Matthew French of Orange Park made four birdies in a row on the back nine at Eagle Harbor on Tuesday in the second round of the Greater Jacksonville Junior Championship.
It wasn’t quite enough.
Tyler Mawhinney, playing on his home course, parred the 18th hole to French’s bogey and won the overall boys title by one shot at 2-under-par 142 in a battle between Clay County juniors.
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Mawhinney had his hot streak on the front nine, opening with two birdies and adding two more at Nos. 8 and 9. He weathered two bogeys on the back and French’s rally, which saw him shoot the tournament’s low round with a 69.
Mawhinney closed with a 70.
Connor Williams of Lake City and Chase McBride of St. Augustine both posted an even-par 72 in the second round to tie for third at 2-over 146.
Sahana Chokshi of Jacksonville had a 73 in the final round and easily won the overall girls title at 5-over 149. Alyzabeth Morgan (76) and Shanya Arasu (78) tied for second at 12-over.
Deerwood hosts JAGA Amateur
The 61st Jacksonville Area Golf Association Amateur Championship will be July 21-23 at the Deerwood Country Club. It’s the first JAGA Amateur at Deerwood since Colin Monagle won in 2013.
Mike Smith is the defending champion but fatherhood may keep him from going for two in a row. His wife Karen is due to give birth at any time.
The tournament has a field of 81, up from 78, with a waiting list of 20 players. The minimum handicap to play is 6.0 but 54 players are scratch or a plus-handicap.
The age range is from 18 years old to players in their 60s, with two other past champions playing, Duke Butler IV (2009, Palencia) and Davis Roche (2018, Jacksonville Golf and Country Club).
All but three players are from Florida but one has come a long way to the First Coast, Agustin Tarigo of Uruguay, who is the 110th-ranked player on the World Amateur Rankings.
The tournament will be played at San Jose next year, Timuquana in 2024, Jacksonville Golf and County Club in 2025, the Sawgrass Country Club in 2026 and Jacksonville Beach in 2027.
Busy two weeks for Schroeder
Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville will play a lot of golf over the next two weeks, much of it match play.
Schroeder will tee off in the U.S. Junior Girls beginning on Monday at the Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. She will play at 8:06 a.m. on Monday and 1:21 p.m. on Tuesday in the stroke-play qualifying, with the top-64 players advancing to match play on Wednesday. The 36-hole finals will be July 23.
Schroeder won three matches last year to get to the quarterfinals.
Schroeder will head for the Lakewood Golf Club in Point Clear, Ala., after that to play for Florida in the fifth Southeastern Challenge Match against Georgia and Alabama. Schroeder is one of two juniors on the 12-player team, with six amateurs and four seniors.
The biennial competition will be two days of four-ball, foursome and three-ball matches. Florida and Georgia are tied for the lead with two victories each since the event began in 2012. Georgia won at Amelia Island Long Point in 2018 and the 2020 matches were canceled because of the pandemic.
Schroeder is second in Florida and sixth worldwide on the Junior Golf Scoreboard Rankings and seventh on the AJGA rankings. So far this season she has won the AJGA Rolex Junior Girls Championship finished second with Bailey Shoemaker in the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball and fifth in the South Atlantic Women’s Amateur.
First Tee leadership summit set
Alanis Santiago Maldonado and Dominic Clayton of the First Tee-North Florida will participate in the second annual Leadership Summit Aug. 1-12 at the West Creek Ranch in Montana, owned by PGA Tour Superstore chairman and First Tee board member Arthur M. Blank.
They are among 40 youth nationwide selected to participate in two sessions, Aug. 1-5 and Aug. 8-12.
The final 40 have an average GPA of 3.85. The summit is geared to strengthen leadership skills through outdoor and team-building activities that are intended to promote personal growth, education, positive risk-taking, relationship building and identifying character strengths.
The First Tee members will participate in activities such as golf, fly fishing, yoga, meditation, horseback riding, archery, whitewater rafting and hiking.
To be eligible for the Summit, the juniors participated in a five-week Leadership Series that was hosted at PGA Tour Superstore locations across the country this spring. Teens also completed applications and were selected based on character-driving criteria.
Eight for Bandon Dunes
Carson Brewer leads eight First Coast players in the U.S. Junior Boys July 25-30 at Bandon Dunes.
Brewer is exempt after reaching the quarterfinals last year at the Country Club of North Carolina. Qualifiers are Luke Balskiewicz, Miles Russell, Phillip Dunham, Andrew McLauchlan, Sam Davis, Nolan Harper and Matthew French.
Balaskiewicz won his qualifier at the University of Georgia Golf Course on July 2 with a course-record 61.
Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com
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