jacksonville golf magazine

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VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 8

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— page 6

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GOLF

L O C A L G O L F & S P O R T S M A G A Z I N E

A big week in Sea Island

London?

Pro Awards

Bill BlackMemorial

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Jacksonville Golf Magazine • August 2012 • www.jaxgolfmag.com 3

Ups, downs;Look ahead

Hello fellow Tweeps.Check us out at twitter.com/jaxgolfmag From the Publisher

Brian LamarrePublisher

We’re coming up on two years here at the magazine. Like every start-up business, we’ve had ups and downs. Lots of both. No cheers for the ups, no groans for the downs. All this is expected as anyone who ever has run a busi-ness will know.

What has been a constant up, however, is the industry that we cover. When we started, the golf business was close to its lowest point. You know that; you play golf and you heard the problems.

Lots of industries have been like ours, though. Ameri-ca’s economy was down, jobs were tough to get, times were tight. Lots of industries are like golf: they run on discretionary dollars. And there weren’t many extra dol-lars in anyone’s pocket.

In other parts of the nation, the impact got brutal. We’ve all read of golf courses closing and off-course shops shutting down. I read a story about golf course conditioning, how it was going the wrong way because sales of the necessary ingredients (grass seed, fertiliz-ers, etc.) was way off.

I didn’t see much of that around here. It looks to me like everyone got behind the plow and kept going.

It took leadership, of course. The superintendents’ asso-ciation is a tight group and they got even tighter, help-ing the courses that needed help. The local pros banded even stronger to help each other and, most importantly, to promote the game. The PGA Tour’s events here main-tained a very high level of quality and stepped up their community outreach programs. The local golf associa-tion continued to move away from its insular past and reach out to the point that now, when someone says “JAGA,” others know the acronym.

I’m not a preachy sort and I sure don’t think I know everything, so I’m not going to high-horse you and tell you what to do.

But, there are things that apply to every business and every family. You learn them in Business 101, in Sunday

School and in daily life:

• Do your best.

• Be honest.

• Keep your eyes on the road ahead, but occasionally check the rearview mirror.

Taking those three things (and there are many more) and applying them to Northeast Florida golf, some ob-servations:

1. Doing your best is a simple and very clear statement. If we spend our time worrying about the golf course down the road, or another golf publication, then we’re using time that should be devoted to ourselves. We need to look at our goals, adjust if necessary, and move on.

2. It’s easy to cut corners. Sometimes it’s a good idea; times like these can be beneficial because we’re forced to look at every expenditure, and there’s always some-thing that can be trimmed. But don’t try and fool peo-ple. Don’t tell me you have great greens if they aren’t because I’m going to find out quickly. Don’t tell me that you’re doing some great public service when you’re re-ally making some bucks for yourself.

3. The future is bright. Really it is. Yes, the economy is still struggling and yes, the jobs are hard to find, but things are slowly coming around. If you can cut through the political talk and look closely, you’ll see that the road ahead is clean and green, for the most part.

Folks, the glass is half full for the first time in a while.

I’m at [email protected].

Donate to the JAGA Scholarship FundAbout two dozen area youth benefit each year from a JAGA Scholarship.

Your club’s JAGA directors will tell you how to participate, or go to www.jaxareagolfassn.com.

Proudly affi liated with Arnold Palmer Golf Management

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4 Jacksonville Golf Magazine • July 2012 • www.jaxgolfmag.com

JAGA www.jaxareagolfassn.com

Upcoming JAGA Events

Bill Black Memorial TournamentOctober 1 - Ponte Vedra Inn & Club

This is a benefit for the JAGA Charitable Trust, which provides scholarship assistance for college students. It is a 4-person scramble.

Club ChampionshipNovember 19 - San Jose Country Club

Each area club can enter a 4-person team. The format is two net scores per hole.

The Jacksonville Area GA is an association of about 50 local clubs that provides tournament play, scholarship funding and scheduling assistance. Each member club is represented by directors.

