Two Macon County Special Olympians have won gold in state competition.
For the past few years, Jason Hedrick and Eric Hall have been among North Carolina’s top golfers, traversing the state in search of Special Olympic events. At the State Fall Tournament in Charlotte this November, the pair earned their latest in a long line of medals.
“Special Olympics started a thing – I think it was last year – called the Golf Tour,” said Hall of the Special Olympics North Carolina Golf Tour, which pairs SO athletes and coaches together on two-person teams. “Normally we play a nine-hole alternate shot, but this year was our first year playing 18-hole alternate shot. … We went to High Point, North Carolina, and played at a golf course called Oak Hollow, and we made a silver medal in that one. Three weeks later we went to state … and we made a gold medal there.”
As equal partners switching back and forth every shot, Hedrick and Hall have dominated this year’s SONC Tour, finishing no worse than second in three tour events this year. In five years of playing together, the pair has established quite a rapport.
“Actually, his mother met my wife and they started a conversation, and it came up that I was a member of Mill Creek. He was looking for somebody to play with, and she asked my wife if I could go out and play with him one afternoon,” said Hall. “We got to know each other, and then they approached me and asked if I would be his golf coach for Special Olympics, and so I accepted that invitation and we started playing. We won state one year, and then we went to an invitational and competed against everybody in the United States, and we actually won a gold medal there in Nashville, Tennessee.”
In winning gold at local, state-level and national events, the pair has staked a claim as one of the country’s top SO teams. Given Hedrick’s natural swing, it’s little wonder they’ve had such success.
“He has some restrictions in the movement of his golf swing, so what we do is just try to tailor everything to what works for his swing,” said Hall. “I’ve played with him for five years, and he has never swung at the ball and missed it that I can recall. He doesn’t hit it far, but he hits it straight every time. … Most of the time he makes more four- and five-footers than I will – he’s just automatic.”
Like any seasoned golfers, Hedrick and Hall prioritize accuracy over distance, and the results speak for themselves. On Day 1 of the State Fall Tournament in Charlotte however, the pair faced an unclear path to victory.
“It was cold, very windy, they had the tees pushed back pretty long, and neither one of us played very well the first day,” said Hall. “At the end of the day we were two shots behind the [leaders]. We had played against the team that was leading, and they’re good. To be honest with you, I did not think we had a chance to make up the shots. It’s kind of hard to do, especially [versus] the team we were playing against.”
Battling tough conditions on Charles T. Myers Golf Course, the pair needed a strong Day 2 to overtake the leaders. With a vintage performance, they authored one of their best wins yet.
“The second day, we came out and played I think as good as we have played as a team together,” said Hall. “We birdied 18, and had we not birdied 18 we wouldn’t have got gold. I bombed the drive, he didn’t hit a really good second shot, but I hit a wedge up there to about six feet, and he made a down-hiller for birdie on a par-five. … So we ended up tying for a gold medal there, and it was pretty sweet.”
With a timely birdie on the course’s final hole, the pair earned a dramatic comeback win. In so doing, they threw their hat in the ring for an even more prestigious event.
“By tying for state, it kind of qualifies us for what they call the USA Games,” said Hall. “That’s the next step, the next level, and there’s a bid process that goes into that. There’s a little bit more involved – it’s not just that you win and you’re automatically in. There’s other factors involved in it, but it’s sort of a qualification of what Special Olympics looks at.”
By winning a state-level competition, Hedrick and Hall earned the right to apply for the quadrennial USA Games, scheduled for June 2026 in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Hall says Jennifer Garrett and other Macon County Special Olympics officials will spearhead their bid process, and thanked both parties for support. But while a trip to the USA Games would cap an already-impressive resume, Hall says Hedrick’s goals are a bit more humble.
“I think it’s something he really looks forward to,” he said of the pair’s rounds. “We have a group of guys in the summertime that go out and play with him, and that’s our guy time. That’s our afternoon dedicated to him, and nothing else. … We’ve got a good support group here in Franklin and a lot of people that support us and root for us, but he just loves to play.”