Underwood Cup: Amateurs hold off rally by Northern Chapter PGA team
A team of First Coast Amateurs returned the Underwood Cup to their possession by beating the Northern Chapter PGA team 14-10 on Feb. 4 at Deerwood.
The 35th Underwood Cup Matches will take place on February 2-3 at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach.Cold weather and frost have forced a delay in tee times for the annual match-play golf event.The Amateur team, which won last year, holds an 18-13-3 overall lead against the Northern Chapter PGA professionals.
There’s one guarantee about the 35th Underwood Cup Matches on Feb. 2-3 at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach: It will be a chilly experience for players and spectators alike.
The tee times for the annual match-play event between Northern Chapter PGA professionals and First Coast amateurs for the Four-Ball matches on Feb. 2 have been moved from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., with the groups going off Nos. 1 and 10. The foursomes marchers will begin as soon as possible after that, said professional captain Dean Grunewald.
”We haven’t been able to get started the last week until 9 or 9:30 [a.m.] because of frost and it looks like more of the same early next week,” he said. “If everything goes well, we still might have to finish a few holes from the foursomes matches on Tuesday morning before we start singles.”
His best guess was that the 12 singles matches might start at 10 a.m. on Feb. 3, if there are no delays from the previous afternoon.
Underwood Cup Four-Ball pairings and times
No. 1 tee
10 a.m. — Clint Avery-Stephanie Eiswerth-Connelly (P) vs. Jordan Batchelor-Jeff Dennis (A).
10:10 a.m. — Sydney Mattiace-Bobby Newberry (P) vs. Matt Saxton-Jeff Golden (A).
10:20 a.m. — Josh Wolfe-Hayes Farley (P) vs. Mike Smith-Lance Lacombe (A).
No. 10 tee
10 a.m. — P.J. Politan-Jarrod Barsamian (P) vs. Ty Capps-Tyler Gullikesen (A).
10:10 a.m. — Rob Lee-Aaron Russell (P) vs. Andrew Morris-Chase Baldwin (A).
10:20 a.m. — Austin Hill-Andrew Lanahan (P) vs. Sam Geise-Graham Nichols (A).
Amateurs are the defending champions
The Amateur team, captained by Steve Carter, won last year’s matches at Deerwood 14-10, breaking a two-year winning streak for the professionals. The Amateurs hold an overall 18-13-3 lead in the competition.
This is the first time the Cup Matches have been played outside Duval County. They were at Timuquana from the inception in 1992 to 2002, at San Jose in 2023 and 2024 and Deerwood last year.
Middle school golf program to begin
The North Florida Junior Golf Foundation will begin its 2026 Middle School Program on Feb. 16 for youth 11-15 years old.
Middle schools can register to participate by visiting nfjg.org and parents can register their children at the same site. The schools will be grouped at area golf courses, with three weeks of instruction, followed by as much as five weeks of team competition, with awards for the top schools and individuals.
Additional information is available by calling (904) 868-9535 or emailing jackaschenbach@pga.com.
Sophia Moody goes low to win FJT event
Sophia Moody of Fleming Island shot 68-67—135 at the Hawkstone Country Club in Gainesville to win the girls division in the Florida Junior Tour 13-15 Hawkstone Open. Elize Nograbat of St. Johns (147) tied for sixth. In the boys division, Kaden James of St. Augustine posted a 68 in the second round and finished even-par 142, six shots behind winner Karl Stenson of Orlando. Jack Cole of Jacksonville Beach (148) tied for 10th. … Jiratarn Pornchai of Middleburg (161) finished second in the FJT Palm Harbor Open in Palm Coast, three shots behind winner Jocelynn Ayala of Tampa. Avery Chen of Ponte Vedra Beach (165) tied for fourth and Teagan Chen of Ponte Vedra (169) tied for eighth. Hunter Williams of St. Augustine (151) tied for sixth and Cameron Donovan of Ponte Vedra (155) tied for 10th in the boys 11-12 division; and Macklin Mucha of St. Augustine (157) finished solo fifth, Kevin Wachter of St. Augustine (162) tied for sixth and Kiryn Chary of Ponte Vedra (167) was in ninth. … Chuck Kirk of Middleburg and Thomas Congleton of Jacksonville shot 2-under 142 to finish seventh in the mid-amateur division of the Florida State Golf Association Winter Series Four-Ball at the Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club in Dade City. Jeff Kaufman and Steve Horner of Ponte Vedra Beach (143) were eighth in the senior division and Brad Rollinson of Ponte Vedra and John Milton of Jacksonville (143) were eighth in the super-senior division.