Information: www.jaxareagolfassn.com

The Bill Black Memorial, a fund-raiser for the Jacksonville Area GA’s scholarship fund, celebrates its 10th anniversary on October 1 with the traditional tournament at Ponte Ve-dra Inn & Club.

“Bigger and better, we hope,” said chairman Lee Crowe, a past JAGA president who founded the event in honor of his late friend. “We’ll have the usual hospitality and lots of door prizes.”

Black was a past JAGA president who also served as the association’s executive secretary.

The memorial will have a 9 a.m. shotgun on PV’s Ocean Course. Four-

person teams will play a captain’s choice and lunch and awards will follow.

The entry fee is $100 per play and entry forms are on the JAGA web-site, www.jaxareagolfassn.com.

Crowe can be reached at 777-9292 or 699-9131.

Tournament director Lee Crowe

10th year for JAGA event

Jacksonville Golf Magazine

PO Box 65536Orange Park, FL 32065

p. 904.383.7587 f. [email protected]

PublisherBrian Lamarre

[email protected]

EditorFred Seely

[email protected]

AdvertisingRyan Gilbert

[email protected]

Jacksonville Golf Magazine is published every month and distributed throughout Northeast Florida. Reproduction without express written authorization from Jacksonville Golf Magazine is strictly prohibited. Editorial content is not necessarily the view of the publisher. All information is from sources we believe to be creditable. Neither the publisher nor the advertisers will be held responsible for any errors found in the publication. The publisher accepts no liability for the statements made by advertisers.

• Fleming Island, no. 13.

• Marsh Landing, no. 9.

• North Hampton, no. 18.

• Pablo Creek, no. 9.

• Plantation, no. 4.

• Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, no. 4.

• Sawgrass, no. 2.

• San Jose, no. 7.

• Timuquana, no. 9.

• TPC Stadium, no. 5.

tenthings you should know

Hard par 4s in Northeast Florida

Jacksonville Golf Magazine • July 2012 • www.jaxgolfmag.com 5

We keep the conversation going.Look for “Jacksonville Golf Magazine” on Facebook. From the Editor

They aren’t talking about it but they sure are worried.

You might have won-dered why Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played in the Greenbri-

ar Classic, a so-so tour event despite its $6.1 million purse. It’s smack be-tween two majors and right after the AT&T Championship.

The word got out. Greenbriar own-er Jim Justice made a deal to give Woods $1.5 million and Mickelson $1 million but it wasn’t “show money.” It was for future speaking engage-ments at the West Virginia resort.

Show money was a plague back in the very old days of the Tour when there wasn’t much attention to your event unless the biggest names (Hogan, Snead, etc.) were there. The tournament slipped them extra bucks which could have gone into the overall purse. NASCAR had the same problem.

Was Justice’s deal NOT show money? “Future speaking engagements?” This walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and isn’t a duck?

Paying people to play is still ram-pant overseas (you think they all really want to go to Dubai?) but has been outlawed on the PGA Tour since the early 60’s when Arnold Palmer recognized the danger and, using his immense popularity, ended the practice.

Justice found a way around it. Can’t really gripe about him trying to pro-mote his event, but here’s a gripe on Woods and Mickelson, who look like greedy sorts who could care less about the overall good of the Tour. <<<

The golf business is shaky here but it’s downright scary in the Central Florida area. Several very, very good

courses, including the acclaimed Sugarloaf Mountain and Bella Col-lina, are paying the price for being built as high-end developments in outlying areas.

Too bad and here’s a recommenda-tion for Sugarloaf, a Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore design that our Hampton Golf is trying to keep afloat. Haven’t played the Faldo-designed Bella Col-lina but heard great things. <<<

Prediction from our Steve Melnyk on the Sept. 28-30 Ryder Cup near Chi-cago: “Expect the U.S. team to do really well. Medinah is a good course for Americans. Our team also has a good mix of young and veteran play-ers.” <<<

The recent storms have refilled Lake Deerwood, the big lake that you wor-ry about when you play nos. 10 and 11. As late as May, it was empty. <<<

