By Sarah Turner, Sports editor 

Eric Boutwell has put the Gulf South Conference on notice.  His dominant performance at the 2024 Full Moon Invitational took place on Sep. 9-10, at the University of Montevallo’s home course at Timberline Golf Club in Calera.  

It was one of his most successful showings in collegiate competition to date. 

On day one, Boutwell tied the course record, shooting 60, which also broke the UM single-round record. On day two, he set another UM record by shooting 14-under for the individual win, as well as contributing to the team win. But this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following the senior’s collegiate career. 

Boutwell, a native of Russellville, Ala., started playing golf when he was six years old. Many of his family members played while he was growing up, including his uncle, who briefly played professionally.  

“It’s kind of hard to get away from, I guess,” said Boutwell. He explained, although he had been playing for so long, he didn’t start taking it seriously until he was in middle school, and he knew from that point that he wanted to play collegiately.  

“I kind of realized that I actually had a little bit of potential,” said Boutwell. 

But at one point, Boutwell might not have ended up as a Falcon at all. “When I came on my visit I was not sold on [Montevallo],” Boutwell said. He looked at several other schools before coming back on a second visit, where he decided UM was the place for him to be once he realized how well he got along with the whole team. 

Now, Boutwell said he can’t imagine going anywhere else. “It’s been a blessing to end up here,” Boutwell said. 

Coming onto the team as a freshman, Boutwell had new goals after his successful high school career.  “I really just [wanted] to make the travel teams, that was the main goal,” he said. Montevallo’s golf team only takes their five best players for both men and women when traveling to an away tournament. That meant Boutwell had to be in the top five as a freshman. 

However, in their home tournament, the Full Moon Invitational, everyone on the team gets to play and Boutwell had a rough start. “I played terrible in our first qualifier, so I played on our B team in the home tournament,” said Boutwell. 

Even with the setback, he ended up finishing third in his second ever collegiate competition. “I guess I kind of realized I had the ability to play, like I was good enough to be in our top five,” said Boutwell, “and it’s really been all up from there.” 

Boutwell’s first three years at UM were defined by consistency, with several top finishes, including placing second in the conference in 2023 and 2024. He finished his junior year ranked 82nd in the country among Division II golfers and 11th in the South region, as well as earning a First Team All-GSC accolade.   

Going into the 2024-25 season, Boutwell says his expectations for himself have gotten even bigger. “Obviously the top goal is to make it to nationals,” he said. Boutwell said he also wants to have a scoring average below 70. Going into this year’s home tournament, Boutwell was confident, despite playing at home. “I feel like there’s always a little added pressure when you’re at your home tournament,” he said. 

Boutwell came out hot on the first day, making birdies on the first six holes. “I was just kind of cruising,” he explained, “all the stress kind of went away and I was just kind of playing golf at that point.”

“I knew what the course record was, so that was kind of a big thing,” he said, “I obviously wanted that.” 

Once he got to the 16th hole, Boutwell knew the course record was within reach. But then after two tough shots on that hole and the 17th hole, shooting 60 was a lot more attainable. Despite his day one dominance, he knew he had to stay relaxed and eliminate mistakes in order to get a score in for the team. He ended the day finishing nine strokes ahead of the second place golfer. Boutwell knew he needed to carry his momentum from day one into day two, where he shot 68. 

“It was kind of a relief to be done,” Boutwell said. He explained that many people had started following him through his last four holes to see if he could break the course record by shooting 59. Boutwell’s 60-shot performance is the best showing he’s ever put on in competition, though he says he’s shot 59 at his home course on more than one occasion. 

Boutwell said he plans to pursue professional golf after his collegiate career ends in May. “I don’t have a time limit on it,” Boutwell said, “just kind of want to see where that goes.” 

Boutwell says his bittersweet last season is being marked by what he has learned during his time here. “You can’t practice enough,” he said, “you gotta want it more than everybody else.” 

Boutwell and the Falcons golf team will be in action throughout the Southeast until the end of October.