A year ago, Reed was one shot off the lead after two rounds of the Amateur, only to discover a scorecard error when he got home. A phone call to tournament officials resulted in his disqualification.
This year’s final leaderboard was impressive with the top-10 finishers all recording scores of par or better over the three hot and windy (10-20 mph) days at venerable Sawgrass CC. Reed finished at 209 (-7) and Kinnare at 210 (-6).
The top finishers were awarded World Amateur Golf Ranking points.
For complete results, click HERE
(L-R) Damon Olinto of Pinnacle Financial Partners, 2026 champion Cameron Reed and tournament chairman Cary Helton of JAGA
Campbell is a Fernandina Beach HS grad and rising sophomore at Florida Southeastern University. She posted 1-over-par 219 score. Both Campbell (2024) and Schiavone (2018 & 2019 – Bolles) are former Florida Times-Union First Coast high school girls’ players of the year.
Stella Moritz of Ponte Vedra Beach was solo third at 220. Defending champion Nancy Cox, who shared the 36-hole lead with Campbell, slid to T5 after a final-round 79. The top finishers received World Amateur Golf Ranking points.
Reigning U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Dawn Woodward of Greenville, S.C. (219) cruised to a nine-shot victory over Wendi Christensen in the Senior Championship. Local stalwarts Therese Quinn of Deerwood CC and Tama Caldabaugh of The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach were T3 and eighth, respectively.
Jeri Roche of the host club captured the Senior Field Championship at 158, three better than Kim Bruce.
Another JG&CC member, Debbie Caruso (159), took home the Super-Senior Championship by six shots over Helen Short of Sawgrass CC.
JAGA provided the FCWA Committee with operational and promotional support.
For complete results, click HERE
(L-R) – Debbie Caruso, Sadaly Campbell, Dawn Woodard, and Jeri Roche
Credit: FCWA
JAGA News• With no director meetings in July and August, JAGA’s next meetings are Sept. 14th at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach and Oct. 13th at Deercreek CC.
• The First Coast Women’s Amateur had seven JAGA scholars competing – champion Sady Campbell, Sophia Cavanaugh, Nancy Cox, Cambree Hodge, Kalie Polete, Alyssa Hardy, Addy Vogt and Emma Wells.
Northern PGA Chapter News
• R.J. Milford of Peak Fitness and Performance won the Northern Chapter Stableford Championship at Atlantic Beach CC in a two-hole playoff over Jarred Garcia of Fleming Island. Tied for third were Hayes Farley of San Jose and Matthew Sheehan of St. Johns. PGA Life Member R.J. Zirts won the Senior division. Clint Avret of Jacksonville G&CC was next, and tied for third were Richie Bryant of Pablo Creek and Aaron Russell of Sawgrass.
• The Northern Chapter Championship will be at Ponte Vedra Inn’s Ocean Course on Aug. 24-25. It’s 36 holes with a maximum field of 60. The North Florida Section Championship will be Aug. 17-19 at Lake Nona near Orlando.
• The Northern Chapter will partner with the East Central Chapter for the Hammock Beach Resort Pro-Am on Aug. 10.
FSGA Tournaments
• Recent U. of North Carolina graduate Andrew Riley of St. Johns and Creekside HS was the lone First Coast area competitor to finish in the top 10 (T6) at the 80th Florida Open Championship at Longboat Key Club near Sarasota. Tyler Gulliksen of Flagler Beach grabbed low amateur honors, finishing at even-par 214. Michael Visacki of Parrish, Fla. captured the title on his home course taking down Chase Seiffert of Panama City Beach on the first hole of sudden death. The duo recorded 207 totals and collected $20,250 and $10,500, respectively. U. of Florida head golf coach J.C. Deacon placed T24 in his title defense. For complete results, click HERE
2026 Florida Open champion Michael Visacki of Parrish, Fla.
Credit: FSGA
• Top area finishers in the 10th Florida Women’s Open were amateurs Chloe Schiavone (T3), a recent Notre Dame and U. of Virginia graduate, and Brianna Castaldi (T7) of UNF. Former LPGA winner Leta Lindley won the Senior Open division by two shots over major champion Karrie Webb. For complete results, click HERE.• 2021 Jacksonville Amateur presented by Pinnacle Financial Partners champion Mike Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach partnered with Christian Sease of Newberry to place T5 in the 77th Four-Ball Championship at Coral Creek Club in Placida on July 12th. Also finishing in the top 10 at T8 were Ty Capps of Palm Coast and Tyler Gulliksen of Flagler Beach. For complete results, click HERE.