The Jaguars would like to honor Olympic star Sanya Richards-Ross, wife of cornerback Aaron Ross, but there’s a big problem: the only time track athletes can make big money is right after the Olympics, when their names are still familiar, and they’re roaming the world for show-up money. She may not be in town for a weekend until 2013. <<<

Greed onthe PGA Tour

Fred Seely

New design at Florida Field. A big Gator head, 40-by-60 feet, replacing the clunky F at midfield. <<<

Not surprising that courses are start-ing to change hands. Money is loos-ening up a bit and Florida remains the best state to do business in our sport. Expect a few more to join South Hampton, Golf Club of Ame-lia and Magnolia Point in the next few months. Don’t look on the sales as being a bad sign: new blood and ideas are needed in this market. <<<

You’ve probably never heard of Jim Crane but you will. He bought the Houston Astros and is putting some of his billions into that team, but more to the matter for us is his purchase of the Floridian, the very exclusive course near Stuart that entrepreneur Wayne Huizenga (car dealerships, hotels, sports teams) built in 1996 for himself, his wife and a select group of pals like Dan Marino and Rush Limbaugh. Crane, we hear, wants to turn the place into a state icon like Seminole. <<<

— Fred Seely is editor of Jacksonville Golf & Sports Magazine and can be

reached at [email protected].

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6 Jacksonville Golf Magazine • August 2012 • www.jaxgolfmag.com

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OCTOBER 15 - 21, 2012SEA ISLAND GOLF CLUB

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Hello fellow Tweeps.Check us out at twitter.com/jaxgolfmagCoverStory

Schedule:October 15-21. Practice, pro-ams., etc. on Monday through Wednes-day, competition rounds Thursday through Sunday. There’s a Wednes-day evening concert with country music singer Gary Allan.

Last year: Ben Crane, seven behind with 11 to play, roared home with a final-round 63 to tie Webb Simpson, and then won on the second playoff hole with a par when Simpson missed a three-footer.

The field:Very, very good thanks to lobbying by Sea Island residents Davis Love III, Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson. It’s easily the strongest of any of the “Fall Series” and also beats many on the regular Tour. Last year’s top five included Louis Oosthuizen and Trev-or Immelman. It’s going to be stron-ger with the Fed/Ex points as it’s the next-to-last event of the year (Dis-ney follows on Nov. 8-11) and pros will want to secure (or get) a place on the 2013 exempt list.

The course: The McGladrey is played on the Sea-side course of the Sea Island Golf Club; it’s one of the South’s jewels and worthy of the high-end resort. It’s straightforward with giant bun-kers and undulating greens and, as you’d expect, it’s in perfect condi-tion.

Architects:Like many early 20th century cours-es, the course’s start is somewhat foggy. The British company headed by Harry Colt and Charles Alison are credited, but there’s some feel-ing that nine holes existed and they were hired in 1928 to rework it (the Plantation nine) and add another (Seaside.) Alison may have been the only one on-site, as Colt spend most of his life back home. They to-gether are credited with many U.S. courses including Pine Valley. In 1998-99, Rees Jones and Tom Fazio were hired to update everything and they turned four 9-hole courses into today’s two courses, the Plantation and the Seaside.

Best hole: The short par-4 16th is one of golf’s famed holes. It’s a dogleg left with strategically-paced bunkers.

Charities:The main beneficiaries are the Spe-cial Olympics and the Boys & Girls Club.

Tickets:If purchased online, $100 for week, $30 for specific day and $35 for “any day.” Youth are free Wednesday, $15 any other day.

Pro-Ams: One on Monday, morning and after-noon on Wednesday.

Getting there: I-95 to the first Brunswick exit. Go north, crossing he big bridge, and turn right at the bridge to St. Simons Island bridge. When you get off the bridge, bear right on the parkway.

Parking: Free. Follow signage to lots.

Info:www.mcgladreyclassic.com or 912-634-3266.

A big week in Sea IslandPGA Tour golf comes to the area in October with the McGladrey Classic, part of the Tour’s “Fall Series” but with a field that stands up to any non-major.

