Carlsson wins State Championship

By Joe McDonald
RIGA Senior Writer

CRANSTON – Winning the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Golf State Championship was an incredible accomplishment for Narragansett High School senior Sebastian Carlsson. The fist pump as his drained his final putt was followed by an impressive ovation from family, friends, teammates, classmates and opponents as he walked off the 18th green Wednesday afternoon at Cranston Country Club.

While his focus was on golf during the two-day tournament en route to victory, he was more pleased with the $2,500 he recently raised for pancreatic cancer research this year as part of his senior project. His mother’s cousin, Sue Krim, passed away last August, so Carlsson dedicated his season to his “aunt’s” legacy. He organized a tournament on April 15 at Rose Hill Golf Club in South Kingstown and it was a massive success.

“I had a lot of priorities this year besides golf and that was definitely one of them,” he said. “I wanted to make it memorable. I didn’t want to take the easy route for my senior project and I wanted to get people involved. I love golf a lot, so to be able to do a tournament where I could see a bunch of people having fun was better to see than me winning this. It felt really rewarding.”

As a result of his academic, athletic and philanthropic accomplishments, Carlsson will attend the University of Rhode Island in the fall and play golf for the Rams. In fact, URI coach Gregg Burke was in attendance for Carlsson’s victory.

“It was really cool,” Carlsson said of his win. “You don’t get to see this all the time with all the attention around the state championship. It was cool to come out here and show them I can play.”

Carlsson said his swing felt solid, so he wanted to keep his foot on the gas and finish strong, which is exactly what he was able to accomplish as a state champion. He added that he didn’t hold back on the front nine Wednesday, and with a decent lead on the board allowed him to play with confidence on the back.

“In front of all those people it was pretty cool to get the job done,” he said. “It was a good feeling. I have a few big tournaments over the summer and hopefully play well in those, but I can’t wait to compete for coach Burke the next four years at URI. This gives me a lot of momentum and confidence and I hope I can carry it over into the summer and fall."