Cody Carroll, a 2023 graduate of North Florida, won the Golden Isles Invitational at Brunswick Country Club in Brunswick, Ga., by one shot at 16-under.
Carroll carded rounds of 64-65-71 to get to 16-under. He won by one shot over Ian Glanton, who finished in solo second place at 15-under. Danny Erickson finished in solo third place at 14-under, and Jack Schoenberger finished in solo fourth place at 13-under.
Carroll is coming off a missed cut last month at the Florida State Amateur and questioned the state of his current game since he is not able to play as much now. Carroll recently finished his master's degree at North Florida.
Carroll recently made a big change with his putter. He is right-handed, but as a senior in high school, he switched to left-handed putting for the last five years. After the state amateur, he started with a right-handed broomstick putter.
"I felt so free on the greens and could make putts under pressure, which was the biggest difference for me," Carroll said.
Carroll added, "I was striking it well and rolling in some putts. In the final round, my driver let me down a bit. I wasn't spraying it, but I missed some fairways by a few yards, and the rough was thick, so I had to play more defense today."
Carroll only missed two greens in the first two days.
"I drove it well, and feeling confident with the putter again allowed me to play more disciplined on the greens," Carroll said.
These changes have helped him gain back his confidence in his game.
"I felt like every time I played a tournament, I always felt rusty, and I wasn't sure when I could compete in a legitimate amateur event again," Carroll said.
Carroll added, "This week, I still felt rusty a bit, but I was swinging it nicely and rolling the putter well. I didn't put myself in any position that the rust showed."