It carries a $4 million purse ($720,000 to win) and, almost as important, full Fed/Ex Cup points are given.

According to its website, the company is “... the fifth largest U.S. provider of assurance, tax and consulting services, with more than 6,500 professionals and associates in more than 75 offices nationwide. McGladrey is a licensed CPA firm, and is a member of RSM International, the sixth largest global network of independent accounting, tax and con-sulting firms.” It also has a big contract with the PGA of America. It’s a golf-oriented company and you may recall that McGladrey was the last sponsor of what started as the Oldsmobile Scramble.

Who’s “McGladrey?”


See the stars of the PGA TOUR and take advantage of our

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Hello fellow Tweeps.Check us out at twitter.com/jaxgolfmag

GateAug. 19: Gate Invitational qualifier, Ponte Vedra Ocean.Aug. 26-28: Gate Invitational, Ponte Vedra Lagoon and Ocean.Dec. 4: Gate Senior qualifier, Ponte Vedra Ocean.Dec. 10-12: Gate Senior, Ponte Vedra Lagoon and Ocan.

Jacksonville Area GAwww.jaxareagolfassn.com

Sept. 18: Directors, Queen’s Harbour.Oct. 1: Bill Black Memorial Scholarship Tournament, Ponte Vedra Inn.Oct. 16: Directors, Jacksonville Beach.Nov. 19: Club Championship, San Jose.Dec. 18: Directors, Hidden Hills.

Northern Chapter PGAwww.nfpga.com/northernchapter/5813/

Aug. 15: Stableford Championship, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.Aug. 20-21: Senior Chapter Championship, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.Sept. 24: Pro-Assistant, Glen Kernan.Sept. 10-11: Chapter Championship, Marsh Creek.Sept. 10: Pro-Lady, Deerwood.Oct. 21: Pro-Am, Tallahassee Capital City.Oct. 22: Pro-Am Tallahassee Southwood.Nov. 5: Pro-Am, Sawgrass.Nov. 19: Tournament of Champions, TBA.Dec. 10: Partners Pro-Am, TBA.

Northeast Florida Seniors GAwww.nefsga.com

Aug. 6: Grand Haven.Aug. 20: St. Johns G&CC.Sept. 10: LPGA Legends.Sept. 24: Magnolia Point.Oct. 15: Club De Bonmont, Plantation Bay.Oct. 29: Eagle Harbor.Nov. 14: Palm Coast Palm Harbor.Nov. 21: Hidden Hills.Dec. 10: Palm Coast Cypress course.

PGA Tourswww.pgatour.com

Aug. 9-12: PGA Championship, Kiawah Island.Oct. 18-21: McGladrey Classic, Sea Island.Oct. 18-21: Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open, Dye’s Valley.

LPGA Tour (area events) www.lpga.com

Nov. 17-20: CME Group Titleholders, Orlando Grand Cypress.

North Florida PGAwww.nfpga.com

Aug. 6-7: Assistants Championship, Haines City Southern Dunes.Aug. 13: Pro-Superintendent, The Villages.Aug. 23-24: Senior PGA Professional National Championship qualifier, Reunion.Sept. 17-20: Championship, Sarasota Ritz-Carlton.

www.fsga.org

Aug. 9-12: Match Play, CC of Orlando.Aug. 11-12: Junior Team, Vero Beach Sandridge.Aug. 13-14: Florida-Georgia Women’s Match, CC of Ocala.Aug. 24-26: Mid-Senior, Longboat Key.Sept. 15-16: Mid-Senior Four-Ball South, Naples Eagle Creek.Sept. 15-16: Mid-Senior Four-Ball North, Golden Ocala.Sept. 22-23: Women’s Four-Ball Match Play, Vero Beach Grand Harbor.Oct. 4-7: Mid-Amateur, Vero Beach Johns Island.Oct. 6-7: Fall Mixed, Orlando MetroWest.Oct. 9-10: Senior Four-Ball, Port St. Lucie Legacy.Oct. 18-19: Florida Cup, Vero Beach Quail Valley.Nov. 10-11: Club Team, Vero Beach Grand Harbor.Dec. 4: Women’s Tournament of Champions, Reunion.

