Yorkshire grit proved a potent force at Blackmoor Golf Club on Saturday when Graeme Clark won the Selborne Salver after a three-way sudden-death play-off.

An England international and member of the Great Britain and Ireland squad, the man from Doncaster first saw off Yorkshire team-mate Darryl Berry (West Bradford) at the 10th and then made a nerveless par at the 18th to edge out 17-year-old Jamie Moul (Stoke by Nayland).

The three players had tied on 141, the highest winning two-round score for 15 years and a full eight shots more than Gary Wolstenholme's winning effort in 2001.

This time it was very different. After weeks of dry weather, Blackmoor had a fire and bounce that every competitor found hard to deal with. And with firm greens and devilish pin placements, the scores soared, with only two scores in red figures all day.

One of these was the morning 68 of Clark, a round that included three birdies – at the 11th, 16th and 18th – and an eagle at the 512-yard 13th, where his four-iron approach ran almost off the back.

But as his 45-foot putt was gathering pace to race clear of the green, it clattered the flagstick and dropped in, to the obvious delight of the extrovert Yorkshireman whose back nine contained just nine putts.

Clark, who plays off a handicap of +4, was made to struggle after lunch, a string of bogeys offset by birdies at the third, where he hit a wedge to two feet, and the long eighth, where he was comfortably home in two. But he saved his best for last, holing a tortuous 12-footer for a 73 and a share of the lead.

"It was a lot different to last year. Blackmoor is a really good course, but you've got to be patient and accept the bad bounces," said Clark.

Moul, an England Boys international, added a 71 to his morning 70, while Berry, after a 72, shot a best-of-afternoon 69, a roller-coaster of a round that saw a triple-bogey at the 448-yard 10th offset by five birdies and an eagle.

Just missing out on the play-off was Stoneham's Darren Henley, runner-up in 2001. He compiled very respectable scores of 72, 70, but felt his swing was far from grooved – a suspicion he confirmed at North Hants next day.

Also on 142 was Jamie Donaldson, from the Tall Pines club, near Bristol, who shot 70, 72, a stroke clear of Steve Lewton (Woburn) and Andrew Ward (Whittington) whose afternoon 75 was seven strokes worse than his equal best-of-day 68 before the interval.

David Porter (Stoneham) had a good morning with a 70, but could do no better than 75 after lunch to finish one ahead of Brokenhurst Manor's Martin Young (76, 70) and hot favourite Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs).

The defending champion felt the course set-up did little to encourage attacking golf and his two 73s reflected his feelings. However, his frustration was short-lived, with his victory in Sunday's Hampshire Hog providing handsome compensation.

The four-times Walker Cupper breezed round in a brace of 66s – 10 under-par – to win his second Hog and match the record of the great Michael Bonallack a generation ago.

He later revealed that an overheard prediction that the winner of the Selborne Salver would also win the Hog had concentrated his mind. "I just gritted my teeth and said to myself: "We'll see about that," he said.

It helped to be drawn with Saturday's champion, Graeme Clark (Doncaster) who soon found Wolstenholme had rediscovered the touch that had eluded him at Blackmoor.

His morning 66 was finished with seven birdies, including four in a row to the turn. He also dropped three shots, but was well pleased. "The course was set up perfectly for me, with much more receptive greens and friendly pin placings than at Blackmoor.

Even so, he had to give best at lunch to 17-year-old Jamie Moul (Stoke by Nayland), whose wonderful 65 would have been an amateur record had winter rules not still been in force.

Wolstenholme, whose handicap is a rarefied +5, Europe's lowest, reeled off seven pars after the break and then played his master stroke, out-driving his playing partners by 20 yards at the long 17th – and then coaxing a four-iron through the swale and round the bunker to 12 feet. The eagle putt almost looked a formality.

Moul suffered the torment of a double bogey at the last, where he drove into sand and then three-putted after running his pitch through the green.

The runner-up was twice consoled first by the news that even a birdie would have made no difference to the outcome and then by hearing that he had won the Hampshire Salver, awarded for lowest aggregate of the weekend. His 277 tally was one ahead of Wolstenholme.