Northeast Florida Golf News – March 2026

JAGA News

• A packed ballroom of approximately 240 turned out for the 10^th Celebration of Golf Banquet at Deerwood CC on Feb. 11^th. The highlight of the evening was former PGA TOUR commissioner Deane Beman presenting his namesake Deane Beman Award to his longtime friends, the MacCurrach family of Jacksonville, for their decades and generations worth of agronomic and renovation contributions to golf not only in Northeast Florida, but around the United States. Host JAGA and its partner organizations extend their sincere thanks to presenting sponsors Circle K and Pinnacle Financial Partners:

For a Banquet recap and photos, click HERE

• Checks were presented to the Scholarship Trust by JAGA directors at JAGA’s February meeting at St. Johns GC – Amelia National ($2,000) and Amelia River ($2,500).
• On the heels of a good year in 2025 for the tournament division, JAGA announced at the February meeting that $10,000 would be earmarked to the JAGA Scholarship Trust account. In addition, $1,000 checks were presented to First Tee of North Florida, Moore-Myers Children’s Fund and the North Florida Junior Golf Foundation.
• JAGA’s next directors’ meetings are March 3 at Eagle Harbor, April 7 at Deerwood, May 12 at Queen’s Harbor, and June 22 at PV Inn & Club, before off months in July and August.
• The deadline for submitting applications for 2026 JAGA scholarships is March 31^st. JAGA currently awards scholarship money to 62 area college students. To review application requirements, etc., click HERE
• Perennial Underwood Cup amateur team member and 2022 JAGA Match Play Championship winner Jeff Golden was JAGA’s featured speaker/guest at the organization’s February meeting. It was a good opportunity to present the JAGA Family Championship trophy to him for winning the event with his 10-year-old daughter Greta. A unique fact about Jeff…his profession is teaching tennis (currently at San Jose CC), while his avocation is golf. He played college golf at Rollins College and has been a member of 11 Underwood Cup amateur teams. His career highlight is qualifying for the 2007 U.S. Open, played at Oakmont CC.

JAGA Tournaments

• The deadline to enter the March 23^rd JAGA Spring Four-Ball at Stillwater G&CC is fast approaching. The entry fee per two-person team is $240. The deadline is March 20^th. It’s a 9 a.m. shotgun. Stillwater will also serve as the host venue for the May 3-5 JAGA Senior Amateur Championship presented by Lennar. Entries opened March 3^rd.

Northern PGA Chapter

• Being 5 ½ months pregnant certainly does not hold Stephanie Connelly-Eiswerth back. The San Jose CC teaching professional and Fleming Island resident fired the joint tournament low round to finish runner-up at the PGA of America Women’s Stroke Play Championship at PGA GC in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Connelly Eiswerth, who was ten back of leader and eventual winner Allie Knight of Knoxville, Tenn. starting the final round, shot 70 to erase all but two shots of Knight’s lead. She caught the leader with a birdie on No. 16, only to bogey the tough 17^th and 18^th holes. Allie White of Ohio placed second with Connelly Eiswerth at 222 (+7) in difficult conditions.

FSGA Tournaments

• Bart Abstein of St. Johns G&CC was runner-up in the Senior division at the Winter Series event at CC of Ocala on Feb. 16^th, three shots back. Bill Hardaker of Timuquana CC and Harry Black of Palm Coast had top-five finishes (T4) in the Super-Senior division.

Epson Tour Opens 2026 Season at Atlantic Beach CC

The 2026 Epson Tour season kicks off right here in Jacksonville March 5-7. For the third year in a row, Atlantic Beach CC will welcome the LPGA’s feeder tour. The Epson Tour and the LPGA will award 15 LPGA cards at the conclusion of the 19-event season in early October.  Laetitia Beck won last year’s Atlantic Beach Classic presented by Access Golf.  ABCC member Jody Brothers is the tour’s Chief Business and Operating Officer. Fellow ABCC member Patrick Nicol of Tour Vision Promotions manages the event. Both are former PGA TOUR employees. For tickets and information, visit: atlanticbeachclassic.com

Other Tournaments

• The USGA has set three local 18-hole qualifiers for the U.S. Open that have First Coast proximity: May 4 at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach, May 6 at Plantation Bay CC at Ormond Beach and May 11 at Marsh Creek CC.

  The local qualifiers will be followed by the Florida 36-hole qualifier on June 8 at BallenIsles CC in Palm Beach Gardens.
  Online entries opened Feb. 18 at usga.org.

  The U.S. Open returns to Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, June 11-14.

• The third annual John Tucker Memorial tournament will be held on Monday, April 13th at San Jose CC. Mr. Tucker was president of the Florida Times-Union and executive director of The Players Championship when it moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982. Retired PGA TOUR executive Vernon Kelly will be this year’s honoree. Mr. Kelly was a close friend of Tucker and instrumental in the development of TPC Sawgrass and the TPC network. Interested players may enter the scramble tournament or sponsor a hole at: tuckergolfouting.com. Net proceeds will benefit Alco House, JABA and Moore-Myers Children’s Fund. Tim Pike and Rufus Dowell are co-chairs.
• Dannette Coleman won the Jacksonville Women’s Golf Association Handicap Tournament at the Golf Club at South Hampton.
• 17-year-old amateur Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach will play in his ninth professional event March 5-8, the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Open. It will be the 2026 FSU commit’s four PGAT start. He is looking to make his first cut.

