Now that's how to win your first Florida Junior Tour event.
Brady Dougan of Jacksonville fired a bogey-free 62 on Sept. 27 in the FJT Pam McCloskey-Brosnihan 13-18 Major at The Club at Quail Ridge South Course in Boynton Beach to win the boys division at 13-under-par 131, topping Andrew Tsang of Palm Beach Gardens by three shots.
Dougan, a Tocoi Creek High junior, posted 11 top-10 finishes in FJT events in the past three seasons before breaking through at the tournament named for the late head professional at Quail Ridge, an ardent supporter of junior golf who passed away in 2014.
Dougan shot his personal best score in competition, broke the South Course record and posted the second-lowest score ever in a boys FJT event. Brendan Valdes of Orlando,
who went to play at Auburn, shot 61 on May 13, 2018, to win an FJT event at the Fairwinds Golf Club in Fort Pierce.
Dougan said his game has been trending toward such a day.
"I've been playing pretty solid for about a year now," he said. "Everything has been going pretty well but this was the first time that everything ― driving, irons, putting ― came together."
Dougan shot 69 in the first round and began the second round two shots off a lead shared by three players, including Jack Cole of Jacksonville. The FJT used a shotgun start for the final day and Dougan began with a routine par at the par-3 12th hole.
But at the par-5 13th, he hit the fairway, muscled a 4-iron onto the green and two-putted from 20 feet for his first birdie of the day. He birdied the par-4 14th with a 12-foot putt and the par-4 17th, dropping a 10-footer.
Dougan then turned to the front nine and really got heated up. He birdied No. 1 on a 4-foot putt, two-putted from 30 feet for birdie at the par-5 third, made an 8-footer at the par-4 fifth and then highlighted the round with easily the shot of the tournament at the par-5 sixth.
Forced to hit a 3-wood off the tee because of a hazard crossing the fairway, Dougan had 234 yards to the green. He said he "flushed" a 3-iron, and the ball came to rest 1 foot from the hole.
He tapped in for eagle, then added two more birdies at Nos. 9 and 10.
"I was hitting it so good I wasn't worried about my score," Dougan said. "I had been really close to a day like this."
Cole shot 68 in the second round and finished solo third at 7-under. In the girls division, Elize Nograbat of St. Johns (69―141) finished alone in fourth at 3-under and Lily Wachter of St. Augustine (70―143) tied for seventh at 1-under.
Double ASUN honors for First Coast golfers
Earning ASUN golfer of the week honors is getting to be a frequent occurrence for University of North Florida senior Kaitlyn Schroeder.
UNF sophomore Luke Balaskiewicz, on the other hand, has his first conference weekly award.
Schroeder was named the ASUN women’s golfer of the week for the second time this season and the sixth time in her career after finishing third in the Fighting Irish Classic at Notre Dame with an even-par 213 at the Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Ind. The Jacksonville native was the highest ASUN finisher in the tournament and has three top-three finishes in the fall season.
Balaskiewicz, a Bolles graduate, shot 70 in the final round of the Bryan Brothers Collegiate at the Solina Golf Club in West Columbia, S.C., to climb 16 spots on the leaderboard and finish 36th overall at 3-over 216.
Another Stanton ace
A member of the Stanton girls golf team has logged a hole-in-one for the second time this season.
Junior Olivia Woods aced the seventh hole at the Brentwood Golf Club on Oct. 1, using a pitching wedge from 104 yards out. She shot 41 in the nine-hole match against Bishop Kenny to finish second to teammate Leela Clark (39), a freshman who had a hole-in-one on Sept. 3 at Brentwood's fifth hole.
Stanton coach Liz Marscheck said Woods' tee shot ball landed a bit short of the hole, bounced once and then rolled into the cup. She said Woods began the round a bit unnerved because she left her team skirt at home and was about to tee off in jeans. The skirt was delivered about two minutes before her tee time.
Stanton defeated Kenny by seven shots.
Area teams contend in Super-Senior
Mark Taylor and Thomas Donovan of Jacksonville combined to shoot 67-69--136 and finished sixth in the Florida State Golf Association Super-Senior Four-Ball, at the Conservatory Course in Palm Coast on Sept. 28-29. They finished only two shots behind winners Peter Wegmann of Fort Lauderdale and Brandon Siemion of Delray Beach (134).
Mark Rutland and Gary Reed of Jacksonville and Ken Moody of Ponte Vedra Beach and Mike Riley of Panama City tied for seventh at 7-under 137. Robert Goettlicher of St. Johns and Larry Lunsford of Orange Park (138) tied for 11th.
Monique Burr event scheduled
The Monique Burr Foundation for Children Dream Finders Homes Champions for Child Safety Pro-Am will be Dec. 7 at the Stillwater Golf and Country Club in St. Johns. Proceeds from the tournament go to the foundation's Prevention Education Programs, offering safety education to youth nationwide and strengthening the tools children need to stay safe from abuse, bullying and online exploitation.
Professional players who have competed in the tournament in the past include Mark McCumber, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Len Mattiace, Frank Lickliter II and Fred Funk from the PGA Tour and Amelia Lewis and Jessica Porvasnik from the LPGA.
For information about the tournament, visit championsforchildsafety.com.
Brad Rollinson earns Wisconsin honors
Ponte Vedra Beach resident Brad Rollinson, who plays summer golf in Wisconsin, finished second in the Wisconsin State Golf Association Senior Tour Championship Super-Senior Division, which gave him enough points to win the WSGA Senior Player of the Year in the Super-Senior Gross Division. Rollinson scored 32 points in a Stableford format and finished one point behind winner Bill Schneider of Appleton, Wis.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: All parts of Brady Dougan's game came together for his milestone score
