Surprise proposal ends UH golfer’s funk
McDougald’s final season comes to sudden stop, but her boyfriend soon makes up for it
The party had been planned. There was even a detailed spreadsheet.
Brooke McDougald and family would gather March 19 to celebrate the 50th birthday of her mother, Sharyn. Behind the scenes, though, McDougald’s boyfriend, Nate Guyton, had another plan in the works.
The couple had talked about getting married once their collegiate athletic careers ended — McDougald as a golfer for the University of Houston, Guyton as a football player at TCU — but this night was supposed to be about Sharyn. Or so an unsuspecting McDougald thought.
Then the coronavirus pandemic came along.
On the morning of the party, Gov. Greg Abbott issued statewide orders to close restaurants due to fear of an outbreak. Sharyn McDougald’s party had gone from steak dinner to Mexican takeout.
“Last minute, Plan B,” Brooke McDougald said.
The party was moved to the family home in The Woodlands. Micky McDougald, Brooke’s father, was in on the surprise and “faked a phone call” from his CPA that there were some tax documents that needed to be signed. Instead, he and Sharyn went to pick up fajitas.
And Nate? He began to set up for the special occasion in the living room.
“I was thinking (everything) was for my mom’s birthday,” McDougald said last week after serving as caddie for a friend at the Women’s All Pro Tour in Anna, just north of Dallas. “I had no idea.”
Nate, a former offensive lineman at TCU, got down on one knee and popped the question.
“I was so shocked and surprised that I really didn’t remember anything he said,” McDougald said of the surprise engagement. “Luckily, he wrote it down and I could read it later.”
A musical slideshow of their time together began to play. A banner read: “I Love You Brooke, Nate” and quoted 1 Corinthians 13:13: “So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
“SHE SAID YES!” Nate posted on Twitter that night.
“Apparently, when he sat down with my parents to ask them, he had printed out a spreadsheet of his plan,” McDougald said with a laugh. “Yes, he’s very organized.”
Out of a pandemic came a love story. And the ending McDougald had longed for.
After beginning her career and graduating from TCU, McDougald decided to use her final year of eligibility as a graduate transfer at UH.
“I came to Houston to basically fall back in love with the game,” she said. “I love the school at TCU, but I didn’t get better at the rate I thought I would there. It really wore me out on the game. I just felt like I’m putting all this time in and I’m not getting better. I wanted to go out on a note that I knew I would love golf for the rest of my life and I could play for fun for the rest of my life. G (UH coach Gerrod Chadwell) helped me to fall back in love with golf again.”
A week before her engagement, McDougald and her UH teammates were dealing with a roller coaster of emotions. At the beginning of the spring season, UH was expected to contend for its fourth American Athletic Conference title in five years and its sixth NCAA regional appearance.
UH was in the middle of a practice round in Mesa, Ariz., when the news broke that the NCAA had canceled the remainder the season for all spring sports. She looked at fellow senior Amanda Elich.
“The course was starting to get emptier and emptier,” McDougald said. “We take out our phones and realize athletics may be done.”
As it turned out, McDougald’s last collegiate round came at the ICON Invitational on Feb. 25 at her home club, The Woodlands Country Club. She was paired with best friend Courtney Dow, a senior at Texas A&M.
As she walked off the final hole, McDougald was greeted by her father. He was crying.
“I told him right there if this was the last time I played golf, I’d be OK,” said McDougald, who shot a 72 in her final round. “No one had any idea COVID was going to be what it turned into.”
That day brought clarity for McDougald, who had the option to return for another season. Shortly after the engagement, she decided to end her playing career and concentrate on finishing her master’s degree in sports administration. She will graduate in December.
“It was on the table to come back,” said McDougald, a twotime academic All-American who will intern in the athletic department in the fall. “That was a very hard decision for me, which I made not very long ago. Ultimately, I don’t want to play professional golf, so that I guess made the decision a little easier for me.”
Her wedding is set for May 29, 2021.
“I’ll have a much different 2020 story than maybe some other people,” she said.