September 6, 2025

JAGA Tournaments

•  JAGA has four events left on its 2025 schedule:
+ Oct. 27th – Club Team Championship at WGV-King & Bear
+ Nov. 3 – JAGA Fall Four-Ball at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club/Ocean Course
+ Nov. 24 – JAGA Scholarship Trust Classic at Deerwood CC
+ Dec. 20 – JAGA Family Championship at Jax Beach GC
For information and entries, click HERE.
•  The 2026 JAGA schedule of tournaments kicks off with the First Coast Amateur presented by the City of Jacksonville. It will be at Deerwood CC, Jan. 17-19.

JAGA News

•  John Tancredi of Marsh Landing is the new chairman of the JAGA Scholarship Trust. He succeeds Wayne St. Clair of Jacksonville G&CC. Tancredi originally is from New York City, was an executive in the minerals industry, and came to Northeast Florida in 2008. He previously served as a JAGA vice president.

• Donations to the JAGA Charitable Trust: $10,000 from Timuquana member Patrick Brown, $2,500 from the Marsh Creek MGA.
• Upcoming JAGA directors’ meetings: Queens Harbour Y&CC on Sept. 9, Fleming Island GC on Oct.7, and the annual meeting at Stillwater GC on Dec. 9. Former UF golfer and co-owner of Rex Golf Zach Lee will be JAGA’s guest speaker at the Sept. 9th meeting. Two-time Florida High School player of the year and the AJGA’s No. 5th ranked boys’ national junior Tyler Mawhinney will speak at the Oct. 7th meeting at Fleming Island. He is a Fleming Island HS senior.

Constellation Furyk & Friends presented by Circle K

• There are still openings for volunteers for all days of the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 PGA Tour Champions Furyk and Friends tournament at Timuquana. There are several committees still seeking workers. Information is at https://constellationfurykandfriends.com/ . The volunteer chair is Andy Carroll, a former chair of The Players.
• The entertainment has moved from Daily’s Place to the host venue. Called the Community Concert Series, it will take place on the 17th hole immediately following play on Friday and Saturday (approximately 4:15 p.m.). Headliners are country duo LOCASH on Friday and Love And Theft on Saturday. Admission to these post-round concerts is included with Friday and Saturday tournament tickets, with hospitality venues staying open during the concerts.
• Among the first-time players at Constellation Furyk and Friends is Felipe Aguilar, who attended Forrest HS (now Westside HS) here and won the Dr. Gordon Ira Junior at Hyde Park. He played at UNF and once represented his native Chile in the World Cup.
• See note below about the tournament pre-qualifier that appears under “Northern PGA Chapter News”.


Jim and Tabitha Furyk lead the PGA TOUR Champions Tour event at Timuquana.

Northern PGA Chapter News

•  The Northern Chapter will be conducting the Constellation Furyk & Friends presented by Circle K pre-qualifier on Friday, Sept. 26th at Jax Beach GC. Up to six pre-qualifiers will advance to play in the final F&F qualifier which is the following Monday (Sept. 29th) at Dye’s Valley. Three spots will be available there. Entry fees for the pre-qualifier are $150 for PGA members/apprentices and $200 for others. For pre-qualifier details, click HERE.
• Andrew Lanahan of the PGA TOUR Performance Center at TPC Sawgrass finished sixth to lead Northeast Florida pros in the North Florida PGA Section Championship at Streamsong. Others to cash were Stephanie Connelly-Eiswerth of San Jose, T7; Bob Wallace of Palencia, 14th; Clint Avret of Southeastern Turfgrass, 15th; Austin Hill of Timuquana, T23; and Mike Miles of The Yards, Hayes Farley of San Jose and Josh Wolfe of Ponte Vedra, all T27. The winner was Sandra Changija of Orlando’s Lake Nona.
•  The Sawgrass CC team of Aaron Russell, Chi Daniels, Darlene Dao and Ann Galanis won the NC Pro-Lady at Deerwood CC on July 10 by four shots.
•  Professional Jarrod Barsamian and amateurs Scott Allen, Mark Tutor and Baker Eller of Ponte Vedra Inn & Club topped the field by one shot at the NC Pro-Am at Marsh Landing CC on July 21.
•  Stephanie Connelly-Eiswerth (73-70) bettered fellow San Jose CC professional Hayes Farley (74-71) by two in the NC Chapter Championship at Palencia Club on Aug. 4-5. She collected $1,650 and Farley $1,350.
•  Jason Duff of San Jose CC won the NC Assistants event at Jax Beach GC on Aug. 25. His Stableford points total of 40 was one better than Bea Mauricio of St. Johns GC, Tyler Gray of Marsh Landing and Michael Mattiace of UNF.
•  The teams of Tyler Gray/Colin Monagle and Will Rehberg/Mark Tullo de Best fired 7-under-par 65s to share top honors in the NC Pro-Pro at Amelia Island Club at Long Point on Sept. 4th.  Bob Wallace/Clint Avret were third, one shot back.
•  The annual Sawgrass Pro-Am will be Sept. 15.
•  Standout local junior golfers Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach and Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island have been named team members of the 2025 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team. The matches (Sept. 23-25) pit the U.S. against Europe’s 12 best juniors on Long Island, playing Nassau CC the first two days and the last day’s singles’ matches on the Ryder Cup host course, Bethpage Black. Russell and Mawhinney are ranked Nos. 1 and 5, respectively, on the American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Rankings (as of Aug. 26th).
•  TPC Sawgrass assistant Nicholas Nuzzo Is one of 15 PGA professionals named to participate in the PGA of America’s PGA LEAD program. It was created to identify, mentor and progress Association members towards a path of volunteer leadership at the Chapter, Section and National levels.

