Fleming Island High School’s four-year story in boys golf began more than a decade ago at Eagle Harbor Golf Club. At the time, a group of 5- and 6-year-olds were running around the course using cut-down clubs, competing in events for the Junior PGA Team, and then in junior events for the North Florida Junior Foundation and Club.
If nothing was organized, they competed against each other in putting and chipping contests, or played with their father. Growing up, they learned how to play games like Wolf and Nassus, practiced together, played 18 holes, and loved nothing more than practicing some more.
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Years later, they were the heart of a Golden Eagles team, racking up wins, packing trophies in cases and hanging banners in the gym’s rafters.
Two state championships, two weight classes.
Fleming Island High School’s Tyler Mawhinney has been named the Times Union’s Boys Golf Player of the Year for the third year in a row. His photo was taken on December 23, 2025 at his home course, Eagle Harbor Golf Club, on Fleming Island.
3 regional titles.
There are three district titles.
One special player.
Tyler Mawhinney has won six postseason titles.
Tyler Mawhinney didn’t do it all alone. Fellow Eagle Harbor players Emmett Kuehlenkamp, Ryan Hoke, Dylan Frain, Carson Moore and William McCready joined him, taking Fleming Island to a level of dominance not seen since the teams of Neath and Bertram Trail from 2005-2008.
But Mawhinney, a senior with two district titles, three regional titles and a state championship in 2023, has become the most dominant individual player at the First Coast high school level since Bertram Trail’s Julian Suri won back-to-back state championships in 2007 and 2008.
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Mawhinney, who won district and regional titles this year and is one stroke away from his second state title, was named the Florida Times-Union Male Golfer of the Year for the third consecutive year.
Tyler Mawhinney was loyal to school and friends.
Mawhinney said he never would have accomplished anything on Fleming Island on a personal level without his Eagle Harbor friends.
While he won U.S. championships (U.S. Four-Ball and Canadian Amateur), delved into match play at the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior, competed in PGA Tour events, and played on international match play teams, playing with his peers at Fleming Island was a special experience in itself that he said he would never replace.
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“If I hadn’t known and played with these guys since I was little, I might have played golf for a year or two in high school,” he said. “It was fun playing with them.”
Tyler’s father, Joe Mawhinney, who has been assisting Eagles coach Bruce Cloud for the past four years, shares the joy.
“It’s fun to see where they started and where they ended and see them together,” he said. “It was an honor to have a front row seat to watch them. They’re just good kids.”
Mawhinney played eight nine-hole high school rounds (34.2 strokes average), one 18-hole tournament, one 36-hole tournament, and three postseason tournaments for a total of 36 holes. Those 135 rounds are a fraction of the rest of his 2025 schedule, which saw him compete in 22 junior and amateur events and travel more than 20,000 air miles.
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Did Mawhinney, who is No. 3 in the AJGA rankings and 11th in the Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings, need to play golf in high school?
Probably not. But he wasn’t going to miss any chance.
“There was no question he was going to play golf all four years in high school,” Joe Mawhinney said. “He had great friends and they cared about him too. They wanted to share the memories of playing together because they’ll never be on the same team again. And you blink and it’s gone.”
Bruce Cloud got a hint of what was to come.
Cloud had previously put together a solid team behind players like Joshua Lee, Andrew Lee, Peyton Billings and Jacob Goodwin, but when he was asked by Frein and Kulenkamp, who is a year older than Mawhinney, Hock and Moore, to make room in the school’s trophy case, he was dimly aware of the talented group of players he was getting.
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“They said if Tyler got there, we would win a championship,” said Cloud, who will retire from his teaching and coaching job after the end of the school year. “I’m a skeptical guy by nature. You have to show me first.”
It was a demonstration game that he never expected.
The freshman and sophomore teams advanced to the Class 3A state tournament, and the Eagles were just 10 strokes off the lead after the first round at Mission Inn Resort. Mawhinney and Colton Swartz were tied for seventh and were biting heading into the second round.