USGA Qualifiers (nearest sites)

Aug. 6: Men’s Mid-Amateur, San Jose.Aug. 15: Senior Women’s Amateur, Palm Beach Gardens Ballenisles.Aug. 29: Women’s Mid-Amateur, Sarasota Laurel Oaks.Sept. 10: Senior Men’s Amateur, Amelia National.

Calendar Sponsored by Underwood’s Jewelers

Florida State GA

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Jacksonville Women’s GAhome.comcast.net/~jwga/

Sept. 17: Opening day, Marsh Landing.Oct. 3: Handicap Championship (qualifier,) Eagle Harbor.Oct. 10: Handicap Championship (first round,) Amelia Ocean Links.Oct. 17: Handicap Championship (second round,) Queen’s Harbour.Oct. 24: Handicap Championship (final round,) Jacksonville G&CC. Oct. 31: Mary Burnside Memorial, NAS.Nov. 7: Senior/Super Senior Championship (first round,) Ponte Vedra Lagoon.Nov. 14: Senior/Super Senior Championship (second round,) South Hampton.Nov. 28: Senior/Super Senior Championship (final round,) Grandmothers Tournament, Deercreek.Dec. 3: Mixed, Sawgrass.Dec. 10: Christmas playday, San Jose.Jan. 9: Playday, Amelia River.Jan. 16: Playday, Bent Creek.Jan. 23: Playday, Jacksonville Beach.Jan. 30: Past presidents, board, club rep and monthly chair tournament, Marsh Creek.Feb. 6: Sarah Shelly Tournament (first round,) Slammer & Squire.Feb. 13: Sarah Shelly Tournament (second round,) Orange Park.Feb. 20: Sarah Shelly Tournament (final round,) Long Point.

Feb. 27: Anniverary Tournament, Palencia. March 6: Playday, Fleming Island.March 11: Championship qualifier, Glen Kernan.March 13: Championship (first round,) Deerwood.March 20: Championship (second round,) Eagle Landing.March 27: Championship (final round,) GC of Amelia.

April 3: Playday, Fernandina Beach.April 17: President’s Cup, Magnolia Point.April 24: Playday, Julington Creek.May 1: Closing day, St. Johns G&CC.May 13: Orlando-Jacksonville Challenge, LPGA International.Women’s club eventsSept. 26-27: San Jose Invitational.Oct. 1: Amelia Island Invitational, Long Point.

Golf Channel Tourwww.golfchannel.com/amtour

[email protected]

Aug. 11-12: Tour Championship at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club.Sept. 4-7: Senior national championship, Ponte Vedra and TPC.Sept. 10-13: National championship, Ponte Vedra and TPC.

www.thegolf-connection.com

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LSU will survive with-out Tyrann Mathieu. The Tigers have too much talent to be done in by his mistakes that got him thrown off the

team. What a waste of talent! We have had a year of fool-ishness from athletes such as Isaiah Crowell, Michael Dyer, Greg Reid, Marquel Wade and now Mathieu who could have helped their teams mightily, but they got selfish and ended their opportunity to play at a Division I school.

Tiger coaches will find someone to replace Mathieu’s coverage skills, but what they can’t replace is his ability to change a game on a dime. He saved LSU’s seasons in wins over Oregon, Arkansas and Georgia in

the SEC title game by scoring on big plays that jump started the Tiger of-fense. <<<

If quarterback Zach Mettenberger lives up to his hype with a suc-cess vertical passing game, then Mathieu’s loss won’t be as crippling. Here’s hoping Mathieu will take ad-vantage of his second chance. <<<

Similar to Mathieu, former Trinity Christian player Montel Harris has a second chance at Temple after be-ing kicked off the team at Boston College for repeated violation of team rules. The real disappointment of Harris being let go at BC is that he had an opportunity with a solid season of being the career rushing leader in ACC history. <<<

Alabama’s loss of freshman Chris Black to a shoulder injury is unfor-tunate. The former First Coast High school graduate has a bright future at Alabama. Coach Nick Saban lav-ished praise on Black for his efforts since enrolling in Tuscaloosa back

in January. He scored a touchdown in the spring game. When healthy, Black gives the Tide a speed receiv-er they need for the deep passing game. <<<

Georgia has a nice prospect in Camden County quarterback Bryce Ramsey. He needs to grow into his 6-foot-3 frame, but Ramsey loves Georgia coach Mark Richt.

