Marsh Landing County Club hosts Jacksonville Amateur Championship

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The 60th edition of the Jacksonville Amateur Championship, conducted by the Jacksonville Area Golf Association gets underway Thursday, July 22, at Marsh Landing Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach. The 54-hole stroke-play championship will crown its 2021 champion on Saturday, July 24.

First played in 1962, the Jacksonville Amateur is JAGA’s showcase tournament. Marsh Landing is hosting the event for the first time since 2014.

The championship features 82 players, with 15 residing outside JAGA’s Northeast Florida footprint. Contestants hail from around the state, plus Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ontario, Canada, Argentina and Japan.

The field was increased from 78 to 82 last week due to competitor interest.

The field ranges in age from 18 to 66, with six teenagers and two 66-year-olds — 2006 champion David Anthony and John Milton — competing.

One other past champion is in the field, Duke Butler IV (2009), as is JAGA’s reigning Match Play champion Mark Spencer, who claimed that title in May at Queen’s Harbour Yacht and Country Club.

The North Florida Junior Golf Foundation will be represented by two of its members, including Jackson Klauk of Jacksonville. 

Handicap index eligibility is limited to six. Fifty-seven contestants are registered with handicap indexes of scratch (0) or plus-figures.

2020 champion Cody Carroll of UNF will not be defending his title.

Former UNF All-American Travis Trace won the Amateur when it was last played at Marsh Landing in 2014.

The Amateur is one of three JAGA-conducted events in which the top finishers are awarded World Amateur Golf Ranking points. The JAGA First Coast Amateur and the JAGA Match Play Championship are the others.

The contestants will face a par-72 Marsh Landing layout that will play approximately 6,800 yards, depending on the placement of tee markers on certain holes.

The first tee time all three days will be 7:30 a.m. A cut will be made on Friday after 36 holes, with the top half of the field and ties vying for the title on Saturday.

The Jacksonville Amateur is JAGA’s second-oldest championship, behind the JAGA Senior Amateur (64 years). Co-chairing the championship again this year are JAGA director John Milton (Jax Beach GC) and JAGA president Jeff Adams (TPC Sawgrass). Milton is wearing two hats once again given his competitor status. Veteran rules experts Skip Small and Duke Butler III have collaborated to handle course set-up and rules. Providing leadership from the host club are general manager Chet Stokes and JAGA directors and club members George Halvorsen and John Tancredi.

The Amateur rotates among North Florida’s finest golf courses.

The upcoming schedule is:

2022 – Deerwood Country Club

2023 – San Jose Country Club

2024 – Timuquana Country Club

2025 – Jacksonville Golf & Country Club

2026 – Sawgrass Country Club

2027 – Jax Beach Golf Club.

Jacksonville Amateur results may be found daily at jax.bluegolf.com or via www.jaxareagolf.org.