Feel-good homecoming for Carter Jenkins at UNC Health Championship

Carter Jenkins can’t help but laugh when he’s asked about the summer of 2011 when he first played in a professional golf event – in his hometown, to boot.

The native of Raleigh, North Carolina earned a spot in the UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH – then known as the REX Hospital Open – after winning a local qualifier to earn a spot in the field.

He was a mere 15 years old.

“I got way in over (my) head and didn’t know what to expect, but I loved every minute of it,” Jenkins said.

Now 27, Jenkins recalls that debut week as fondly as one can. Nostalgia drips from the story Jenkins tells of a photo still hanging on his bedroom wall. He had just made his third birdie in a row. It was the 14th hole. He had a bunch of friends and family cheering him on, and he had a “big old cheesy grin” on his face. A picture is worth a thousand words and all that.

“I was just a kid,” Jenkins said. “I was nowhere near professional-golf ready, but having that experience and having those memories is something I’ll always hold on to.”

Jenkins won’t have to look very far to find that throwback inspiration. This week’s venue is just 15 minutes from the house that he grew up in. All those family members (Raleigh locals, and even grandparents from Pennsylvania) are going to be out there cheering him on. Teenage innocence is long in the rear-view mirror, replaced by golf-as-work. But that goofy grin might make a triumphant return. There’s nothing like competing in one’s hometown event, Jenkins said. He’ll be staying at home this week.

“I’m Raleigh born-and-bred. I’ve lived here my entire life,” Jenkins said, “so this is a special week for me.”

Jenkins is in the midst of his first full campaign on the Korn Ferry Tour, after finishing T39 at Final Stage of Q-School last fall to earn guaranteed starts. A tie for 14th at the season-opening The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay set him on the right path to open 2023, and he’s since added three more top-20 finishes.

Jenkins spent the better part of a half-decade on PGA TOUR Canada before finally breaking through onto the Korn Ferry Tour this season. He admits now that he went through a “couple stretches” early in his career when he just got in his own way. He put too much pressure on himself, he admits. Jenkins was the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year while at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro, an achievement coming after he was named the 2012 North Carolina Junior Player of the Year thanks in large part to shooting a 59 at a local club. That pressure led to some growing pains as a pro.

“But that just comes with the nature of playing professional golf and learning and figuring it out,” Jenkins said. “These past couple of years have been good for me in terms of the way I’ve approached the game from an emotional and mental perspective to bring myself a lot of peace and calm.

“Golf is a game of life, and just like in life, nothing is going to be perfect. Trying to be perfect on the golf course is only going to make yourself frustrated. You’re just going to get in your own way. I’m just trying to play with a calm over me, accept variables and adversity and move forward.”

Jenkins also possesses some PGA TOUR experience, having made two starts at the Wells Fargo Championship in his home state. In 2017, he debuted via a sponsor exemption after Camilo Villegas finished top-10 the week prior and didn’t need an invite. The next year, he Monday qualified.

Recently he’s had even more inspiration to make the next step on golf’s ladder and earn a TOUR card, as his college teammate Ben Griffin earned TOUR membership via last year’s Korn Ferry Tour – then fellow Tar Heel Ryan Gerard earned Special Temporary Membership this spring.

“To see how much success (Griffin) has had on the Korn Ferry Tour and then how much success he’s had on the PGA TOUR (after leaving professional golf to spend time as a mortgage loan officer) is nothing short of inspiring, that’s for sure,” Jenkins said.

An attorney by trade, Jenkins’ father Bob was in a position with his career to have flexibility to travel and caddie for his son for the first five years of Jenkins’ pro golf journey. He’s since gone back to practicing law in Raleigh, but they still talk every day while Jenkins is on the road. No case would be big enough for Bob Jenkins to miss this week in Raleigh, either.

“You didn’t think he would miss this one, did you?” Jenkins said with a smile. “It’s going to be a lot of fun having everyone out there watching me, and I hope I give them a good show.”

Jenkins still carries around memories of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Raleigh stop that are more than a decade old.

No time like the present to make some new ones.