The Bulldogs also have a chance to sign Yulee running back Derrick Henry who is simply massive at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds. Henry looks like a defensive end, but the coach he signs with will give him an op-portunity to play running back. <<<

Florida fans need not worry about the recruiting efforts of coach Will Muschamp and his staff. Sure they lost a player to Vanderbilt, but this is not your father’s Commodore team either. The Gators will still end up with a top 10 and possibly top five recruiting class.

Gator running back Mike Gillislee could be the player that Florida fans have been longing for over the past few years. Florida has needed a rug-ged, tough back who could carry the ball 20-25 times per game. The run-ning game might have to carry the Gators until one of the quarterbacks steps up. <<<

Tennessee has a potentially great quarterback in Tyler Bray, but there is a Jacksonville area quarterback in Nathan Peterman from Bartram Trail who is trying to get in the mix as the backup quarterback. When I talked to coach Derek Dooley at a Tennessee booster function, he was very impressed with Peterman’s po-tential. On a less positive note, line-backer Kenny Bynum, a freshman from Raines High school, is out for the year with a torn meniscus. <<<

— Brent Beaird writes for Lindyssports.com, Gator Bait magazine and Samssportsline.com.

He can be heard on 1010XL sports radio in Jacksonville. Brent, a Heisman Trophy voter, can

be contacted at [email protected] and on twitter @brentbeaird

LSU stillloaded

Brent Beaird

Brent Beaird’s Football

Upcoming JAGA Events

Bill Black Memorial TournamentOctober 1 - Ponte Vedra Inn & Club

This is a benefit for the JAGA Charitable Trust, which provides scholarship assistance for college students. It is a 4-person scramble.

Club ChampionshipNovember 19 - San Jose Country Club Each area club can enter a 4-person team.

The format is two net scores per hole.

The Jacksonville Area GA is an association of about 50 local clubs that provides tournament play, scholarship funding and scheduling assistance. Each member club is represented by directors.

Information: www.jaxareagolfassn.com



Jaguars

— Fred Seely

Jacksonville’s football team will play in London’s big-gest stadium for the next four years. Good move, and no apologies needed.

But the apologies — or, at least, the attempts at justifi-cation — came when the announcement was made that the Jaguars would take a home game across the Atlantic Ocean starting in 2013.

“Good for my home Jacksonville,” said owner Shad Kahn, who doesn’t live here.

“A vote of confidence from the NFL leadership,” said Mayor Alvin Brown, who didn’t go on to explain why this is a vote for anything.

“A great day for Jacksonville,” said Chamber of Com-merce Chairman Tom Van Berkel without any elabora-tion why losing a major event would be good.

The team turned out the city leaders for the announce-ment, hauling them to the University Club for a cityscape backdrop that flopped because of rain (They claimed the site was chosen because there was a reception before, but there wasn’t much of one.) It was well-orchestrated and the participants came with what seemed to be a hopeful attitude that no one would be mad at them for doing this.

If you’re mad, so be it. Don’t be.

The pros of such a move are many, far more than the minuses.

As Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll pointed out, over 1.5 million Brits come to Florida each year, and trying to make our team into their team can only strengthen that.

Rob Clements, head of the stadium-sponsoring Ever-Bank, was more than happy to say that “our partner-ship goes beyond naming rights” and is doubtless trying to figure ways to take internet lending overseas with the Jags.

