Jake Morgan spent weeks in spring 2026 playing 100 holes of competitive golf at Lenoir-Rhyne University. During one qualifier, his heart started racing, his body froze, and cold sweats set in.

It was a panic attack. And it nearly ended the Andover High three-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star's relationship with the sport he'd dominated since freshman year.

"It was the breaking point for me. I knew I couldn't stay there," Morgan told the Andover Townsman. "That was the first time I considered quitting the competitive side of golf."

A grinder's system, with no reward guaranteed.

Morgan, a 2024 Andover High graduate who started all four years under coach Dave Fazio, chose Lenoir-Rhyne, an NCAA Division II program in North Carolina, to play golf and study accounting. But the qualifying system there was relentless — only three lineup spots were guaranteed, and Morgan often had to grind through a 36-hole pre-qualifier against six players just to reach another qualifying round against 10 more competitors for two remaining spots. By winter break, Morgan said he hated golf outright. The constant grinding with no guaranteed payoff had drained all the joy out of a game he used to love.

He still cracked the lineup three times that spring, including a team-best fifth-place finish, but the panic attack during a qualifier made his next move clear.

From the cart room back to loving the game.

Morgan came home with no tournament schedule for the first time in years. He took a job in the cart room at Renaissance Country Club in Haverhill, where he's a member, playing golf before or after his 6 a.m.-to-noon shifts. He told the Townsman he'd never enjoyed the sport more — playing until dark after work, hanging out with friends again, calling it the best golf of his life.

A low-key tournament turned into a statement.

Friends Max Gould and Mat Gover, both fellow Renaissance members, nudged Morgan toward the Joseph F. Healey Memorial tournament during a rain delay at the club. Morgan figured it was a low-pressure way to test his game before the fall — and he nearly won it, finishing runner-up to Joe Leavitt, a three-time MVC Player of the Year, who needed a strong final push just to hold him off.

What's next.

This fall, Morgan transfers to UMass Amherst's Isenberg School of Management to study accounting, trying out for the school's student-run club golf program since the Minutemen don't field a varsity team. No coaching staff, no 100-hole weeks — just golf on his own terms again. Morgan says the low point at Lenoir-Rhyne is somewhere he never wants to revisit, but he's expecting a far better chapter ahead, with club tryouts as his next milestone.