TPC Sawgrass assistant golf professional, Nicholas Nuzzo.
•  It’s not too late to support Jordan, Jackson and Joshua Bork, the teenage children of San Jose CC director of golf Todd Bork, in their effort to raise funds for Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital, where Jackson and Joshua spent 90 days at birth in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in 2008. The San Jose CC Golf Scramble is Sept. 8th. To support the event, contact Jordan at 904-477-7536. Playing spots are $500.

FSGA Tournaments

•  Jimmy Ellis of Atlantic Beach CC captured the 33rd Florida Amateur Match Play title at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach. He defeated former UNF star and 2019 JAGA Jacksonville Amateur presented by Synovus champion Jordan Batchelor 4&2, before dispatching Ian Ball of Port Orange 2&1 in the finals. Ellis, a Pennsylvania native who moved to the Jacksonville area a few years ago, collected his second important FSGA title in two years (2024 Florida Amateur).


Credit: FSGA

•  Former Ohio State Buckeye, LPGA rookie and Nocatee resident Jessica Porvasnik won the Florida Women’s Open at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens by two shots. She is married to 2025 Underwood Cup amateur team member Sam Geise. UNF’s Kaitlyn Schroeder was T6.


FSGA Women’s Open champion Jessica Porvasnik
Credit: FSGA
•  Tama Caldabaugh of Ponte Vedra Beach placed T11 in the Senior Open division at PGA National. Her score was the third best among the many amateurs in the field.
•  The South team was victorious over the North for the fourth year in a row at the 19th Florida Junior Cup at Vineyards CC in Naples, 16 ½ to 15 ½. Northeast Florida juniors representing the 16-player male/female North team were Cooper Franklin (Ponte Vedra Beach), Charlie Hipp (St. Johns), Jaspreet Kondal (St. Augustine), Stella Moritz (Ponte Vedra) and Jonah Nacional (St. Augustine). The competition featured four-ball, foursomes and singles matches. For details, click HERE.
•  Therese Quinn of Jacksonville and Madyson Gold have been named captains of the North team for the Women’s Florida Cup, set for Oct. 26-27 at Mountain Lake Club in Lake Wales. The biennial event features 28 of the state’s best women and senior women golfers in a Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup-style format. Quinn captained the North team in 2023 when they won the Cup for the first time after more than a decade of South team dominance. It will be her sixth Florida Cup appearance.

USGA

•  Miles Russell, 16, of Jacksonville Beach, made a strong run in the 125th U.S. Amateur Championship at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. In stroke play, he had the third best score among the 312 qualifiers who were there. As the No. 3 seed in match play, he won his first three matches before bowing to Oklahoma State junior Eric Lee, 1 up, in the quarterfinals. Two weeks earlier, Russell was also one victory away from a semifinal appearance in another USGA championship, the U.S. Junior, in Dallas. Following the Amateur, Russell was named first U.S. team alternate for the Sept. 6-7 Walker Cup at Cypress Point in California.
Fleming Island teenager Tyler Mawhinney qualified for the U.S. Amateur. At The Olympic Club, he missed the playoff for the final match play spots by three shots.
U. of Tennessee assistant coach and 2025 JAGA First Coast Amateur presented by the City of Jacksonville champion Payne Denman was one of the successful playoff qualifiers. He was edged in his round-of-64 match on the 20th hole. FSU sophomore Carson Brewer of Ponte Vedra did not advance to match play.
•  Two-time LPGA winner Laura Diaz of Ponte Vedra placed T15 in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at San Diego CC.
•  Jacksonville area and state of Florida senior stalwart David Anthony was four shots shy in stroke play in his bid to secure one of the 64 match play spots in the 70th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship played at Oak Hills CC in San Antonio. He shot rounds of 78-75—153.