The negatives? Losing a home game. That may be all. And that isn’t much. The team will make more mon-ey going to London, so they aren’t affected. There are hardly any merchants around the stadium, so not much loss there. The fans are having trouble financing 10 games, so a season ticket at 9/10 this year’s rate might be welcomed.

And one more: assuming the game will be in late Octo-ber, which has been the time for the NFL’s previous six games in London, that gets the Jags well clear of the precious Georgia-Florida game and, unless Kahn has a burning desire for funnel cakes, even further away from the grubby Fair.

Two words of advice:

1. Don’t gripe about “losing” a game. It’s going to be good for all of us eventually.

2. Take Continental to Newark, the either Continental orBritish Airways to London Heathrow Airport. You may land at Terminal 5; if so, get to terimal 3 (no big deal) and go to the Underground (or, as they ay, the Tube.) Take the Piccadilly line and follow the directions to Wembley Stadium.

See you there.

London? A good move

GOLF SE

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BUSINESS:

Selva Marina — page 11

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Annual awards will top the agen-da when the local professionals have their annual banquet on Oct. 4 at San Jose.

Eleven people will get 14 awards during the evening with Mike Lynch of golfnow.com being named Golf Professional of the Year. The double award winners are Todd Bork of San Jose, teach-ing pro Mary Hafeman and Hid-den Hills owner Russ Libby.

The evening will start at 4:30 p.m. with a trunk show featuring Cutter & Buck’s new lines. The dinner starts at 6.

The award winners:

Golf Professional of the Year: Mike Lynch, golfnow.com

Assistant of the Year Pamela Shelley, Sawgrass.

Amateur of the Year: Brent Mar-tineau, ch. 30/47.

Sales Representative of the Year: Andy Lowrey, Callaway.

Bill Strausbaugh Award and Hor-ton Smith Award: Russ Libby, Hidden Hills.

Patriot Award: Jack Aschenbach, Amelia National.

Presidents Plaque: Todd Bork, San Jose.

Presidents Plaque and Teacher of the Year: Mary Hafeman, Mary Hafeman Golf Experience.

Junior Golf Leader: Boots Farley, North Florida Junior Golf Foun-dation.

Merchandisers of the Year: Bork (private clubs,) Jon Fine, May-port Windy Harbor (public) and Matt Borocz, TPC (resort.)

Pros give out awards

Damon Olinto, president and CEO of the Jacksonville division of Synovus Bank, is the newly appointed vice chairman for the Players. He will move through the chairs and can be-come the tournament chair in five years.

The 2013 chairman is Robert Davis, whose late father, Don Davis, was a past president. The first vice chair will be Andy Baggs; and the vice chairs are Brian Franco, Michele McManamon, Kevin English and Olinto. <<<

Two courses have changed hands: The Golf Club of Amelia has been pur-chased by a California company for a reported $4.9 million and Magnolia Point went to a Washington state couple for less than half that. <<<

Early entries for Steve Melnyk’s Timuquana Cup in October include Walker Cup captain Buddy Mariucci; past USGA Mid-Am winner Jim Holt-grieve (who has played on three Walker Cup teams;) and North Caro-

lina’s Paul Simson, a past British Am winner. <<<

One more USGA qualifier for this area: the men’s Senior Amateur on Sept. 10 at Amelia National. Re-stricted to 7.4 index or below. <<<

The Florida State GA returns to the area next year with its Match Play tournament at Timuquana. The tour-nament gets little attention up here; this year’s event was in Orlando and the 63 qualifiers included one from Jacksonville and one from Orange Park. Our dates are August 1-4. <<<

Recent donations to the JAGA Schol-arship Trust include $3,925 from sale of tickets to the Players, $1,000 from the Ponte vedra men’s GA and $200 from the Champions Club’s se-nior men’s association. <<<

Rising UNF senior Sean Dale reached the quarterfinals of the Western Am-ateur, regarded as the nation’s third-best am event after the NCAA Cham-pionship and the U.S. Amateur. <<<

Jeff Willoughby is the new interim director of The First Tee of St. Johns. He replaced Tom Lawrence, who has moved to Orlando to start a First Tee there. Willoughby has been the pro-gram director for St. Johns. <<<

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Predictions for the upcoming months:

Jaguars. New owner, new coach, same general manager, same team. The Jags were 5-11 last year and for-tunate to get that. This year they won’t be as fortunate, so they’ll do the same. 5-11.

