FLEMING ISLAND - After 20 years of brokering some of the best golfers in North Florida for two decades, Fleming Island High boys golf coach Bruce Cloud is heading to North Carolina to hone on his own handicap a bit.

"I didn't hit too much in front of the boys while I was coaching, mainly because I didn't want to embarrass myself, and the boys got tired of waiting on me from the senior tees," said Cloud, who will retire this week with state Class 3A and Class 2A championship rings and a plethora of plaques and trophies maybe that detail his place in Florida golf annals. "I thanked Tyler Mawhinney for allowing me to watch him for four years and grow as one of the outstanding golfers not only in Clay County, but possibly in the nation and world in the future. He's a special kind of athlete."

Cloud's remembering of that intimate moment came when Mawhinney, a state champion in 3A in 2023, 2A champion in 2024 and 2A runner-up in 2025, was walking off the 18th green at the Class 2A championship tournament. The Golden Eagles team were close to a third consecutive state title, but they fell one stroke short to Bishop Moore Catholic, 603-604.

"We played a terrible first round (of two) and knew we had to have our best round of the season to get that third title," Cloud said. "We were 11 strokes down in the second round this year and needed some great play to get back into it."

In the second round, Mawhinney started the barrage for Fleming Island despite a one-under-par first round by streaking to a 6-under 67 second round to start the ball rolling. Teammate Ryan Houck went three-over to two-under as the two golfers battled for the title.

Cloud's assistant coach, Joseph Mawhinney, told Cloud to get to 16 and tell each group they had to get to the par-five 17 green in two shots for us to have a chance," Cloud said. "That's when we started playing like champions."

The excruciating finish caused Cloud a stomachache.

"After the match, I found out that only 12 state finals have had a one-shot difference for the title and, to my knowledge, no team has ever made up 11 strokes," Cloud said. "I thought I was going to pass out before the finish."

Cloud came on board as Fleming Island to replace then coach Randy Warren, for whom the Randy Warren Memorial Invitational is one of Cloud's crown jewels to leave behind, with one extra caveat.

"I told then-Principal Sam Ward I wanted to be golf coach and the voice of the Golden Eagles (football)," Cloud said. "Randy Warren was there for three years before I got there. I'm most proud of his tournament being one of the big stops on the high school schedules for a lot of good schools to start their seasons (at Fleming Island Golf Club)."

Cloud got to Fleming Island after Warren had established the premier tournament and as since kept the Golden Eagles as one of top North Florida programs.

"We were second in district my first year, top five in region," Cloud said. "There were five teams under 300 strokes at regions, so it was a Region of Death for a long time with Bartram Trail and Lake Mary."

Cloud won his first district title in 2009.

"I start each new season with one caveat: you have to earn your spot on the team," Cloud said. "One guy, Colton Swartz, I didn't even know who he was when he came out. But he was being coached by Dale Claussen over at Magnolia Point, and he came and was a great golfer for four years and now in college. Colton was a senior when Mawhinney got here."

Swartz just completed his junior season at Florida Southern College with the 'Mocs winning their 14th NCAA Division II national title on May 20.

Cloud rattled off the names of Fleming Island's golfers that have impacted the program, like Jaylen Abbas, Swartz, Emmet Kuhlenkamp, Dylan Frein, Josh and Andrew Lee and Carson Moore.

"Moore played with a broken bone in his back," Cloud said. "Tough kid. Now, a guy like Will McGready is ready to step up. The standard of the program is what feeds the program. You don't get kids that kind of just think they can play golf to come out. They know what these guys and those in the past have built here."

Cloud has Josh Lee still playing professionally overseas with Mawhinney playing a handful of pro tours last summer. Mawhinney will play at Vanderbilt, which made the cut as one of the top 15 teams at the NCAA Division I Men's Championship at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa May 29-June 3, in Carlsbad, California next year.

Cloud and wife Loretta will be about a mile away from a golf course when they get to North Carolina.

"She went to the state tournament with me when Josh Lee played and found it interesting," said Cloud, jokingly.

Cloud's most memorable shot came he saw from golfer Mike Paiva, who hit a hole-in-one at the sixth at Fleming Island.

"That one was just a good shot, but Emmet Kuhlenkamp was my most intuitive," Cloud said. "He got himself out of a lot of pickles - in the rough, the trees with some spectacular shots. He was a little loose on his drives."

The only previous state titles were to Middleburg's Cody Carroll in 2016, and with Charles Waters of Clay winning in 1974.