Junior Players Championship

Miles Russell cemented his position as the No. 1 junior golfer in the U.S. when he captured his second Junior PLAYERS Championship title in three years at TPC Sawgrass. The 16-year-old lefty held off hard-charging Bailey Sutton of Cullman, Ala. to win by two. Russell, a recent FSU commit, posted rounds of 68-69-70—207 (-9) from the tips for the three trips around the Stadium Course at TPCS. He led or co-led after each round. Sutton, who began his final round seven shots off Russell’s lead, got within one after reeling off eight birdies and no bogies in his first 17 holes. A three-putt bogey from 80 feet on the final green sealed his fate when Russell, playing behind him, birdied the island 17th from 10 feet and rolled in a 20-footer for par on 18. Sutton, an Alabama commit, jumped from No. 35 to No. 18 in the AJGA Rolex rankings.            Russell, who’ll turn 17 in November, was 14 when he won the 2023 championship with the same score of 207. Last year, he finished T16.
Other finishes by locals: T27 – Lucas Gimenez (Jacksonville), Tyler Mawhinney (Fleming Island), T40 – Ambose Kinnare (St. Augustine), and WD – Phillip Dunham.
The sons of a pair of former PLAYERS Championship winners, Cameron Kuchar (Matt) and Charlie Woods (Tiger), both recorded holes-in-one on the third hole. Kuchar’s came in the first round, Woods’ in the third. They finished T69 and T31, respectively.
Defending champion Hamilton Coleman of Augusta, Ga. was T7.

Miles Russell high fiving with junior fans following his Junior PLAYERS win.
Credit: Florida Times-Union

Junior PLAYERS champion Miles Russell meets the media after his win – (L-R) Stuart Webber (Action News Jax TV), Garry Smits (Florida Times-Union), and Adam Schupak (Golfweek).

Other Tournaments

•  With only the four Korn Ferry Tour playoff events remaining in September and October, Julian Suri of Ponte Vedra Beach finds himself 14th on the KFT points list. The top 25 at the conclusion of the playoffs will gain PGA TOUR status. The two-time FHSAA state champion (2007 and 2008) while at Bartram Trail HS followed up his July win in Utah with a T7 last month in Idaho.

Other News

•  Banker, developer, civic leader and philanthropist Jim Stockton, Jr. died on Aug. 16 at the age of 91. As the developer of Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, he helped shape Northeast Florida into the dynamic area it’s become.
•  The renovated Glen Kernan opened last month with a members-only day that featured an exhibition with course co-architect Jim Furyk and member Cam Smith. UNF graduate Mike Giammaresi is the head golf professional, coming from a course in Destin. He once was an assistant at San Jose.
•  The 28th Monique Burr Foundation fundraiser will be Dec. 8 at Palencia. This year’s title sponsor is Dream Finders Homes.
•   According to reports, Billy Horschel will return to play at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship (Sept. 11-14), an event the Ponte Vedra Beach resident has won twice (2021 and 2024). Right hip surgery in May of this year sidelined Horschel for much of the summer.

College Golf

With the fall semester now in session, the 2025-26 college golf season kicks off in September. Northeast Florida Golf News will continue to report on the following men’s and women’s teams of local interest on a monthly basis – UNF, JU, Flagler, UF, FSU and UGA.

Two long standing events return to the spring schedule with the JU men hosting the Sea Best Invitational Feb. 2-3 at Atlantic Beach CC and the UNF men conducting The Hayt March 7-9 at Sawgrass CC.

Jaguars’ Scott Massey….17 million to one

Jaguars’ Senior VP-Corporate Partnerships Scott Massey was JAGA’s guest speaker at its August meeting at Sawgrass CC. Massey, a PGA TOUR vice president prior to joining the Jaguars, shared insight and several fun stories about his career in golf and pro football, but perhaps the most cherished one involved his two sons. In an after-work round of golf with sons Hanks (then 11, now 28) and Davis (9, 26) in July 2008, the boys recorded back-to-back aces on the third hole of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. That’s not a typo! One golf numbers guy estimated the odds of two players in the same group making a hole-in-one are 17 million to 1! The feat drew national media attention, including a piece in USA Today.


Jaguar executive Scott Massey was JAGA’s guest speaker in August.

Hole-in-one brothers, Hanks (11) and Davis (9), in July 2008.

Fun Photo

  • Sweden’s Alex Noren ended a seven-year winless drought worldwide when he won the DP World Tour’s Betfred British Masters at The Belfry in England by one shot. The image from the trophy presentation was unique and clearly got the job done in branding the host country!

Credit: Getty Images

Correction

•  Hyde Park GC was built in 1925 and opened for play in 1926, not 2025 and 2026 as stated in last month’s NEWS.
•  Our Paladin fans were paying attention last month when NEWS incorrectly stated that the “Have Gun, Will Travel” character was played by Jack Palance in our note about how Gary Player took to wearing all black. Paladin was played by Richard Boone from 1957 to 1963. NEWS regrets the error but thanks those observant readers who brought this to our attention.


Jack Palance
Richard Boone

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Northeast Florida Golf News is written and edited by 
JAGA directors Fred Seely (Timuquana CC) and Jeff Adams (TPC Sawgrass).

Photos: Credit “JAGA” unless otherwise noted.

Reporting from Garry Smits’ Florida Times-Union “Golf Notebook” is used in NEWS.