That never happened. The second round was canceled due to rain and Jupiter was crowned the state champion.
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Cloud said his players kept it going all year, especially Mawhinney.
“They had the determination to come back next year and win,” he said.
The Eagles were dominant in 2023 and 2024.
Fleming Island won the 2023 Class 3A state championship by 17 strokes. Mawhinney recorded a hole-in-one and eagle in the first round to win the individual state title by three.
The following year they were even more dominant. Although Mawhinney finished second to future Vanderbilt teammate Sohan Patel for the individual title, the Eagles won the 2A state title by 38 strokes.
The Eagles looked poised for a three-peat this year, but with Mawhinney and Hauck being veterans, it wasn’t enough. In a heartbreaking end to an era, Mawhinney lost by one stroke to Patel and Fleming Island lost to Bishop Moore by one stroke.
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Mawhinney said the Eagles had already dug a big hole in the first round, and despite a one-shot lead, he and his teammates tried to rebuild as best they could.
“If I had hit bogey on the last hole, it would have hurt more,” said Mawhinney, who had five birdies in the final six holes to close in on Patel. “We were chasing it most of the day.”
Mawhinney said the individual trophies are separate. However, he was able to come back year after year and play for Cloud and his teammates in order to improve the team’s output.
“The team title is more important to me because everyone has to play well,” he said. “You can have a good week, but there are too many variables. It makes more sense to put up a banner in the gym.”
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Cloud turned to Joe Mawhinney
Cloud is a veteran coach and teacher, but he knows when to shut off his ego. When he realized his lineup would be anchored by the Eagle Harbor crew, he asked Mawhinney to help coach the team the last three years Tyler played.
“Joe came to me after the first year and offered to help,” Cloud said. “He said he could help get them on the right track. Why not let him work on that? He’s known these guys since they started playing golf, coached them, knew their game.”
In 2023, there was still an FHSAA rule that only one coach could speak to a player during competition. Cloud named Mawhinney its coach.
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“I was all about the team and wanted Fleming Island to win the state championship,” Cloud said. “I watched Joe work with the kids on the range and watch them listen to him. I didn’t have all the knowledge in the world about the golf swing, so Joe handled that and I worked with them on course management.”
The results speak for themselves.
brothers golf band
Mawhinney is in Eagle Harbor almost every day when he’s not traveling to play his junior and amateur schedules. Kulenkamp is a freshman at the University of West Florida and Frein plays for Carson-Newman in Tennessee, making it increasingly difficult to team up with Houk, Moore and McCready.
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But they take every chance they get. Mawhinney may have a dominant game from tee to green, but others will do well if given enough strokes.
Houk in particular drives Mawhinney into the wall with his clutch putts.
“It’s actually fun to watch,” Frein said. “A 30-footer is like a 3-footer for Ryan, and he saves some of his best putts for when he needs to beat Tyler overall.”
According to Frein, Kulenkamp is the group’s biggest equipment enthusiast. Mawhinney said the group doesn’t talk much trash, but Frein said that’s not entirely true.
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“Tyler did it very well,” he said. “But he can take it. Then he backs it up. He’s just a weirdo out there.”
The group also plays pickup basketball, pickleball, and the occasional card game if the weather is bad.
Friends for life? Bet on it
Joe Mawhinney said golf was secondary to their bond with each other.
“It has less to do with golf than friendship,” he said. “Tyler plays golf at a national level. They don’t. But he never wanted to lose the opportunity to compete with his friends, the people he wanted to go to war with. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
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As he nears retirement and his hair begins to grow gray, will they play golf together?
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Frain said. “Maybe by then everyone will be tired of golf, but I’m sure they’ll still play golf later.”
Mawhinney said the experience of playing golf for more than four hours at a time, practicing together and playing putting and chipping games probably developed a bond that might not have existed if they all played football, soccer or basketball.
