Jacksonville Area Golf Association begins summer schedule with Match Play Championship

Garry Smits, Florida Times-Union
·4 min read
The Jacksonville Area Golf Association returns to the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club for one of its championships for the first time since the 2020 JAGA Amateur, won by Cody Carroll (above).
The Jacksonville Area Golf Association returns to the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club for one of its championships for the first time since the 2020 JAGA Amateur, won by Cody Carroll (above).

The Jacksonville Area Golf Association spring and summer tournament season begins in earnest with three championships conducted within an eight-week period at public, private and resort courses.

The first tournament will be the 12th JAGA Match Play at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club April 29-May 1. Mark Spencer of Jacksonville will return to defend the title he won at Queen's Harbour last year when he birdied the last two holes to beat Marcus Reynolds of Watkinsville, Ga., 1-up. Two other past champions, John Lobb (2012) and Mike Smith (2016) are entered. The seeded field of 32 is full.

The oldest tournament on the First Coast follows on May 15-17 at the Deercreek Country Club, the 64th JAGA Senior Amateur. There will be three divisions of play, senior (50 and over), super-senior (60 and over) and grand senior (70 and over). The 2021 champions were Larry Smith in the senior division, Gary Blackwell in the super-seniors and Frank Perry in the grand seniors.

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The First Coast Women's Amateur will be played in St. Johns County for the second year in a row, moving from the Sawgrass Country Club to the World Golf Hall of Fame King & Bear. Kaitlyn Schroeder is scheduled to defend her title, which she won by five shots last year.

Senior and super-senior divisions will also be held.

Registration and other information on all JAGA events can be found at jaxareagolf.org.

NFJGF closes the spring

The North Florida Junior Golf Foundation concluded its spring tournament series last week with the University of Florida Junior Open, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville. Moses Compaan of Jacksonville won the elite boys division with a 2-under 68 and Ambrose Kinnare of St. Augustine won the 10-12 boys with a 1-under 69.

The tournament was also a qualifier for the regionals of the Notah Begay Junior Golf National Championship, which will be played later summer at the Mission Inn Resort and Indian Springs Country Club. Fifteen of the participants at UF made it to the regionals.

The NFJGF will begin its summer series on May 1 at the Marsh Landing Country Club. Other venues this summer will be the TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, Glen Kernan, Hyde Park, South Hampton, San Jose, Jacksonville Beach, Windsor Parke, Amelia National, Trident Lakes, the King & Bear and the Slammer & Squire.

The Florida Coast Cup will be May 7-8, with 22 players from the NFJGF facing the Gold Coast Junior Foundation at the World Golf Hall of Fame courses. The series is tied 1-1.

Flagler streak ends

The Flagler College women's golf team saw their streak of Peach Belt Conference titles end at five last week at the Sea Palms Resort on St. Simons Island, Ga., when they finished in a tie for second, 20 shots behind Columbus State.

The Saints' Sophie Wheeler had her fourth top-five finish of the year and earned her first all-tournament honor when she finished second at 7-over 220, to shots behind winner Madeline Ananthasane of North Georgia. Jan Browne tied for eighth at 231.

In the men's tournament, Flagler tied their season-best round with a 7-under 277 on the last day, but it fell one shot short of Columbus State, which finished the tournament at 3-over 855.

Mauro Baez earned his second career all-tournament team honor with a tie for second at 4-under 209. He opened and closed with 67s, but posted a 75 in the middle round and ended up three shots behind Maxime Legros of Lander.

Franco Piovano (212) finished solo seventh for the Saints.

Both teams could receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. The field will be unveiled on Monday.

Quinn-Lang win

Therese Quinn of Jacksonville and Diane Lang of Palm Beach combined to win the Marlene Streit Senior Championship this week at the Ibis Golf and Country Club in West Palm Beach.

The two won the stroke-play qualifying with a best-ball 69, they won four matches in a row, never reaching the 17th hole. They won by margins of 8 and 7, 3 and 2, 2-up and 5 and 4.

Coming close in Ocala

Brody Stevenson of St. Augustine shot 2-over-par-146 and tied for second in the Florida Junior Tour 16-18 Country Club of Ocala event. He was two shots behind winner Parker Bell of Tallahassee.

Stefan Ink of Ponte Vedra (149) was solo fifth and Adam Vermut of Jacksonville and Jaylen Abbas of Fleming Island (both 150) tied for sixth.

Women's clinics set

The Jacksonville Beach Golf Club will hold a series of clinics for women on every Wednesday and Thursday in May.

The sessions will be from 5:30-6:30 p.m., at a fee of $150 for four classes.

Call the golf shop at 904-247-6184. Registration closes for the Wednesday sessions on May 3 and for the Thursday sessions on May 4.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Match Play at Jax Beach: JAGA begins spring and summer schedule