World Golf Hall of Famer Jan Stephenson helps launch Rain Girl Invitational at Deercreek
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A new women's golf tournament launches at the Deercreek Country Club, and a World Golf Hall of Fame member will be there to help.
The first Rain Girl Invitational will be held on Feb. 1-2 at Deercreek, sponsored by the First Coast-based company that makes specialized rainwear for women golfers.
“The Deercreek Rain Girl Invitational will be a fun event that focuses on comradery with a bit of competition,” Rain Girls founder Kathy Nyman said.
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The field will include amateur and professional women golfers from the region who have a USGA handicap of 26 or lower.
Appearing at the pairings party and welcome reception on Feb. 1 will be Hall of Fame member Jan Stephenson, a three-time major champion and winner of 16 LPGA events. She will also promote her Jan Stephenson Wine, with a tasting at the party, and her Jan Stephenson Rum during the tournament round on Feb. 2.
The $125 entry fee will cover the reception, lunch on the day of the golf tournament, tee gift and an awards ceremony. The format will be a flighted Stableford with an optional team Nassau. There also will be a hole-in-one and closest-to-the-pin contest on all Par 3’s sponsored, by Aurora Resort at
Anguilla, Jan Stephenson Wine, Rain Girl and Deercreek Country Club.
Titleist will conduct a golf ball demo day and sampling for all participants from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 before the 12:30 shotgun start.
For more information or to register, visit raingirlinvitational.com.
Nyman, an LPGA teach professional at Deercreek, founded Rain Girl Golf in 2016. Her designs were included in the Best New Product category at the 2016 PGA Merchandise Show. She played on the Epson Tour and at Florida State.
A portion of the proceeds from the tournament will go to the Jacksonville Humane Society.
First Coast Amateur begins
The seventh Jacksonville Area Golf Association First Coast Amateur begins on Saturday at Hidden Hills, where it was played in 2018 and 2019. Nearly 100 amateur and college golfers from around the country and overseas will be in the field for the 54-hole event.
Defending champion Ty Gingerich of Carmel, Ind., will return for the seventh time, the only player to have competed in every First Coast Amateur. He began when he was 16 and is now a junior at the University of Cincinnati.
Gingerich tied for 74th in his first start and has improved his performance nearly every year. He followed that with ties for 32nd, 15th, 18th and fifth before winning last year at The Conservatory at Hammock Beach Resort.
The 96 players come from 13 countries, 23 states and 39 colleges and universities.
The Big Ten has the largest conference representation with 18 players coming from six schools, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State and Purdue. The Boilermakers will have 10 players in the field, the most from one school, with the University of North Florida and East Tennessee State sending five each. Eleven schools have multiple entries.
There will be 15 players ranked inside the top 2,000 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, with Norway’s Mats Ege of East Tennessee State University the top-ranked entry at No. 157.
Also playing are First Coast juniors Brock Blais of Ponte Vedra High, Jackson Klauk of Nease, Connor Hess of Episcopal and Nolan Harper of Beachside.
Information can be found at jaxareagolf.org.
Senior Amateur Tour under way
The Jacksonville Senior Amateur Tour started last week at Palm Harbor in Palm Coast, the first of 20 tournaments on the schedule. Five will be 36-hole events, at the Sea Island Resort, LPGA International, the World Golf Village courses, the TPC Sawgrass and Hammock Beach.
Other venues on the schedule are the Omni Amelia, Golf Club of Amelia, Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta, Ga., Osprey Cove in St. Mary's, Ga., and Juliette Falls in Dunnellon.
For information or to register, visit senioramateurgolftour.net.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: World Golf Hall of Famer Jan Stephenson helps kick off Deercreek event
