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Surprise proposal highlights JDC Pro-Am

A surprise marriage proposal was among the highlights of Wednesday’s Pro-Am at the John Deere Classic.

A surprise marriage proposal was among the highlights of Wednesday's Pro-Am at the John Deere Classic.

Crystal Hawks, a three-year veteran of the tournament, set out as a standard bearer Wednesday morning, assuming that her fourth year volunteering would be par for the course.

Little did she know that her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years, Jesse Carlson, was waiting on the 18th green with a plan of his own.

"I had a driver that took me from here back to the volunteer lot to get the ring out of the car, because we had to figure out how to sneak it onto the course," said Carlson.

He said he wasn't too nervous, though, as he waited for her to arrive at the last hole and say 'yes.'

"Fingers crossed. I think so. Yeah, I think she will. I'm trying to imagine how she's going to react," said Carlson.

As the golfers finished their round, Carlson walked down to meet Hawks on the course. A message flashed on the giant video screen reading, "Crystal, will you marry me?"

"Oh my god, are you serious?" she answered. "Absolutely!"

Afterward, Hawks laughed about how she first waved Carlson off when he tried to talk to her on the course.

"I'm a rule follower, and the rules are that I have to stay behind the golfers and the caddies. He kept waving me over, and my golfers weren't done, so I needed to wait until they were done," she explained.

Still, she says it was the perfect proposal.

"This is probably one of the most special places to do it, simply because he had never really golfed before we met, and so, to do it somewhere here, where it's something that's important to both of us... it's pretty awesome," said Hawks.

The couple are from Madison, Wisconsin, and became involved with the John Deere Classic through family members in the Quad Cities.

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