John Crooks wonders if his personal feelings about Caledonia Golf and Fish Club have anything to do with the success his Campbell women’s team has enjoyed over the years.
“The first time I saw Caledonia,” he said, “it was simply one of my favorite golf courses.”
The Camels are regular contenders at the Golfweek Fall Challenge, held annually at the picturesque Pawleys Island, South Carolina, venue. Prior to this year’s event, Campbell had won six team titles, including his first in 2012, and had finished runner-up twice.
Crooks’ personal history will forever be intertwined with Caledonia’s after Campbell’s final victory on Sept. 10. It was Crooks’ 100th title with the Camels’ women’s team, a milestone that puts him in a very small club of women’s golf coaches with triple-digit career wins. In fact, he and longtime Duke women’s golf coach Dan Brooks, with 143 career victories, are the only members.
Rating: Golfweek Fall Challenge
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Crooks said of his long stint as coach. “The first year we didn’t win anything and it took us 33 years to get to 100 and I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some really good people.”
Crooks also oversees the men’s golf program at Campbell and has led that team to 61 team titles. The men competed in the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate this week while the women were at Caledonia, so Crooks split his time between tournaments.
Campbell’s players had to put on the pedal to the metal in the final round to earn a historic victory for their coach. After 36 holes at Caledonia, they were three shots behind defending champion North Carolina-Wilmington. The Seahawks are a team that can play down low, having gone all out in the early holes of the National Golf Invitational last spring before finishing second. Three players from that team returned this week for the season opener.
The Camels began to chip away at their deficit immediately, with the team’s players playing the first three holes in 3 under. UNCW played them in 3 over.
“After three or four holes, we started to get some momentum. Then they started to play really well,” Crooks said of his team. “We made a lot of birdies today and we played well.”
The final hole, a 377-yard par 4 with an approach shot over water, can be dramatic at Caledonia, but so can the par 4 16th, another tricky hole with a green protected by water on the right. They played like two of the three toughest holes to score in the tournament. Campbell parred them both for a final test, but UNCW didn’t give up any ground either.
“We were lucky, we made some pars where we needed to and today they finished really well,” Crooks said. “I have a lot of respect for holes 16 and 18 at Caledonia.”
Campbell was the only team under par in the final round, and the team’s 54-hole total of 2 under par left them five shots ahead of UNCW. New Mexico State’s Emma Bunch won the individual title for her sixth victory in her last seven starts, dating back to last season.
Crooks’ team had no trouble celebrating their coach’s 100th win. Campbell’s campus in Buis Creek, N.C., is just 170 miles north of Pawleys Island, and they were ready to head home when they left.
“I told them it was time to have a celebratory meal and they said they were just going to go back to campus and get something to eat,” Crooks said. “I said, ‘No, no, no. We’re in Myrtle Beach. We’re going to get something to eat now.’”
And so the team sat down to a grand Italian dinner worthy of the feat.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: John Crooks solidifies Campbell legacy as Golfweek Fall Challenge marks 100th title
