Long-time friends, first-time teammates: Hannah Berman keeps promise to caddie for BFF Lauren Waidner in U.S. Amateur

In actuality, next week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur will be the first time Lauren Waidner of Fleming Island and Hannah Berman of Ponte Vedra Beach have been on the same team. 

Following through on a promise they made to each other earlier this summer, Berman, a junior at Jacksonville University, will caddie for Waidner, a redshirt freshman at the University of Florida, in this week’s Amateur at the Golf Club of Tennessee near Nashville. 

Waidner will tee off at 9:17 a.m. on Monday and 2:47 p.m. on Tuesday in the stroke-play qualifier. The top-64 players will then advance to match play beginning on Wednesday. 

Waidner qualified with a 71 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course at UF. She had to go to a six-for-three playoff and birdied the first hole on a 15-foot putt to punch her ticket to Nashville. 

"It was beautiful," Berman said of Waidner’s drive down the middle and an 8-iron from 135 yards to the green. 

Berman carried Waidner’s bag that day. Two weeks later, the roles were reversed when Berman tried to qualify at the Hobe Sound Golf Club and Waidner carried the bag. It didn’t end well, as Berman shot 80, eight shots out of a playoff for the last qualifying spot. 

But a promise was a promise.

"We obviously wanted both of us to qualify," Waidner said. "But she’s going to do her best to help me play well." 

Since they first met at a North Florida Junior Foundation tournament when they were 12 years old, the two have been the best of friends but always competitors. 

Waidner went to Fleming Island High School and Berman to Ponte Vedra. When it came time to choose colleges, they went in separate directions: Berman to West Florida in Pensacola and a year later, Waidner to Gainesville. 

"We have a lot of the same interests but we wanted different things out of college," Waidner said. "I wanted the bigger school with the great football team and Hannah wanted a smaller situation." 

Berman made the starting lineup at West Florida and was a Gulf South Conference freshman of the week during the fall season. 

But she came back home and transferred to JU, where she also has been a fixture in the starting lineup and helped the Dolphins to their best season in history. JU won twice and finished among the top-three five times. 

Waidner did not play at Florida last season, which had a veteran team, and was red-shirted. 

However, the two have had an active summer, including the First Coast Amateur where they tied for first with Chloe Schiavone and went to a three-way playoff. Waidner won on the second hole of sudden death. 

As usual, the two were inwardly rooting for the other. 

"We always want the other person to play well," Waidner said. "You just want to do a little better. We’ve always been like that. We’ve played in a lot of the same tournaments together and our families get along really well." 

Berman said the two hit it off when they found out they share the same sense of humor. 

"I never met anyone until Lauren who laughed at the same things I did," Berman said. "We’ll laugh at literally anything." 

The player-caddie dynamic is likely to be as much as two friends enjoying a round of golf together with one exception: one is hitting the clubs and the other will be carrying them. 

Waidner said she doesn’t want Berman to change a thing inside the ropes. She wants a friend who will chat about almost anything between shots, if nothing else but to alleviate the tension of playing in the biggest women’s amateur tournament in the U.S. 

"I want her to be my friend out there," Waidner said. "It will be nice to have someone I can talk to about stuff other than golf. I tend to take things too seriously on the golf course and I think she’ll help me. She’s also going to approach decisions with less emotion since she’s not playing. I think she’ll have a great perspective on things and it helps having another player who’s been in competition." 

Berman said the small talk will stop when they get to the ball. 

"It will be important to talk about the shot or the putt, strategize and pick what works," she said. "But the decision has to be one she’s comfortable about. There’s no right or wrong, just find a shot she can commit to. Finding the balance will be tough but I think we’ll work very well together."