• Nancy Cox of Ponte Vedra Beach, who is transferring from Florida Atlanta U. to the U. of Oklahoma this fall, led all area competitors in the Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship at The Amelia Island Club at Long Point with a T7 finish on July 12th. Sophia Moody of Fleming Island was next at T14, followed by Chloe Schiavone of Jacksonville and Maddie Rathjen of St. Augustine at T17. Rising high school freshman Michelle Lu of Lake Nona won in an 11-shot rout. For complete results, click HERE.
• After a five-year winless stretch, the North overcame a one-point deficit in the concluding Singles matches to defeat the South 17-15 in the 20th Florida Junior Cup at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach July 27-28. The Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup-styled two-day event features 16-member teams (10 boys, 6 girls) from North Florida (Orlando and north) and South Florida. Six contestants were from the First Coast – Jack Cole(Jacksonville Beach), Ambrose Kinnear (St. Augustine), Sophia Moody (Fleming Island), Jonah Nacional(St. Augustine), Elize Nograbat (St. Johns), and Easton Oliva (Ponte Vedra Beach). The North increased its overall Cup lead to 13-6-1. For complete results, click HERE.
• Benny Ossi of Ponte Vedra Beach won the boys’ age 13-15 division of the Junior Amateur Match Play at Lake Jovita CC on July 23rd. He defeated Charles Sundermeir of Lake Worth 4&2.
• Barton Abstein of St. Johns made a strong run in the 34th Amateur Match Play Championship at Lago Mar CC in Plantation, July 30- Aug. 2. The Beachside HS grad who now plays for Oglethorpe University was the lone area player to advance to at least the quarterfinals. He succumbed to eventual champion Leo Gellert of North Port in the semifinals on the 19th hole.
• UNF junior Briana Castaldi and former Florida Senior Women’s Player of the Year Tama Caldabaugh are among eight from Florida who will compete against like teams from Georgia and Alabama in the seventh Southeastern Challenge Match Aug. 8-9 at The Landing in Savannah. It features a match-play format.
• The Parent-Child is one of the FSGA’s largest events, with over 500 competitors spread over seven age categories. The First Coast was well represented again at this year’s championship, played on July 25th at ChampionsGate Resort in Orlando, and had two category winners:
+ In the Age 32 and Over division, Michael Vallencourt, Sr. and Mike Vallencourt II (-7) topped two other area teams, Mark Rutland and Mike Gardell (-4) and Len and Leonard Schonfeld (-2), who finished second and third, respectively.
+ In the Age 10-12 division, Jeff and Greta Golden won for the second year in a row.
For complete results, click HERE.
78th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship
17-year-old Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach looked like he was cruising to victory in the 78thU.S. Junior Amateur only to be upset in the 36-hole finale at Saucon Valley CC in Bethlehem, Pa. by a one-putt machine in Noah Maclauchlan of Mosely, Va. Maclauchlan entered junior golf’s showcase event No. 2,047 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking. His 6&5 victory over Russell was the third largest since the USGA changed to the stroke-play/match-play format in 2005. Leading 1 up at the 18-hole break, the soon-to-be Liberty University freshman poured it on in the afternoon adding birdies on four of his first five holes to take a commanding 5-up lead. In the championship match he had 13 birdies and one bogey over the 31 holes played.
Russell was one of the three co-medalists in stroke play that featured 264 contestants. In match play, he trailed only one hole in his first five matches. Among his victims was fellow area junior star Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, who he took down 2&1 in the semifinals. Russell was unable to repeat his strong Friday semifinals’ play which included five birdies and two eagles in his morning match and 7-under-par golf through 13 holes in his second match.
Russell is the top-ranked junior in the United States according to the AJGA rankings (Maclauchlan was No. 31 and moved up to No. 10) and sits No. 5 among all amateurs on the WAGR (as of Aug. 3rd).
