John Crooks wonders if his personal feelings about Caledonia Golf and Fish Club have something to do with the success his Campbell women’s team has experienced there over the years.
“The first time I saw Caledonia,” he said, “it’s just one of my favorite golf courses anywhere.”
The Camels are a consistent contender at the Golfweek Fall Challenge, played annually at this scenic spot on Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Entering this year’s event, Campbell had won six team titles, with its first title coming in 2012, and finished runner-up twice.
Crooks’ personal history will be forever entwined with Caledonia after Campbells’ latest victory there on Sept. 10. It was Crooks’ 100th title with the Camels women’s team, a milestone that puts him into a very small club of women’s coaches with career victories in the triple digits. In fact, he and longtime Duke women’s golf coach Dan Brooks, with 143 career victories, are the only members.
Scoring: Golfweek Fall Challenge
“I’ve been doing it for quite a while,” Crooks said of his long coaching stint. “The first year we didn’t win anything and so there’s been 33 years to accumulate 100 and I’ve just been fortunate to be surrounded by some really good people.”
Crooks also oversees the men’s golf program at Campbell, and has guided that team to 61 team titles. The men competed at the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate this week while the women were at Caledonia, so Crooks split his time between the tournaments.
Campbell’s women had to put the pedal down in the final round to reach this milestone victory for their coach. After 36 holes at Caledonia, they trailed North Carolina-Wilmington, the defending champion in this event, by three shots. The Seahawks are a team capable of going low, having blistered the opening holes at last spring’s National Golf Invitational before finishing runner-up there. Three players from that squad returned this week at the season opener.
The Camels began chipping away at their deficit immediately, with the squad’s counters playing the first three holes in 3 under. UNCW played them in 3 over.
“After about three or four holes, we started gaining momentum. Then they just started playing really well,” Crooks said of his team. “We made a lot of birdies today and we played well.”
The closing hole, a 377-yard par 4 with an approach shot over water, can present drama at Caledonia, but so can the par-4 16th, another tricky hole with a green protected by water on the right. They played as two of the three hardest scoring holes for the tournament. Campbell navigated them both in even par for a final test, but UNCW didn’t give up any ground there, either.
“We have had luck there, we’ve made some pars where we needed to and today they finished very well,” Crooks said. “I have a lot of respect for the 16th and 18th hole at Caledonia.”
Campbell was the only team under par in the final round, and the team’s 2-under 54-hole total left them five shots ahead of UNCW. Emma Bunch of New Mexico State won the individual title for her sixth win in her last seven starts, dating to last season.
Crooks’ team had no problem getting excited for their coach and his 100th victory. The Campbell campus in Buis Creek, North Carolina, is only 170 miles north of Pawleys Island, and initially they were ready to pile right back in the van and head home.
“I told them well it’s time for a celebratory meal and they said well we’ll just go back to campus and get something there,” Crooks said. “I said, No, no, no. We’re at Myrtle Beach. We’re going to find something to eat now’”
And so, the team sat down to a big Italian dinner fitting for the accomplishment.
