January 2026
Produced by Jacksonville Area Golf Association
JAGA Tournaments
• JAGA hosts one of amateur golf’s first significant events of 2026, the JAGA First Coast Amateur, Jan. 17-19. Deerwood CC hosts for the second year in a row. 96 players, primarily from northern and southern states located east of the Mississippi River, will compete over 54 holes of stroke play. World Amateur Golf Ranking points will be awarded to the top finishers. The field is full and has a list of alternates in the event of withdrawals. For more details, click here: https://www.golfgenius.com/
• JAGA will announce its 2026 tournament schedule on or about Jan. 5th.
• Jeff Golden and his nine-year-old daughter, Gretchen, were the Gross champions at the 8th JAGA Family Championship at Jax Beach GC on Dec. 20th with an 8-under-par score of 50 on the modified tournament layout. K.C. and Tama Caldabaugh of The Plantation at PVB topped the Couples Gross competition. For complete results, click HERE.
Jeff Golden (left), Dennis Walters, Gussie and Greta Golden.
JAGA News
• Followers of JAGA will notice a new look and navigational enhancements to the organization’s website, highlighted by more pictures, words, videos and storytelling. The intent is to modernize the site, enable more publicity initiatives, and encourage more user traffic and interface. We encourage you to take a look for yourself: jaxareagolf.org
• The JAGA Charitable Trust has been approved as a participant in the PLAYERS Championship “Chip In For Charity” program. $40 of any PLAYERS ticket purchased through the program with the Trust as the designee will benefit JAGA’s scholarship program? JAGA encourages its followers to share this message with family and friends and to also purchase your tickets through the program. This is highlighted on the new website: Visit THEPLAYERS.com/chip-in and use code 363XOT
• With Lennar coming on board at the JAGA Senior Amateur Championship, JAGA’s roster of presenting sponsors has grown to three.
–JAGA First Coast Amateur presented by the City of Jacksonville
–JAGA Senior Amateur Championship presented by Lennar
–JAGA Jacksonville Amateur Championship presented by Pinnacle Financial Partners (as of Jan. 1st; formerly Synovus)
In addition, Circle K plays prominent support roles at the Celebration of Golf Banquet and the JAGA Scholarship Trust Classic.
• TPC Storytellers are volunteers who give clubhouse and 17th hole tours and explain the rich history of both TPC Sawgrass and THE PLAYERS Championship to guests (golfers and non-golfers) who visit the property. Gratuities are gladly accepted and pooled to create a pot of money to distribute to charities of their choice. The Storytellers have been doing this since the new TPCS clubhouse opened in 2007 and have collected $361,000 to date, including $38,000 in 2025. The group took notice of the JAGA Scholarship Trust, and at JAGA’s December Annual Meeting made a $7,500 donation in support of the scholarship program. Storytellers Steve Byers and Janice Wood were on hand to present their check to JAGA Scholarship Committee chairman John Tancredi and JAGA president Duke Butler III.
Storytellers Steve Byers and Janice Wood (l-r) with JAGA’s John Tancredi and Duke Butler III
• Additional contributions to the JAGA Scholarship Trust at JAGA’s December Annual Meeting: $5,200 from the Jacksonville G&CC membership including the men’s golf association, $500 from the Deercreek MGA, and $250 from JAGA director Charles Trinder on behalf of the “SleepInzzz” men’s group at Timuquana.
Celebration of Golf Banquet presented by Circle K
• Table reservations are now being accepted for the 10th annual Celebration of Golf Banquet presented by Circle K, which will be at Deerwood CC on Feb. 11. Reservations can be made through the website at: https://jaga-celebration-of-
This year’s Deane Beman Award recipient will be the MacCurrach Family, whose Jacksonville-based company has built a national reputation for course building and renovation.
The banquet’s primary sponsors are Circle K and Synovus (Pinnacle Financial Partners effective Jan. 1st).
This year’s committee is headed by Robert Davis of Deerwood. Other members are Damon Olinto (Deerwood), chairman-elect; Deane Beman (TPC Sawgrass); Stefan Brunt (Sawgrass); Duke Butler (TPC Sawgrass); Susie Fonde (Jacksonville G&CC); Richie Bryant (Pablo Creek); Fred Seely (Timuquana); John Tancredi (Marsh Landing); and Michael McKenny (Timuquana), ex officio.
