sean Suputra.

However, Region IV’s overall field is just as strong.

Austin Westlake, which finished second to Clark at last year’s regional tournament, and Austin Anderson are solid contenders for the two state tournament berths. Overall, the strongest team could be Reagan, winners of District 26-5A.

Pollak knows what is it at stake, and he knows the key to getting there.

“The whole team has to bring its A game,” Pollak said. “When you get to this point, everyone has to play well. We have been playing pretty good golf this year, but we all know we can do better.”

Although a good number of this year’s golfers may not have been part of Clark’s state tournament run, they were there in spirit. Not only were they cheering for their teammates, they picked up valuable pointers along the way.

Now, they are putting them to use this season.