North Florida's Nick Gabrelcik caps his season with a second PING All-Southeast selection
University of North Florida sophomore Nick Gabrelcik was named to the NCAA Division I PING All-Southeast region team for the second year in a row, by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
The two-time ASUN player of the year is the 15th All-Southeast team selection in UNF history and the fifth to make the team multiple times. The last Osprey golfer to make the team in successive seasons was Philip Knowles in 2018-19.
Gabrelcik, who tied for 37th earlier this week at the NCAA Championships at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., won three individual titles and had seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 13 starts this season. He averaged 70.68 per round and helped UNF to the ASUN title and a tie for third in the NCAA New Haven (Conn.) Region, qualifying them for their seventh NCAA appearance.
A Trinity native, Gabrelcik entered the NCAA tournament 32nd on Golfstat's College ranking.
The Ospreys finished among the top-three in seven tournaments this season, with three victories.
Heading for Bandon Dunes
Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Phillip Dunham of Ponte Vedra Beach and Andrew McLauchlan of Neptune Beach made it a clean sweep of the top-three places last week in a U.S. Junior Boys qualifier at the University of Florida's Mark Bostick Golf Course.
Russell won the qualifier with a 4-under 66, making three birdies on his first four holes, then adding two closing birdies. Dunham was second with a 68, which included an eagle at No. 3, and McLauchlan rallied from a double-bogey at the par-5 seventh hole to birdie his next two and play his final 12 holes at 3-under, with no bogeys, to shoot 69.
The trio will play in the U.S. Junior July 25-30 at Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon.
Russell came a stroke away from winning another tournament, a Florida Junior Tour 13-15-year-old 54-hole major. He shot 5-under 211 at ChampionsGate to tie for second, behind Mykhailo Golod of Davenport. Luke Balaskiewicz of Jacksonville tied for eighth at 4-over.
In an FJT 16-18 54-hole major at Black Diamond, Cameron Goldknopf of Ponte Vedra Beach tied for third at 2-under 214, five shots behind Hans Risvaer of Miami. Nolan Harper of St. Augustine (217) finished fifth and Camden Smith of Ponte Vedra (281) tied for sixth.
Fall openings scheduled
Renovations to the Timuquana Country Club, the Julington Creek Golf Club and the St. Johns Golf Club are scheduled for late summer or early fall.
Timuquana is due to open in August and Julington Creek and St. Johns on Oct. 1.
Timuquana, which closed on Jan. 2, is getting its facelift by Bruce Hepner, Julington Creek, which closed last month, is being renovated by Westscapes Golf Construction and St. Johns, which closed Jan. 1, is being renovated by Erik Larsen.
Underwood Cup staying put, for now
The Underwood Cup, an annual match-play tournament between First Coast amateurs and the Northern Chapter PGA, will return to San Jose Jan. 30-31, 2023, and return to Timuquana, its home for 30 years, in 2024. The event was played at San Jose this year because of the Timuquana renovation project.
But the days of being at one venue are apparently over. According to the Jacksonville Area Golf Association monthly newsletter, the event will begin a three-course rotation that will include Timuquana, San Jose and a third course that will be determined later.
Time running out
Entries for the First Coast Women's Amateur will close at 5 p.m. on June 13. The tournament is June 22-23 at the World Golf Hall of Fame King & Bear. Entry information can be found at jaxareagolf.org. ... Registration for the 61st Jacksonville Amateur opened on June 1. The Deerwood Country Club will host the tournament for the first time since 2013. Visit jaxareagolf.org for additional information. ... The Jacksonville Area Golf Associations will announce its 2022 scholarship recipients June 9 during a banquet at Deerwood.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PINGed again: UNF's Nick Gabrelcik earns second PING All-Southeast Region