• In a related note, Hidden Hills GC owner and GM Russ Libby has accepted the committee’s invitation to emcee the banquet. The Libby family connections with Deerwood and JAGA run deep. Russ was formerly the head golf professional there and his three boys are former JAGA scholars, with his daughter preparing to apply this spring. The entire family plans to attend the banquet.
Also, Carol MacCurrach Taylor, whose late husband and their family will be awarded the evening’s top honor, the Deane Beman Award, is a Libby friend who lives in and plays regularly at Hidden Hills. Banquet tables ($1,200 / 8 seats) and individual tickets ($150) are on sale at jagagolfbanquet.com.
Northern PGA Chapter News
The Chapter announced its 2026 award winners on Dec. 15th. They are listed below. Of special note is the deserved recognition of a great friend of golf in Northeast Florida, Clayton Bromberg of Underwood Jewelers, who received the Distinguished Service Award.
The Northern Chapter is defined as all areas east of the Apalachicola River, including the counties of Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, and Wakulla.
Winners will be honored at the Chapter’s annual awards presentation on January 7 at TPC Sawgrass.
Section winners will be announced in January.
• Timuquana head professional Greg Ottani is leaving Timuquana after five years to become director of golf at the Westwood CC near Cleveland. First assistant Bobby Newberry has been promoted to the position by Director of Golf Blanton Tessin.
• The World Golf Village properties at King & Bear and Slammer & Squire in St. Augustine have been recognized as among the best in the Troon family. The key factors are meaningful improvement in operations and continued organizational growth. Troon manages more than 950 facilities in 35-plus countries.
The Troon team at WGV-King & Bear and Slammer & Squire
Credit: Troon Golf
• P.J. Politan and Russell Milford won the Northern Chapter’s Pro-Pro at The Yards. Tyler Gray and Colin Monagle were next followed by the husband-wife team of Michael and Sydney Mattiace and Angela Garvin-John Sheehan. There will be a Pro-Pro on Jan. 5 at Timuquana.
FSGA Tournaments
• UNF assistant coach Tyler Gulliksen partnered with Ty Capps of Palm Coast to capture a one-shot victory in the FSGA Foursomes Championship Dec. 13-14 at the Vineyards CC in Naples. They posted 69-71-140 (-4). It was the duo’s fourth Foursomes win in a row.
FSGA Foursomes champions Tyler Gulliksen (left) and Ty Capps
Credit: FSGA
• The FSGA will have a men’s Winter Series event on Jan. 20-21 at the Slammer & Squire. It’s limited to players with handicaps of 10 or less. For info: http://www.fsga.org.
PGA TOUR’s Q-School presented by Korn Ferry
The PGA TOUR’s 2026 Q-School presented by Korn Ferry was contested Dec. 11-14 at both Sawgrass CC and TPCS-Dye’s Valley. 176 players teed it up.
The following lists the five who received 2026 PGA TOUR cards and how others with local ties fared. Q-School finishes are in parentheses.
- The top-five finishers earned PGA TOUR membership for 2026. They are: 1-A.J. Ewart (-14), T2-Adam Svensson (-12), T2-Alejandro Tosti (-12), T2-Marcelo Rozo (-12), and 5-Dylan Wu (-11). Wu defeated Ben Silverman on the first playoff hole to secure the final card.
- These players (T5 through T29) already had full KFT status for 2026 and were seeking PGA TOUR membership via a top-five Q-School finish – Nick Gabrelcik (T13), Ian Gilligan (T20), Julian Suri(T29), Russell Knox (T29), and Ben Kohles (T29).
- As a top-25 and ties finisher, UNF product Nick Infanti (T20) will be subject to the third reshuffle (occurs after 14th KFT event).
- Doc Redman (T34) will be subject to the second reshuffle (after 10th KFT event). Former FSU star John Pak (T42) entered Q-School with full KFT status for 2026 and will use it next year.
- Those who finished outside T42 and ties have conditional 2026 KFT status and are subject to the first reshuffle (after 6th event). Though they may retain better PGA TOUR (*) or KFT status, which they will use next year, the following locals placed beyond T42 and ties – Sam Ryder*, Robbie Higgins, Lanto Griffin*, Sebastian Cappelen, Luke Guthrie, and Ricky Castillo*.
Click HERE for the complete scores.
Q-School Card Earners (l-r) – A. Tosti, A. Svensson, medalist A.J. Ewart, D. Wu and M. Rozo.