“The time you spend playing golf may cause us to become less close,” he said. “We’re here sometimes from 10, 11 o’clock until sunset. That’s more time than you would spend playing basketball or football.”
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No one who knows Tyler Mawhinney, Ryan Houck, William McCready, Carson Moore, Emmett Kuhlenkamp and Dylan Frain will ever doubt that they will become, as caddy Carl Spackler described Ty Webb as, “my buddy for life,” in the movie “Caddyshack.”
Perhaps their careers will take them far away from the Clay County courses where they grew up, raising families and growing up.
But perhaps they will find a way to unite. Fifty years from now, they’ll gather on the first tee at Eagle Harbor, flip the tee to decide the batting order for the Wolf game, and set out for 18 holes in the warm Florida sun.
Tyler still outdoes them all, but Ryan sneaks in some long putts, Emmett shows off his latest driver, and they laugh, joke, and talk trash.
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and they will meet at 7 p.m.th Drill holes, add points, settle bets, and reminisce like an old man. They will no doubt be retelling the story of their four years wearing the Fleming Island green and gold and bringing trophies and banners to school.
“These guys have a bond that never ends,” Cloud said. “They’re going to be extorting money from each other for a long time.”
First Coast Men’s Golfers
first team
Turner Hershey, Palatka, Sr.: They finished in the top five in the postseason for the third year in a row and tied for fourth in the Class 2A state tournament, their best finish.
Charlie Hipp, Creekside, Jr.: He beat a loaded field with a 63 in the Slammer & Squire at the St. Johns County Championship, then tied for seventh twice in the District 2-3A Tournament and Region 1-3A Tournament, and tied for 11th in the 3A State Tournament.
Tyler Mawhinney, Fleming Island, Sr.: His high school career ended with a heartbreaking one-shot loss to future Vanderbilt teammate Sohan Patel in the Class 2A state tournament. Mawhinney won the 3A state title as a sophomore, finished second by four strokes in the 2A state tournament as a junior, won two district titles and three regional titles, and led the Golden Eagles to the 2023 3A championship, 2024 2A championship and runner-up finish in the 2A tournament in 2025.
Jonah Nacional, Beachside, Sr.: They won the boys division at Jack’s Beach College and tied for fourth at the St. Johns County Championship, then tied for third at District 2-3A, won the Region 1-3A title and tied for fourth at the 3A state tournament.
Jackson Ranquist, Fletcher, Sr.: He tied for third in District 2-3A, tied for first in Region 1-3A and took sole second place in the Class 3A state tournament, leading to a surprising postseason run by the Senators. He tied for third as Fletcher won the Gateway Conference title and the Senators won the district team title, placed third in the region and second in the state tournament.
second team
Brady Dorgan, Tocoy Creek, sophomore
Cooper Franklin, Ponte Vedra, Sr.
Ethan Grossman, Providence, Jr.
Ryan Hock, Fleming Island, Sr.
Dmytro Kulik, Nice, Sr.
third team
Ambrose Kinale, Tocoy Creek, sophomore
Jaspreet Kondal, Beachside, Junior
William McCready, Fleming Island, Jr.
James Nagle, Ponte Vedra, Jr.
Cole Slater, Fletcher, Sr.
Honorable mention
Jack Cole, Providence, freshman. Aubrey Fellows, Episcopalian. Colson Hale, Fernandina Beach, Jr.; Jude Johnson, Ponte Vedra, sophomore; Neil Cutiglia, Bolles, Sr.; Jake Mason, Ponte Vedra, Jr.; Noah Ochobu, Ponte Vedra, Sr.; Easton Oliva, Ponte Vedra, Sr.; Michael Ratigan, Wolfson, Jr. Mason Seton, Fletcher, Sr. Alexander Stewart, Providence, Jr.; Brody Tran, Episcopalian, junior; Will Wiggins, West Nassau, Jr.;
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This article originally appeared in the Florida Times Union: Tyler Mawhinney named Times Union Male Athlete of the Year for the third time
