Wolfson High graduate and current Davidson College golfer Will Davis won the 62nd Annual Jacksonville Amateur Golf Championship presented by the Jacksonville Area Golf Association at San Jose Country Club July 20-22.
The event felt like home for Davis, who is not only from the area, but he also grew up playing at the country club as a young golfer learning the game.
The 21-year-old who will be entering his junior season at Davidson looked in control throughout the tournament en route to a final score of 14-under which was five strokes better than runner-up and defending champion Jason Duff.
Coming home in third place was University of North Florida assistant golf coach Jeff Dennis, who finished six shots behind Davis.
Davis found himself in a groove and was playing good golf from the time he teed off in the opening round and it was reflected in his score as he shot a 66 and sat tied at the top of the leaderboard with Dennis.
The two found themselves in a back-and-forth battle with Dennis entering the final round two strokes ahead of Davis.
However, both players went opposite directions on the third and final day, as Davis proved to be on fire shooting a 67, while Dennis shot a three-over 75 in the final round.
It was down the stretch, where Davis began to assert himself and take full reign of this year’s championship.
The two were tied at 11-under heading to the back nine holes, but Davis eagled the par five No. 17 and Dennis would bogey the hole, and just like that Davis found himself with a five-shot lead on the final hole.
Duff made a strong defense of his 2022 title with his runner-up finish, as he surpassed Dennis
Rounding out the top five were fourth-place finisher Andrew Riley (7-under) who attended Creekside High School and Sam Ohno of Ponte Vedra Beach and an Episcopal School grad finished tied for fifth with Max McGee of Jacksonville and a Bartram Trail High grad in fifth place, at 6-under. Ohno and McGee both shot a score of 66 the last day, which was also the lowest round posted during the tournament.
Davis and Dennis shot there 66 rounds on the opening day, while Jackson Klauk joined Ohno and McGee by shooting 66s in the final round.
San Jose played to a par of 72 and was set up at approximately 7,027 yards.
The championship featured 84 players, with 12 coming from outside JAGA’s footprint of Northeast Florida. Forty-six players in the field had handicap indexes of zero or less.
The top finishers in both the Amateur and the JAGA First Coast Amateur are awarded World Amateur Golf Ranking points.
