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New venues for the Jacksonville Amateur and the Underwood Cup highlight the Jacksonville Area Golf Association and First Coast golf calendar for 2025.
The 34th Underwood Cup, which matches teams of Northern Chapter PGA professionals and the area’s top amateurs will be Feb. 3-4 at the Deerwood Country Club. The Cup Matches were played at the Timuquana Country Club for the first 32 years, then at San Jose Country Club.
Timuquana will still have a spot on the area calendar. For the first time in the 64-year history of the tournament, the historic Donald Ross course with winding fairways lined with 100-foot pine trees will be the venue for the Jacksonville Amateur July 24-26.
The First Coast Celebration of Golf Banquet will be Feb. 20 at the TPC Sawgrass, where PGA Tour winner Billy Horschel and his wife Brittany will receive the Deane Beman Award for service to the area through golf.
The schedule begins Jan. 18-20 with the First Coast Amateur at Deerwood. There will be 11 tournaments for men, women and junior players, conducted under stroke play, match play and team formats.
Tournaments will be held in Duval, St. Johns and Clay Counties
Also on the schedule:
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March 17: Jacksonville Area Golf Association Spring Four-Ball, The Palencia Club.
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April 6-8: 68th JAGA Senior Amateur Championship, Marsh Landing Country Club.
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July 15-16: North Florida Junior Foundation Greater Jacksonville Junior Championship, Eagle Harbor Golf Club.
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July 20-22: First Coast Women’s Amateur, Sawgrass Country Club.
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Oct. 27: 27th JAGA Club Team Championship, World Golf Village King & Bear.
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Nov. 3: JAGA Fall Four-Ball, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club Ocean Course.
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Nov. 24: 22nd JAGA Scholarship Trust Classic, Deerwood Country Club.
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Dec. 20: JAGA Family Championship, Jacksonville Beach Golf Club.
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Information on all tournaments is at jaxareagolf.org.
USGA reports nine-hole rounds increase
The United States Golf Association released data last week that shows a national increase in nine-hole rounds posted for handicaps and that the number of golfers who are maintaining a handicap index has increased.
According to the USGA’s 2024 “Golf Scorecard,” the organization’s first data report highlighting domestic golf participation, nine-hole rounds posted for handicaps rose eight percent over 2023 and nearly 40 percent over the 2020 levels. The USGA said nearly 13.8 million nine-hole rounds were posted.
In addition, rounds at par-3 and other short-length courses increased, with more than 180,000 scores. The USGA began assigning course rating and slope rating to those courses this year.
The First Coat has four existing par-3 courses, at the University of North Florida Golf Complex, Palm Valley, Blue Cypress in Arlington and The Yards in Ponte Vedra Beach.
More than 94 percent of the rounds posted for handicap index were recreational rounds and more than 75 percent of players who posted handicap rounds did not post tournament round scores.
Overall, the USGA reported that 3.35 million players posted more than 77 million scores in 2024. That number is up 6 percent year-to-date and has increased nearly 30 percent since 2020.
Lance LaCombe wins state Mid-Am
Lance LaCombe of Jacksonville parred the second playoff hole to beat Christopher Kupniewski of Sarasota in the Florida State Golf Association Mid-Amateur Stroke Play Championship at the Hammock Dunes Creek Course in Palm Coast. Both players finished 54 holes at 2-over 218. … Chad Ibbotson of Sanford scored 80 points to beat Brian King of Fernandina Beach by three in the senior division of the FSGA Winter Series Stableford at the Slammer & Squire. Bob Hanneken of St. Johns was third with 76 points and John Lobb of Jacksonville was seventh with 70. Sutanit Tangyingyoung of Jacksonville had 74 points to finish third in the Mid-Amateur division, three points behind Ryan Mulhern of Tampa and two behind Thad Hudgens of Longwood. … Steve Pitts of Ponte Vedra Beach (73 points) won the senior division second flight.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JAGA, First Coast golf schedule unveiled with 11 events, multiple formats
Read the full article here
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