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HIGH-SCHOOL

Area Golf Notebook: High school golfers rise above the rest at state tournaments

Garry Smits

The 2011 high school golf season on the First Coast was among the best in recent memory in terms of the number of quality teams and players.

The depth of talent went far beyond the Bolles boys team, which won the Class 1A state championship in Tavares. It was the third state championship for an area team since 2007 (Nease and Bartram Trail won the others), the eighth since the state split golf into multiple classifications in 1994 and the 13th overall, boys and girls, in Florida High School Athletic Association history.

Four other teams finished among the top 10 in state tournaments. In the boys 2A, Sandalwood finished fourth and Bartram Trail and Ponte Vedra tied for fifth. In the girls 1A, Providence finished seventh.

There were 13 area players who finished among the top-25 individually in the state tournaments. They were led by A.J. Crouch and John Jonas of Bolles, who tied for third in the boys 1A; Josh Lee of Fleming Island, who finished fourth in the boys 2A and John Boehme of Sandalwood, who tied for fifth in the boys 2A.

There were also two freshmen who played well in state tournaments: Jack Comstock of Bolles, who tied for 14th in the boys 1A, and Ansley Bowman of Bartram Trail, who tied for 11th in the girls 2A.

That's all good news for area golf. Better news is how many of those players in state tournaments are underclassmen. There were 40 First Coast high school players who qualified for state tournaments either with their team or as individuals. Only eight are seniors. Returning next year will be 19 juniors, five sophomores and six freshmen who have state tournament experience - plus the middle-school age players from the Providence girls team, district champion Harlie Valinho, a seventh-grader, and Emily Uhland, an eighth-grader.

The Providence girls return all five of the players who went to the state tournament. The Ponte Vedra girls have four of their five players back. On the boys side, Bartram Trail has all five state tournament participants returning; Providence has four of five back, and Bolles, Sandalwood and Ponte Vedra each have three starters returning.

Of the 13 players from the area who finished among the top 25 in a state tournament, nine are underclassmen.

Singh signs up

PGA Tour winners such as David Duval, Mark McCumber, Rocco Mediate, Len Mattiace, Kenny Perry, Steve Flesch and Leonard Thompson have played in the Henry Tuten Gator Bowl Pro-Am. The event will now have its first World Golf Hall of Fame member to play, with Vijay Singh putting a team together. The event will be Dec. 15-16 at Timuquana and San Jose. Also scheduled to compete is Bud Cauley of Jacksonville, who earned his PGA Tour card this summer and fall. … John Yacalavitch proved he still has a good touch in the clutch. The 82-year-old retired military air traffic controller made a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole to deliver his team the victory in a golf tournament at Jacksonville NAS to commemorate the Navy Air Show and the 100th year of naval aviation. The winning putt gave Yacalavitch and his team of David Grochmal, Scott Jasensky and Jim Brown a score of 59 to beat four teams tied at 60.

Garry Smits: (904) 359-4362