BLYTHEWOOD – On a cold and rainy afternoon in the upstate, Caroline Hawkins closed out her high school golfing career at its highest point.
The Blythewood senior and Clemson commit won her fourth straight individual championship in a one-round winner-take all event Oct. 28. Winning four straight individual state titles in high school competition has never been accomplished in South Carolina—until she did it.
“I don’t think it has hit me yet,” Hawkins said nearly a week after the win. “But it was one of my goals after my second state title I thought I could possibly do this and I worked hard to reach it and that was definitely worth it. I’m so blessed.”
Hawkins, who has been a student of the links since she was little, first hit the varsity state tournament in 2021 as an eighth grader. She missed the top individual spot that year, but not by much, shooting a 72-73 at the Par-72 course at the South Carolina Country Club.
That year, the Bengals under head coach Jason Minkel won the second 5A state championship, their first under Minkel coming in 2019.
Her first state championship win came in 2022 at the par-72 course at Simpsonville’s Holly Tree Country Club, when she shot a 71-72. The second game in 2023 at the then-par-73 course Mid-Carolina Club, when she fired a 68-67.
Last year she made it three straight at the Bengals’ par-72 home course at the Columbia Country Club at Blythewood. She shot a pair of 68s to set up her fourth and final state tournament appearance last week.
The weather could not be more cooperative. Originally slated for Monday and Tuesday, strong and steady rains forced a washout of the first round. Tuesday’s round was also rainy, but the teams hit the links for a one-round contest for teams and individuals.
Blythewood finished ninth, behind state champion Lexington, which posted a 91-over-par 379. The Wildcats shot a collective 336, one stroke better than state runner-up Dorman’s 337.
As for Hawkins, she admitted she did not have her best round.
“We got to the course really early, and the start was delayed for an hour when it started to pour,” she said. “It was windy and very cold and overcast, and I was warming up while the rain was getting heavier and the wind made it colder.”
The players got off to a shotgun start at 11 a.m., and her first hole was a par 4 that she drove right down the middle of the fairway and wound up birdying.
“That was like, uh-oh,” she said, adding that in golf, having an easy go on the first hole is a bad omen for working the rest of the course.
As it turned out, her premonition proved true, albeit borne out in the facts of terrible golf weather that persisted throughout the afternoon.
She pushed her shot into a fairway bunker from the next tee and wound up bogeying that hole. Soon after she was fighting those thoughts that every person trying to do amazing things wrestles with.
“I started thinking about what my parents are going to say, what my coach is going to say, what their opinions are about me,” she said. “That’s part of the game being in that position. You want to be in that position, but at the same time you don’t.”
She continued her struggles over the next three holes when Coach Minkel met with her to see how she was doing.
“He just said that it’s OK, your dad’s proud of you, your mom’s proud of you, keep breathing,” Hawkins said. “Then I started to get more relaxed and a lot more secure. It took me a couple of holes to start breathing and becoming the golfer I know who I am.”
She finished the front nine and hit the backside, parred the first hole and didn’t bogey until an unlucky shot on a par 4 later on. Well into the round by that time, Hawkins tapped her experience—and her musical sense.
“You pick out a song and you like sing it in your head throughout the round,” she said. “That day my song was ‘At the Altar’ by Tiffany Hudson. Really playing it over and over in my head kept me calm and I began making more birdies and pars. I kept cool and having fun with the girls, soaking up the atmosphere in my last high-school tournament.”
She needed that mental island of calm and enjoyment for the last three holes.
On the first, a hard putt rolled 6-8 feet past the hole but she made a clutch putt to save par.
The next hole was a short par 4 that she had to drive across a large body of water to get to the green. She noted the wind played havoc with her measuring how hard she should hit it.
“I thought I hit it good, thought it hit the green but it spun off,” she said. “I got it up (on the green) and down (the hole), and went to the last hole, the hardest on the course.”
Her final hole was a par 3 that she said was a 145-meter distance from the tee but played like 165 because of how the grounds lie.
“I talked to my coach and asked him to tell me something to keep me sane and not go crazy,” she said. “He said you’ve got it. You’ve got a ton of tournaments under your belt.”
Hawkins teed off with a seven iron down the middle to the green below the flag, then hit a 20-foot putt to the top of the green. She lined up her second putt, then stood off the green with Byrnes eighth-grade golfer Nealy Petrulak.
“Me and her, we wanted to make sure that we made our putts. We prayed a bit, that our putts won’t miss.”
When it came time for her final shot, her putt went down the middle of the hole to finish the round.
“I was still nervous, but we (Petrulak and Hawkins) were both relieved, like there’s no more shots, just go hug our parents, go hug our friends, go hug our coaches,” she said. “It was a mental battle for sure.”
What wasn’t as much of a mental battle, but still a difficult decision, was her commitment to play for Clemson next year. She chose the Tigers over Furman, Virginia Tech, and South Carolina
“I was in the perspective of – if I was not going to play golf, would I enjoy it there,” she said. “I fell in love with the Clemson campus and met a ton of amazing coaches, including Coach (Kelly) Hester and Coach Katy Nahm. They’re great human beings, great mentors, people I look up to as well.”
Now that she’s turning her focus toward finishing high school and getting ready for college, Hawkins said she recognizes she is in-between being the best high-school golfer four years running and having new challenges ahead of her.
“It definitely is a bittersweet moment,” she said. “I think about meeting the young ladies and coaches throughout my time here, it’s been incredible. When I was very young they were also going to play golf in college, and they’re part of the reason why I want to play college golf. I’m excited to begin the next chapter of my life and I’m ready for that chapter, but this is something I’ll never forget.”