Credit: PGA TOUR
20th St. Augustine Amateur
In a topsy-turvy finish, UNF senior Adam Vermut rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the 54th hole to capture the 20th St. Augustine Amateur on Dec. 7th by one shot over Southern Mississippi freshman Jake Moffitt. The 6’6” golfer from Jacksonville posted rounds of 68-67-71-206 (-7). UNF signee from Ponte Vedra Beach, Easton Oliva, tied for fourth at 3-under.
The final round was a long, sloppy one that included a 1 ½ hour delay and on and off rain throughout the day. It was Vermut’s first victory since February 2023 at the Coastal Alabama Invitational in Point Clear, Ala. during his freshman season at Eastern Florida State College in Cocoa, Fla. He transferred to UNF for his junior season in 2024-25. Vermut topped a field of 84 that included 68 players representing 48 colleges as commits, current players or recent alumni.
The tournament announced that donations to First Tee of North Florida had now reached approximately $500,000 over the course of its 20-year history.
For a recap and complete scores, click HERE .
2025 St. Augustine Amateur champion Adam Vermut of UNF
Credit: First Tee of North Florida
Other Tournaments
• The Epson Tour returns to Atlantic Beach CC March 5-7 for the Atlantic Beach Classic by Access Golf. It’s the “official qualifying tour” for aspiring LPGA Tour members, with 15 LPGA cards up for grabs. There will be 19 tournaments in 2026. Most purses are in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, with the Atlantic Beach payout $250,000.
• The 12-man teams for both the amateur and professional teams for the 34th Underwood Cup (Feb. 2-3) at The Plantation at PVB will be announced on or around Jan. 10th.
• The 49th Henry Tuten Gator Bowl Pro-Am was won by the team of Tyler Strafaci, Matt Parziale, Will Davenport and Anthony Brodeur. They posted a 21-under-par score of 121 for the Dec. 15-16 trips around Sea Island Resort’s two courses (R1-Seaside and R2- Plantation) in cold, windy conditions both days.
They won by four over a formidable team consisting of U. of North Florida assistant coach Michael Mattiace, current UNF player and the reigning JAGA Jacksonville Amateur presented by Synovus champion Danny Erickson, former Osprey and another Jax Am winner (2020) Cody Carroll, and Andrew Morris of St. Augustine. The format was one best gross ball per foursome.
Team credentials were strong. Three of the four players on the winning team – Strafaci, Davenport and Brodeur – know one another through affiliations with Pine Tree GC in Boynton Beach, Fla. Strafaci, a past Korn Ferry Tour member out of Georgia Tech, won the 2020 U.S. Amateur. Former fireman Parziale captured the 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur and was low amateur (T48) in the 2018 U.S. Open. Davenport was the FSGA’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur Player of the Year in 2024, and Brodeur is a former PGA TOUR Canada member. Davenport and Brodeur teamed to win the FSGA’s Mid-Amateur Four-Ball Championship (South) in 2024.
Here are the top five teams and their scores (pros listed first):
1– Tyler Strafaci, Anthony Brodeur, Will Davenport, Matt Parziale | 60-61—121
2 – Michael Mattiace, Danny Erickson, Cody Carroll, Andrew Morris | 63-62—125
T3 – Harold Varner III, Kyle Davis, Cody Sundberg, Keith Early | 65-61—126
T3 – Jimmy Jones, Tom Nettles, Josh Seiple, Chet Ghioto | 66-60—126
5 – A.J. Crouch, John Jonas, Phil Oweida, Ryan Orr | 65-62 – 127
49th Henry Tuten Gator Bowl Pro-Am winning team (l-r) – Matt Parziale, Tyler Strafaci, Anthony Brodeur, Will Davenport
Credit: Henry Tuten Gator Bowl Pro-Am
• Jody Clark and Suzy Rountree won the Sarah Shelly, one of the major events on the Jacksonville Women’s GA schedule. The tournament rounds were played at Slammer & Squire, Eagle Harbor and Ponte Vedra Lagoon. Shari Zeimetz and Kim Bruce were second, followed by Lori Collins and Jamie Kaneal.
Other News
• Hampton Golf of Jacksonville sold the Palencia Club to Heritage Golf Group of Herndon, Va. on October 28th. Hampton’s remaining area courses include Blue Sky, Eagle Harbor, Glen Kernan and Stillwater, and 21 other courses outside Jacksonville, according to its website.
• Philip Dunham of Ponte Vedra Beach and Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island have been invited to return to the USGA’s roster for the U.S. National Junior Team, both for the third year. The program was established in 2023 to create a unified pathway to nurture the potential of America’s top young players. Team members receive year-round support, including world-class coaching and analysis, sports psychology and nutritional guidance. Dunham is a 2026 U. of Alabama commit, while Mawhinney is headed to Vanderbilt next fall.
