Three birdies in his first seven holes of the final round proved to be the difference as Coastal Carolina University senior Max Bengtsson returned to his Conway, South Carolina, campus with the 10th annual JAGA First Coast Amateur presented by the City of Jacksonville trophy in his possession.
An uneventful back nine that included one birdie, one bogey and seven pars allowed the 23-year-old to cruise to a five-shot victory over runner-up Roman Solomon of the University of South Florida (final-round 70). A freshman from Sarasota, Solomon is the son of six-time Major League Baseball All-Star Bobby Bonilla.
Bengtsson flipped the script on his fellow competitors with a hot start that included birdies on Numbers 3, 5 and 7 and pars on the other four opening holes at host Deerwood Country Club. One shot off fellow Swede Rasmus Gross’s lead at the start of the second round, Bengtsson turned in 3-under-par 33 to jump into a four-shot lead over Gross.
Gross, a University of Toledo freshman, seriously derailed his hopes with a double-bogey, bogey, bogey, bogey start. Birdies on Numbers 7, 8 and 9 kept him in the hunt. He would go on to shoot 38-38 — 76.
Bengtsson posted rounds of 68-74-69 — 211 (-5).
Finishing one back of Solomon in third place was Gross (76). Fraser Walters (76) of Scotland and University of North Florida redshirt sophomore and the reigning JAGA Jacksonville Amateur presented by Pinnacle Financial Partners champion Danny Erickson (73) tied for fourth at 219.
Defending champion and University of South Florida assistant coach Payne Denman had one of the final day’s top scores, a 70. It moved him into the final top 10 (T9).
Two-time First Coast Amateur champion (2018, 2020) and current Purdue University assistant coach Cole Bradley finished T33.
Several others with local connections placed in the top 25: T9 – Ryan Nicholson (Kennesaw State University and Nease High School), T13 – Henry Robards (Mercer University and Episcopal School), T17 – Jaspreet Kondal (Texas Tech University and Beachside High School), and T25 – Ambrose Kinnare (North Florida Junior Golf Tour and Tocoi Creek High School).
Bengtsson attended Tarleton State in Texas his first two years of college. While there, he earned All-WAC second team honors in 2023-24, picking up one win, three top 10s, and six top-20 finishes. The 6-foot 3-inch Bengtsson captured the Monterey Invitational in Mexico that year. His goal is to turn professional, starting in Europe, after graduating from Coastal Carolina this spring.
The champion and other top finishers receive World Amateur Golf Ranking points, which has been the case since the First Coast Amateur’s inception in 2017.
Complete tournament results may be found by going to golfgenius.com/pages/12019495403079605115.
Forty-two colleges or universities were represented, and the players came from most of the states located east of the Mississippi River. The schools with the strongest representation were Ball State University (nine), UNF (eight) and the University of South Carolina (six).
For the fourth year in a row, the JAGA First Coast Amateur has benefitted from the financial support of the City of Jacksonville’s Sports and Entertainment division.
The First Coast Amateur was held at Deerwood CC for the second year in a row. The par-72 layout was set up to play between 6,900 and 7,200 yards, depending on the weather, which varied dramatically each day. The 2027 venue will be announced at a later date.
