There likely hasn’t been a more impressive rags-to-riches story in Wisconsin high school golf than what River Falls senior Aidan Carufel has done this season.

Carufel entered the Division 1 sectional tournament occupying the fifth slot on River Falls’ varsity roster. He posted a season-best round of 79, which finished in a tie for sixth place individually and punched his ticket to the state golf tournament at Blackwolf in Kohler.

For Carufel, the D1 sectional at the RiverEdge Golf Course in Marshfield on Tuesday, May 30, was likely going to be playing with house money. Only four of the five individual scores count for each program’s overall team tally, and he went into the tournament solidified in the Wildcats’ fifth slot.

However, teammates and other players throughout the sectional faded away as they struggled with tough course conditions and the tight, tree-lined fairways. Carfuel didn’t, and he put together his best round of the year to qualify for state. River Falls head coach Tim LaVold spoke about his fifth player on the varsity roster making a miracle run to the state tournament.

“This is Aidan’s curtain call,” LaVold said. “He gets a couple more days of golf at a great facility. We’re going to try to shoot the best score we can, but it will be a miracle if he’s in contention. It’s a miracle that he’s here. He’s been playing well and I hope that he doesn’t let anything down there bother him. I want him to walk off feeling like he did the best he could.”

Carufel’s run to the state tournament truly is a Cinderella-type story. He missed his freshman year in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and then didn’t go out for golf in his sophomore year in 2021.

He rejoined the program for his junior campaign last spring and was primarily a junior varsity player. Carufel competed in more than a dozen events last season, only two of which were varsity tournaments.

Going into his senior year this spring, Carufel still hadn’t locked up one of the five varsity slots. He was one of three players battling for the final position on this year’s roster. Carufel spent the first several months of the year methodically lowering his average before breaking through with just over two weeks left in the season.

“It’s one of those deals where two weeks ago he was still on the JV team,” LaVold said. “It’s a great story that I’m going to talk about for years. When we talk about what you have to do to play good golf, you just go out and hit the next shot. You put your head down and don’t pay attention to what everybody else is doing.”

No River Falls player has done that better than Carufel this year, and the proof is in the pudding. He shot 40 on the front nine and then 39 on the back to post his season-low round of 79. Careful sole focus on his round made him deaf to the outside noise regarding his potential path to state qualification.

By the time Carufel made the turn after his opening nine holes, he was well in contention based on the scores other golfers had posted. LaVold spoke about how Carufel had no idea what was going on in terms of leaderboard positioning, even in the last several holes of the tournament.

“I think on Tuesday he just went out there to have fun because he thought his score wouldn't count,” LaVold said. “He put his head down and just hit the golf ball and made putts. He got to his last couple of holes and we knew he was in it. He wasn’t even watching the scoreboard and didn’t know what was going on.”

When Carufel got the 18th tee, it was almost a certainty that he was going to be enjoying an all-expenses-paid trip to the state tournament the following week. All he had to do was avoid a big number.

Carfuel blasted his drive down the middle of the fairway, hit a sensible shot to the middle of the green and made a two-putt par to secure his round of 79. Even as he walked off of the 18th green, Carufel still didn’t know what he had just accomplished.

“He walked off the 18th green and all of the people started saying ‘Great job Aidan! Congratulations Aidan!’ He had no idea what people were talking about,” LaVold recalled. “Aidan just played, had fun and now he’s going to state. Just a couple of weeks ago he was still playing JV tournaments.”

Carufel is just one of just 104 golfers who qualified for the Division 1 state tournament this season. According to iWannamaker, a digital golf service that tracks all high school rounds in Wisconsin, Carufel is listed as the No. 409-ranked golfer in the state this year. But that didn’t stop him from breaking through and punching his ticket to state.

Other River Falls scores from the sectional include freshman Ryan Swanson’s round of 81, senior Matthew Marsollek shot 84, junior Will Benedict posted a 91 and sophomore Connor O’Malley rounded out the scoring with a 92.

Carufel is slated to begin his state tournament at Blackwolf Run in Kohler on Monday, June 5. Tee times are scheduled to begin at 7 a.m.