His summer schedule doesn’t slow down any time soon. The 2027 FSU commit traveled from Pennsylvania to Illinois for the Western Amateur (see related note under “Other Tournaments”) and will compete in the U.S. Amateur at Merion GC in mid-August and the Walker Cup in Ireland in early September.
“Today, I just didn’t have my best stuff, and he played very well,” Russell said. “(He) Made a lot of putts and I wasn’t quite able to get it going.”
Four other area golfers were either exempt or made the field via the qualifying process but did not advance from stroke to match play at Saucon Valley – Phillip Dunham and James Nagle of Ponte Vedra Beach, Charlie Hipp of St. Johns and Jay Huntley of Jacksonville Beach.
Miles Russell tees off in U.S. Junior Amateur Championship semifinal match
Credit: USGA
Furyk & Friends
The Constellation Furyk & Friends presented by Circle K will be Oct. 9-11 at Hammock Beach. It’s the first year there after five years at Timuquana.
Here are details of the PGA Tour Champions event:
Field: It annually draws a strong field due to the influence of organizer Jim Furyk. Past winners include Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Brett Quigley, Rocco Mediate and Tommy Gainey.
The Host: Hammock Beach is a resort in Flagler County that’s about a 45-minute drive from Jacksonville. The tournament is played on the Ocean Course, which was designed by Jack Nicklaus and features two holes that run along the ocean.
Tickets: General admission tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Friday tickets are $50 and include a concert featuring Billy Currington, and weekend tickets are $25 daily. Youth 17 and under are free with a paying adult. College students and military members also are free.
Hospitality: Club 58 is $150 daily and includes premium seating. There are also packages for groups of up to 20.
Parking: The Daytona State College lots on Palm Coast Parkway will be used and there’s a 10-minute shuttle bus ride to the course. Golf cart and bicycle parking are available at the course.
Charity: The tournament raised over $5 million for area charities during its run at Timuquana. This year’s charities include First Tee – North Florida, Blessings in a Backpack, Beaches Habitat for Humanity, Flagler County Education Fund and Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Florida.
Other Tournaments
• Miles Russell followed up his U.S. Junior Amateur Championship co-medalist performance with a like effort the following week at the 124th Western Amateur Championship at Beverly CC in Chicago, Ill. He topped a field of 156 invitees with a 72-hole tally of 263 (-21) in stroke play to become the first golfer to be the low medalist in both the Western Amateur and the U.S. Junior Amateur in the same year. With only 16 advancing to match play, Russell won his first two matches, then lost in the semifinals 3&1 to eventual champion, Stanford junior Jay Leng.
Russell ended up playing 122 holes of golf in six days. This was on top of his 142 holes of stroke and match play the previous week in Pennsylvania. Combined, he played 264 holes for an average of 22 holes per day, with just one day off in between (plus a one-day semifinals rain postponement at the Western).
For complete tournament info, click HERE.
Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach was medalist in the 124th Western Amateur.
Credit: WGA
• Kaitlyn Schroeder (68) of Jacksonville/UNF and Nancy Cox (69) of Ponte Vedra Beach/U. of Oklahoma secured two of the three available U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship spots at the Hammock Dunes Club qualifier on July 13th. The 126th edition of the championship is Aug. 4-9 at The Honors Course near Chattanooga, Tenn.• The USGA Men’s Amateur is this month at Merion GC near Philadelphia and among the Northeast Florida golfers who qualified are Cameron Reed and Adam Waller. Alternates include Luke Balaskiewicz, Carson Brewer and James Nagle. A quarterfinalist last year at Olympic Club in San Francisco, Miles Russell is exempt.
• First held in 2007, the Junior PLAYERS Championship will once again be played in its familiar Labor Day weekend slot on the American Junior Golf Association’s schedule (Sept. 4-6). Two-time champion Miles Russell (2023 & 2025) will not defend at the TPC Sawgrass-Stadium Course. He will be in Ireland the same weekend competing in the Walker Cup. The First Coast will be represented by Tocoi Creek HS junior teammates Ambrose Kinnare and Kaden James.
• Rising Episcopal HS senior Sahana Chokshi of Jacksonville had a top-25 finish (T24) in the Junior PGA Championships-Girls Division at PGA Frisco in Texas.
