Ten of the 11 players tied for eighth of higher played junior and high school golf on the First Coast
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- Danny Erickson leads the 64th Jacksonville Area Golf Association Championship by one shot after two rounds.
- Most of the top contenders played high school golf on the First Coast and many are current or incoming college players.
- The final round will be held at Timuquana Country Club with the leaders teeing off at 9:55 a.m.
The leaderboard of the 64th Jacksonville Area Golf Association Championship, entering the final round on July 26 at the Timuquana Country Club, is a testament to the junior and high school golf on the First Coast of the last decade.
Ten of the 11 players tied for eighth or higher (all under par) played high school golf on the First Coast. Six are currently active college players and three more will enroll this fall.
In addition, 10 of the players got their start in competitive golf on the North Florida Junior Foundation Tour.
Jacksonville Amateur live scoring
Jacksonville Amateur third-round tee times
And it should be quite the battle as they chase leader Danny Erickson, who birdied No. 18 on a 2-foot putt after finding trouble off the tee to finish at 6-under-par 138 to take a one-shot lead over former Ponte Vedra High teammate Cameron Reed.
Erickson (68), who will be a sophomore at the University of North Florida, also birdied Nos. 10, 12 and 15 at Timuquana. He hit his tee shot among trees to the right but had enough of an opening to squeeze his second shot out and onto the green.
Reed, who will begin playing at Furman, got off to a quick start with birdies at Nos. 1, 2 10 and 11 and led the tournament until a double bogey at No. 14 and a bogey at the last.
UNF golf team well-represented
Tied for third at 3-under are Colton Swartz (Fleming Island High and a sophomore at Florida Southern) and Ryan Gear (Nease and a junior at Embry-Riddle). One current and one incoming member of the UNF golf team are tied at 2-under, Chase Carroll (Middleburg High) and Luke Balaskiewicz (Bolles), along with Ryan Nicholson (Nease, incoming freshman at Kennesaw).
Of the four players tied at 1-under, only one, Landon Durham, did not play high school or junior golf on the First Coast. He lives in Ponte Vedra and will be a senior at Elon. Joining him at 1-under are Andrew Morris (a Nease and Farleigh Dickinson graduate), Matthew French (Bishop Snyder, junior at Flagler) and Easton Oliva, a rising senior at Ponte Vedra.
‘Amazing’ week for NFJGF alumni
The JAGA Amateur leaderboard and the play of two other former NFJGF alumni in the U.S. Junior Amateur, Miles Russell (who made the quarterfinals) and Tyler Mawhinney (who reached the round of 16) made it a week to remember for First Coast junior golf.
“It’s amazing,” said Jack Aschenbach, the executive director of the NFJGF since 2012. “To see all of those kids accomplish what they’re doing is phenomenal and is a great example to the kids coming up about what’s possible.”
The final round of the JAGA Amateur will begin with the first tee times at 7:45 a.m., with the lead group tee of Erickson, Reed and Swartz teeing off at 10:25 a.m. The 10-over cut left 49 players in the weekend field.
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