Club News

• Brian Riddle has been promoted to director of golf at TPC Sawgrass with assistant golf professional Nick Nuzzo moving into Riddle’s head golf professional slot. Riddle joined TPCS as an intern in 2011after graduating from North Carolina State University through the PGM program. Nuzzo is from Clearwater and joined TPCS as a PGM intern from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2019. Both are highly decorated members of the Northern PGA Chapter with Riddle having been named the 2025 Merchandiser of the Year/Resort Category and Nuzzo 2025 Assistant Professional of the Year.
• As part of its $30 million renovation project, Jacksonville G&CC plans to begin rebuilding its tees, fairways, greens and bunkers and installing new drainage and irrigation systems sometime this fall. Several aspects of the layout will change dramatically, including the elimination of the shared 9^th and 18^th hole green, with No. 9 becoming a drivable par-4 and No. 18 a dogleg left with water hugging the left side.

Other News

• Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, announced his intent to attend Florida State and play golf for the Seminoles, beginning in the fall of 2027. This means he will join local junior stalwart Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach in Tallahassee. Russell is headed there this fall. Woods is a junior at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach. As recently as March of last year he was No. 838 in the AJGA rankings but vaulted to his current spot of No. 21, having won the TaylorMade Invitational in May 2025. As the No. 1 player for Benjamin, he was a member of their state championship team last fall.

• The 2025-26 North Florida Junior Golf Tour season is well underway. The 42-event schedule began last October and runs through September of this year. One of the NFJGT’s premiere events is the JAGA-supported Greater Jacksonville Junior Championship, June 23-24 at Eagle Harbor GC. For information and to enter tournaments, click HERE

• Isn’t it nice to see that Roger Maltbie has been signed by Golf Channel to serve as lead on-course reporter for weekday and weekend coverage at five PGA TOUR events – Pebble Beach, Bay Hill, PLAYERS, Doral and the Memorial. The 74-year-old is also expected to work select events for NBC Sports, including the U.S. Open. Plus, reports have him “collaborating” with CBS Sports on its Pebble Beach, Doral and Memorial coverage.

• One other piece of Golf Channel news….longtime Jacksonville resident Jim Furyk will serve as the network’s lead analyst for their live Thursday and Friday and weekend lead-in coverage at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the extended Thursday/Friday PLAYERS Championship coverage.
• Longtime local media personality Matt Cooney passed away on Feb. 7 at the age of 86. A sportscaster at both channels 12 and 4 from 1961 until 1984, the Massachusetts native went on to produce “Cooney’s Corner”, then “Matt Cooney’s Golf Talk” for 10 years on local cable TV. He was a 50-plus year member of Selva Marina CC (the forerunner to Atlantic Beach CC) and volunteered as a “Storyteller” at TPC Sawgrass in retirement.
• Opened since late November of 2024, the First Tee – North Florida “Jax Beach Game Changers Clubhouse” at Jax Beach GC is experiencing significant additional interest and growth. Since its opening, the program has grown from 125 participants to 424, an increase of 299 youngsters. The facility serves as a hub for FT-NF’s mission of teaching life skills through the game of golf and ensures a year-round learning environment regardless of outside weather conditions.

• The 10^th Moore-Myers Children’s Fund “Eagles Invitational” is set for May 18^th at Queen’s Harbor Y&CC. It’s a 9 a.m. shotgun, followed by lunch and awards. Individual playing spots are $150. For details and to register, click HERE

Rory on “Major” Conversation
When prodded at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month about the status of THE PLAYERS Championship, Rory McIlroy had some thoughtful comments. “I think THE PLAYERS has got it nailed. The Players….is an amazing tournament in its own right and I don’t think it being classified a major or not a major makes it any more or any less…It stands on its own without the label.” He added, “It doesn’t need to be anything else.”

College Golf

• UNF placed ninth at the Momentum Transportation UNF Collegiate at Jacksonville G&CC on Feb. 23-24. Kaitlyn Schroeder was the host school’s top performer (T15). Crosstown rival JU finished 14^th.
• The Hayt – Four of the top-10 teams in men’s college golf and four more who are ranked among the top 21 highlight the field for the 34^th playing of the University of North Florida-hosted The Hayt March 7-9 at Sawgrass CC. Always strong, this year’s 16-team field is loaded with talent. Top-ranked teams include Virginia (No. 1 per Scoreboard), Auburn (No. 2), LSU (No. 6), Alabama (No. 10), Texas Tech (No. 14), North Carolina (No. 16), Duke (No. 20) and Charlotte (No. 21). Seven of the nation’s top-10 individuals on Scorecard are playing – Jackson Koivun of Auburn (No. 2), 2021 AJGA Junior PLAYERS Championship winner Ben James of Virginia (No. 3), Bryan Kim of Duke (No. 4), Bryan Lee of Virginia (No. 6), Connor Graham of Texas Tech (No. 8), William Jennings of Alabama (No. 9) and Adam Bresnu of Texas Tech (No. 10). It will be a homecoming for 2022 Times-Union high school player of the year Brock Blais of Ponte Vedra, who plays for former UNF assistant Rob Bradley and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Hayt is named after long-time UNF booster John Hayt. For more information, click HERE 

Note: Team and individual rankings may have changed since this note was drafted.

• UGA men’s coach Chris Haack announced he will be retiring at the end of the current college golf season. During his 30 years at UGA, Haack has won two NCAA titles, eight SEC crowns, and seen his players accumulate a combined 119 All-America honors. Former players have won 46 PGA TOUR titles. Former UGA captain, All-American and current assistant Mookie DeMoss will take over for Haack.

 

Did you know?

• Nease HS graduate and 2016 Times-Union player of the year Austin Kim was the third longest driver on the LPGA last year with an average of 282.23 yards. She was 16^th on the final money list with almost $1.7 million, made 19 of 25 cuts, and had five top-10 finishes.
• On March 1st, at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, Kim equaled her career best finish when she was runner-up by one shot to champion Hannah Green of Australia. Kim’s other T2 came last summer in a major, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. There was quite a discrepancy in her paychecks – $279,144 in Singapore  vs. $914,169 in the KPMG.