• Nease HS graduate and 2016 Army West Point graduate Marcus Plunkett qualified for last month’s Open Championship. He did so at the Dundonald Links qualifier in Scotland and then went on to make the cut at Royal Birkdale near Liverpool, England. His 287 total placed him T74. After five years of Army service as a transportation officer, Plunkett has been chasing his PGA TOUR card. He is now playing the Asian Tour (currently 20th on the Order of Merit) after losing his Korn Ferry Tour status last year.
• U. of Florida rising junior Josh Bai of Auckland, New Zealand won the 126th edition of the North-South Amateur Championship at the No. 2 and No. 4 courses at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina on July 4th. Bai finished T11 in the 36-hole stroke-play portion, then won five matches to join the long and impressive list of past North-South champions that includes the names Ouimet, Nicklaus, Strange, Love and Pavin.
North-South Amateur champion Joshua Bai of UF
Credit: North-South Amateur Championship
Sabrina Smith of Daytona Beach took the girls overall title by four over Avery Pang.
The first round was played at Marsh Landing CC.
Division winners:
+ Rising Tour: Boys – Cole Spice, Girls – Nia Leonard.
+ Futures: Luke Douglas.
+ Foundation: Kiryn Chady.Other News• Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach was among the first of four golfers named to represent the U.S. in the 2026 Walker Cup. He was joined by Preston Stout of Dallas, Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. and Ethan Fang of Plano, Texas. At 17, Russell is the youngest of the four. The matches vs. Great Britain and Ireland will be played Sept. 5-6 at Lahinch GC in the Republic of Ireland. Nick Gabrelcik, formerly of UNF, was the last player with local ties to play the event (2023). The last contestant who grew up in Jacksonville and played in the Cup was Bud Cauley (2009).
(L-R) Walker Cup-bound – Miles Russell, Preston Stout, Tyler Watts, Ethan Fang
Credit: USGA
• In one more news item about Miles Russell….St. Augustine’s Paul Tesori caddied for the youngster in his latest PGA TOUR start (number seven), the ISCO Championship in Louisville, Ky. in July. With a pair of 71s (+2), Russell missed the cut by five. Tesori, whose TOUR employer, Webb Simpson, was idle the week of the ISCO event, told Golfweek, “I love mentoring. I just kind of love that role.” Tesori is still pretty handy with golf clubs himself having won Florida’s premier senior event, the FSGA Florida Senior Open in May.
• LIV player Cam Smith set a course record of 61 at Glen Kernan Club where he is a member.
A Junior to Track – Ambrose Kinnare
Research by Florida Times-Union golf writer Garry Smits outlines how talented the 16-year-old rising Tocoi Creek HS junior is. His near win in the recent JAGA Jacksonville Amateur presented by Pinnacle Financial Partners clearly makes him a local junior golfer to keep an eye on:
- Has 18 top-three finishes in a combination of two dozen high school, Florida Junior Tour, North Florida Junior Golf Tour and other area and statewide events. Has won five of them, the most recent being the NFJGT’s Dr. Gordon Ira Classic at Deerwood, and finished second eight times.
- Other victories include the Junior Azalea at Palatka GC, an FJT event at CC of Ocala and two NFJGT events.
- Was third in the Azalea Amateur, also at Palatka GC.
- Was seventh and T4 in the last two FSGA Florida Junior Boys Championships.
- Was T2 in the Region 1-3A high school tournament and T3 in the District 2-3A tournament last fall.
Ambrose Kinnare
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.
ABOUT JAGA
Established in 1954, JAGA celebrates its 72nd year in 2025. It is a not-for-profit corporation of approximately 40-member golf facilities located in Northeast Florida. JAGA’s mission is to promote golf, community and goodwill through tournaments and related events and activities. It conducts or supports 12 tournaments, including six championship events and six others that feature team formats. JAGA has a charitable arm that manages a scholarship program which currently provides college funding for 50 area students. Since 1974, the program has generated approximately $2 million in financial aid to approximately 400 students.
Anyone interested in receiving JAGA’s monthly “Northeast Florida Golf News” and announcements about JAGA and its tournaments for free via email may do so by clicking here or going to the JAGA homepage (www.jaxareagolf.org) link that reads “Subscribe to JAGA Email”.