Watch Sawyer Driscoll sink the winning putt that clinched Greenville’s state championship.

By Stan Olenik Editor-Publisher. The Golf Club

For the last three years T.L. Hanna has set the standard for high school golf not just in their 5A DII classification, but in the entire state.

The Yellow Jackets collected state championships, developed elite players and created the kind of culture other programs across South Carolina would use as a model and a way to measure their success.

As the Yellow Jackets took a look at the competition they would have as they tried for a fourth straight title, they didn’t see opponents, instead it was like looking in a mirror.

Whether it was by design or a welcome coincidence, Greenville and Riverside had become almost identical images of the Hanna team that three years before began their dominating ascent to the top of high school golf in the Palmetto State.

This year the difference between the three-time defending champions and the rest of the field had narrowed, not because Hanna had lost a step, but instead because the other programs had found the Hanna path to success as they became more like the Yellow Jackets.

All season Greenville stayed close behind Hanna, always within reach. If the Yellow Jackets won a tournament, Greenville usually seemed to finish somewhere just behind them.

At the same time Riverside, with a talented roster of its own, was finding ways to break through and slowly force its way into the championship conversation as well.

At the center of Hanna’s success stood future Clemson golfer Bennett Scaletta, future Georgia Southern player Erik Erlenkeuser and future Anderson University golfer Cal Harbin — the nucleus of a dynasty that produced three straight state championships and helped establish the Yellow Jackets as the program everyone else measured themselves against.

But while Hanna’s stars carried the standard, Greenville and Riverside were quietly building their own versions of championship teams.

Freshman Thomas DeMint emerged as one of the top young players in the state. Junior Sawyer Driscoll became the veteran “old man” of a remarkably young team. Cullen Beck played his way into a starting role as the rest of Greenville’s lineup continued adding depth and experience tournament after tournament.

Riverside looked much the same.

Junior Brennan Kelly arrived at the championship already carrying the reputation of one of the top junior players in the state after a win at the Orange Jacket, but behind him the Warriors were developing wave after wave of young talent. Eighth grader Harlan Bright and Lane Wilson were ready to challenge anybody in the classification.

Starting to see the pattern? The Hanna formula wasn’t a secret.

Talented young players staying together.

Practicing together.

Traveling together.

Pushing each other.

The same blueprint Hanna used to build a dynasty was now spreading through the classification.

And eventually it led all three programs to the state championship at the Hackler Course in Conway.

All season the Red Raiders had chased T.L. Hanna, usually finishing somewhere just behind the Yellow Jackets while Riverside continued building momentum.

But at the regional something changed. Greenville beat Hanna for the Region title.

“When we won region, and we didn’t even play to our potential, we knew if all five of us could come together and play our best golf, we could get this done,” Greenville’s Sawyer Driscoll said.

There is no way to measure exactly how much confidence Greenville carried from that moment into the state championship.

And in the opening round, Greenville’s young team never blinked.

Riverside matched them shot for shot, but Hanna dropped back to third.

By the end of regulation, Hanna’s hold on the classification championship had ended.

“We didn’t play bad, they just played a little better,” said Scaletta.

Greenville and Riverside were tied for first and a playoff would crown a new champion.

South Carolina high school golf counts four scores out of five during team competition, and only the golfers whose scores counted during regulation are eligible for the playoff.

The opening playoff groups from both teams matched each other shot for shot, leaving the teams still tied entering the final pairings.

That’s when fate and circumstance put the state title in the hands of Greenville’s most experienced player, the team’s “old man,” Driscoll.

His approach shot to the 18th green was long and safe and past the pin, safely on the putting surface.

Trying to apply pressure, Riverside’s Kelly attacked the flag, but his shot drifted slightly off line, bounced hard and rolled into the lake guarding the finishing hole.

Suddenly the advantage belonged to Greenville.

Kelly still had a chance, but Driscoll never gave him the opportunity.

The Greenville junior put a confident stroke on the ball and 45 feet later Greenville had won the state title.

“We knew we had the advantage,” Driscoll said. “Honestly, I was just trying to lag it up there, but I’d had that same putt before in regulation play and I just thought it wasn’t going to break that much.”

It didn’t.

The ball tracked toward the cup the entire way.

“I knew it was in like five feet out,” Driscoll said. “It was perfect the whole way.”

Perfect enough to complete the climb from contender to champion.

Greenville coach Yerrick Stoneman believed the championship validated what he had watched developing for months.

“These young men have been amazing all year,” Stoneman said. “They’re all friends, they play for each other. I’m not sure you can get any better team dynamic than that.”

Now comes the next question.

Can Greenville do it again?

Stoneman’s answer revealed just how much respect Hanna’s dynasty still commands inside the classification.

“You know, we’ve got a chance to be good for a while,” Stoneman said. “I don’t know if we can make a T.L. Hanna-type run, but we’re definitely going to try.