Jason Duff, confident and 'humbled' after freshman season at UNF, charges to Jacksonville Amateur lead

Jason Duff may have been the ASUN freshman of the year for the University of North Florida, but that doesn’t mean everything was fairways and greens for the 2021 Times-Union First Coast player of the year from Menendez High School.

“I had a good year but there were times when it was a humbling experience,” said Duff, who had two top-25 finishes and had eight starts for the Ospreys in helping them win the ASUN title and advance to the NCAA tournament. “But I played well enough to give me the confidence that I can compete with anyone.”

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Duff proved that on Thursday in the first round of the Jacksonville Amateur Championship at the Deerwood Country Club. He birdied three holes in a row mid-round and highlighted his day with a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 8 to finish with a 6-under-par 66 and a three-shot lead over Bolles graduate Osborn Theam and Florida Southern sophomore Max Barile.

There were wide extremes of scoring on a hot, sunny day on a stout 7,000-yard course. Duff led 12 players who broke par and 20 who matched par or better.

But there were also 24 players who didn’t break 80 as the course favored the big boppers in the field – but also those who would work the ball both ways off the tee.

Jacksonville Amateur leaderboard

Jacksonville Amateur second-round groups, tee times

“I like the course because of the challenging tee shots,” said Barile, one of four members of the Florida Southern team who came to the First Coast to play the tournament at the suggestion of their coach, Lee White, who saw it as good preparation for their college fall season. “You want to be aggressive but there are times when you have to back off.”

Duff bided his time and was 1-under through his first seven holes after starting at No. 10. He then began lasering his irons and set up short birdie putts at Nos. 17, 18 and 1, then rattled off three birdies in a row beginning at No. 6.

He had one bogey, the result of sheer bad luck at the par-4 16th. Duff’s approach from 125 yards hit the flagstick and caromed into the left bunker. His blast went 15 feet past the hole and he missed the putt.

Duff, the 2019 Class 2A state high school champion, said his first college season was memorable for playing on a conference champion and getting to be good friends with UNF’s No. 1 player, Nick Gabrelcik, the two-time ASUN player of the year and currently the 20th-ranked college player in the nation by golfweek.com.

The ASUN freshman of the year award was followed by a disappointing finish to the season. Duff had to miss the NCAA regional at Yale University because of a stomach virus. He then subbed for UNF in the final round of the NCAA tournament at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., but shot a career-high 85.

“I learned a lot,” he said. “But it was an amazing season and I can’t wait for this season to start.”

Theam kick-started his round by nearly holing out for a 2 at the par-4 10th hole. He bounced back from bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 to run off a streak of four birdies among his first five holes on the front.

Theam came one shot away from making a playoff for a U.S. Amateur spot on Tuesday at the St. Johns Golf and Country Club, and wound up as the second alternate. But he’s 10-under in his last three competitive rounds and is feeling good about it.

“I think it’s just a result of being able to play every day,” he said of his recent recovery from a wrist injury. “It’s got me in a groove.”

Four players are tied at 2-under, Nate Mosby, Andrew Stewart, Sam Ohno and David Palm. Jeff Dennis, an assistant coach at UNF, was 3-over at the turn but shot 4-under 32 on the back, with a birdie at No. 18, and is among five players at 1-under.

Andrew Riley, the medalist on Tuesday at the U.S. Amateur qualifier, is among eight players at even-par.

Defending champion Mike Smith, whose wife Karen is due to give birth on Monday, had a 73.

The second round will be on Friday and the final round on Saturday after the cut is made to the low 40, plus ties.

Jacksonville Amateur Championship

At Deerwood Country Club 

Par-72, 7,093 yards

Jason Duff 32-34--66

Osborn Theam 33-36--69

Max Barile 35-34--69

Andrew Stewart 38-32--70

David Palm 36-34--70

Sam Ohno 35-35--70

Nate Mosby 35-35--70

Luke Cusick 38-33--71

Jeff Dennis 39-32--71

Johnny Tucker 38-33--71

Kevin McDonald 36-35--71

Agustin Tarigo 37-34--71

Harrison Harper 36-36--72

Andrew Riley 36-36--72

Chris Henderson 37-35--72

Jeff Golden 35-37--72

Mark Ellison, Jr. 36-36--72

Tyler Brown 36-36--72

Charles Collings 38-34--72

Johnny Watts 36-36--72

Danny Erickson 37-36--73

Andrew Morris 37-36--73

Chase Baldwin 37-36--73

Michael Smith 37-36--73

Duke Butler IV 36-38--74

Mitchell Nolan 36-38--74

Raines Holmes 36-38--74

Pablo Mena 35-40--75

Mitch Howard 38-37--75

Peter Catanzaro 37-38--75

Jackson Sampselle 38-37--75

Brian Kirkpatrick 40-35--75

Brian Kirkpatrick 40-35--75

Thomas Salanito 36-39--75

Thomas Murtagh 39-36--75

Sutanit Tangyingyong 40-35--75

Christopher Lewis 37-38--75

Stewart Slayden 39-37--76

Davis Roche 37-39--76

Jake Newman 38-38--76

Adam Waller 37-39--76

Connor Holcroft 39-38--77

Carter Goerke 41-36--77

Ben Harvey 41-37--78

Patrick Cruz 37-41--78

Zach Lee 40-38--78

Jacob Posze 37-41--78

Clay Tucker 41-37--78

William Shrewsbury 36-42--78

James Tisdale 40-38-78

Neal Pease 42-36--78

Harrison Yazgi 42-37--79

Brent Edwards 36-43--79

Matthew Miller 41-38--79

Conner Reed 39-40--79

Graham Nichols 40-39--79

Bryce Walker 39-40--79

Jarod Fasig 44-36--80

John Lobb 40-40--80

Hunter Holson 39-41--80

Teddy Sotsky 46-34--80

Josh Newman 43-38--81

Andre Nacional 39-42--81

Landon Durham 48-33--81

Andrew Porter 38-43--81

John O'Brien 41-41--82

Ravi Chandra 42-40--82

Tommy Bishop 43-39--82

Mike Holland 40-42--82

Tyler Sullivan 40-42--82

Chad James 42-41--83

Maxwell Telford 33-39--83

Eddie Erickson 41-43--84

Matt Cooper 39-45--84

Ken Arnett 45-40--85

Jamie Seim 41-44--85

Dylan Kochis 43-43--86

Logan Flores 41-45--86

Emmitt Kienzle 48-39--87

Justin Ortiguera 53-37--90

Zachary Honnold 46-46--92

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jason Duff took positives from his freshman season at UNF, in driver's seat at Jacksonville Amateur