Davis Roche wins 57th Jacksonville Amateur

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With storms forcing cancellation of the final round, Davis Roche, a member of the host venue, Jacksonville Golf and Country Club, was declared the 57th winner of the Jacksonville Amateur Championship conducted by JAGA on Sunday, July 22.

The 22-year-old claimed a two-shot victory on his home turf, defeating 2006 champion David Anthony (71-70) of Marsh Landing Country Club. Finishing third, six shots back of Roche, was the reigning JAGA Senior Amateur champion John Lobb (70-75), a fellow club member.

The difference proved to be Roche’s eagle-birdie-par finish on the closing holes on Saturday at the perfectly conditioned 6,892-yard layout. A recent graduate of Valdosta State University and 2018 All-Gulf South Conference selection, Roche recorded six birdies and an eagle en route to a 4-under-par 68.  His first-round 71 included three more birdies. At 139, he was 5-under par.

Teeing off in Sunday’s final grouping at 9:57 a.m., Roche, Anthony and Lobb would only get in two-plus holes before the sirens blew at 10:30 a.m. Play resumed at noon, only to have more lightning in the area pull the players off the course 15 minutes later. With a bleak forecast for the rest of the afternoon, tournament officials cancelled the championship at 2 p.m. and gathered all contestants, family, friends and officials in the clubhouse to honor the tournament’s 57th champion, dating back to 1962.

The championship featured 78 entries, 15 of which were from outside JAGA’s Northeast Florida footprint, with Texas, Illinois, Indiana and North and South Carolina represented, as well as Orlando and other cities in the southern part of Florida. Complete Jacksonville Amateur results may be found at jax.bluegolf.com or via www.jaxareagolf.org.

The 2019 Amateur will be contested at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach next July.