• PING All-American/Honorable Mention, two-time All-ASUN player and the first Osprey to qualify as an individual for the NCAA Championship, Travis Trace, was named to the UNF Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2026 on Dec. 18th. The Sandalwood HS product and 2014 JAGA Jacksonville Amateur presented by Synovous champion played at UNF from 2015-2019.
The 2018-19 UNF men’s golf team, which included Trace, Jordan Batchelor, Andrew Alligood, Cody Carroll and Phillip Knowles, will also be honored in ceremonies on Jan. 23rd. The team won back-to-back ASUN crowns, three team titles and rose as high as 13th in the national collegiate rankings.
2018-19 UNF Men’s Golf Team (l-r) – Trace, Batchelor, Alligood, Carroll, Knowles
Credit: UNF
• Good friends Cambree Hodge and Emma Wells will be JU Dolphins next fall following the completion of their two years at Daytona State College this spring. Hodge is a Fleming Island HS graduate and Wells a Providence School grad.
JAGA scholars Cambree Hodge (left) and Emma Wells are JU bound.
• St. Johns G&CC reopened with new greens earlier his fall.
• Last month’s NEWS included a feature on Matt Borocz of TPC Sawgrass being one of Global Golf Post’s emerging leaders. One other “GGP Futures” with local ties was overlooked – Jacob Davidson. He learned the game at Hyde Park GC as a youngster and would go on to play for UNF. Following graduation, he earned an MBA at Mercer University, then returned home to become UNF’s assistant coach before jumping into the business side of golf with Callaway. At 38, he is now Callaway’s vice president of golf tour, equipment product strategy and category management. Click here for his bio:
• PGA TOUR rookie Gordon Sargent, a former NCAA individual champion from Vanderbilt, performed an exhibition for First Tee kids at Brentwood GC on Dec. 13th.
Gordon Sargent with First Tee at Brentwood GC
College Golf
The break between the Fall and Spring seasons for college golfers continues. Spring tournaments get underway in late January.
Divine Intervention!?
You’ve got to believe Peter Kuchar was looking down from above and played a role in son Matt’s and grandson Cameron’s storybook win at the PNC Championship on Dec. 21st in Orlando. The PNC was always a family affair for the Kuchers. This year younger grandson, Carson, who has been a contestant in the past, caddied for his TCU-bound brother, while grandmother Meg walked all 36 holes of their journey to a record-smashing 33 under, six-shot victory. Terribly missed this year was Matt’s dad, Peter, who passed away suddenly last February while on a cruise celebrating his wife’s 70th birthday. “Pops” was always a competitor or caddie at the PNC. The ultimate karma came when Matt, with tears in his eyes at address, stuffed his approach from about 180 yards out on the par-5 final hole, leading to a tap-in eagle from a foot. If you didn’t know better, you’d have thought you were watching a Hollywood movie! The elder Kuchars have been longtime residents of Ponte Vedra Beach and very supportive of the local Ronald McDonald House. Meg and Matt co-chaired October’s RMH Classic, which netted the event a record $225,000. Peter, who co-chaired the event for many years preceding his death, was honored throughout the day.
Son Cameron Kuchar shares an emotional embrace with father Matt (wearing cap) upon winning the PNC Championship ten months after the sudden passing of Matt’s dad.
Did you know?
2025 PGA TOUR Player of the Year / Jack Nicklaus Award winner Scottie Scheffler led the PGA TOUR in 28 statistical categories last year! Among them were six wins (including the PGA and Open Championships), low scoring average (Byron Nelson Award) of 68.13, and 17 top 10s in 20 starts while not missing a cut. These stats were unveiled by Golfweek/USA Today golf writer Adam Schupak, who happens to be a Ponte Vedra Beach resident and is married to a PGA TOUR marketing staffer, Kristen Schupak.
Correction
Last month’s JAGA Director Emeritus award recipient Ray Gottschalk is a longtime member of Sawgrass Country Club. There was one reference in the 2025 Awards press release that mistakenly listed Ray as a Timuquana Country Club member. NEWS apologizes for the error.
ABOUT JAGA
Established in 1954, JAGA will celebrate its 73rd year in 2026. It is a not-for-profit corporation consisting of 42-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 11 tournaments, including six championship events and five others that feature team formats. JAGA has a charitable arm that manages a scholarship program which currently provides college funding for 62 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”.