Gators: Second year for the head coach and that’s usually a good sign in college football. It may be else-where, but not having an offense here is an awful sign. They were 6-6 last year, then won their bowl game which traditionally gives a team a lift. But who can they beat? The three chippies and Kentucky at home, for sure. They’ll get two more just because they’re Florida. 6-6.

Florida State. They’ve replaced the Gators as the team with high expec-tations and mediocre results. They’re picked for top five nationally and ACC winners this year, and they have a head of steam after 10-4 and 9-4 records in Jimbo Fisher’s first two years, plus jettisoning locker room cancer Greg Reid. But that pre-sea-son ardor is based on a lot of trust in QB E.J. Manuel and it may be mis-

placed. They’ll be 10-3 but against a weak schedule.

Georgia: Mark Richt made Atlanta last year and he needs to do it again in a weak division. Last year’s 10-4 included wins over Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech, and he should be able to edge up to 11-3 this time.

Jacksonville: The Dolphins lost a lot of firepower off last year’s 7-4 team, then suffered an embarrassing non-loss when FSU decided to schedule little Savannah State instead for a non-conference game. Maybe last year’s record was due to senioritis because they were 10-4 the previous year, and that sounds about right this time.

Ryder Cup: Can you believe that our boys have lost six of the last eight? And three of the last four have been routs? And all that, even though the U.S. team was better every year in the world rankings? Do we see a pat-tern here? Europe 16-12.

Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open: A nice way to spend a football off-weekend. With the Tour changing its qualifying setup, this is the last

year for a web.com Tour field of less-er-knowns. For sure, it will have the best lesser-knowns because it’s the next-to-last tournament. Go with Camilo Benedetti, who should have won last year and who needs good finishes to stay in the top 25.

McGladrey Classic. This is Brunswick’s biggest thing of the year and rightly so. Might be the best of all the sec-ondary PGA Tour events and it’s too bad that it has to go head-to-head with the Winn-Dixie in Jacksonville. Prediction: whoever made this year’s schedules won’t be allowed to do it again. Winner: Michael Thompson, who’s too good never to have won.

Tour Championship: Tell yourself that this matters to anyone other than the players. This matters. This matters. Just because it’s football season, it matters. Yes, it does. It mattersitmattersitmatterszzzzz. Webb Simpson.

— Fred Seely

Here’s the future

The area women’s schedule is complete with the biggest event, the Jacksonville Women’s GA championship, getting its traditional March dates.

The schedule is coordinated by the JWGA and, in addition to the association’s tourna-ments, there are numerous member-guests and invitationals.

The JWGA Championship opens with a qual-ifier on March 11 at Glen Kernan followed by competition days at Deerwood (Mar. 11,)

Eagle Landing (20th) and the Golf Club of Amelia (27th.)

In the JWGA’s traditional format, it will be match play this year. Susie Fonde of Jacksonville G&CC won last year in medal play, edging Tama Caldabaugh of Plantation by four shots.

The other major multi-day JWGA events are the Handicap Championship in October, the Senior and Super senior in November and the Sarah Shelly in February.

JWGA, areaschedules ready

Need help with your

game?Your PGA pro has

the answers.

See our directory on page 15 for club information.

*Excludes cart, tax and lodging. Offer valid May 14–August 31, 2012. Two-day package: Ross Bridge and Lakewood G.C. available at rack rate. Three-day package: Ross Bridge and Lakewood G.C. available at 20% off rack rate. Specials cannot be combined with other discounts. $10 surcharge for each round on the Judge at Capitol Hill. Reservations must be arranged at least 7 days prior to arrival. Some restrictions may apply. Offers subject to change.

There is simply no fi ner place to be on a shining summer morning than standing astride the fi rst tee of one of the courses along Alabama’s

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