Sarasota Golf News

Name: Cole Johnson, age 12

Home: Parrish, Fla.

Current Ranking: No. 2 in Florida for his graduation year from the National Junior Golf Rankings

Family: Mother, Wendy; Father, Bob; Sister, Tana

Brief Bio: Cole started playing golf when he was six. He had a friend who was a member at a private club and invited him to play. Cole borrowed a collared shirt that day, went to the club and fell in love with it immediately. Since then Cole has two holes-in-one and a closet full of trophies. Originally from Virginia, he moved to Sarasota late in 2004.

Jack Binswanger, the president of the North Florida PGA Section and co-owner of Village Green Golf Club in Sarasota, has worked as a chaperone at the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill for many years, but the past two have been special.

As a chaperone, his job is to keep pace of play on target during the Wednesday pro-am. Four amateurs pay a substantial sum of money to play with a pro. The North Florida Section supplies the chaperones. They are mostly club pros who volunteer their time. In 2008, he drew Arnold Palmer as his pro, and this past March, he pulled Tiger Woods out of the hat.

Area players failed to qualify at the U.S. Open Sectional on Monday at Lake Nona Golf Club in Orlando.
 
Dave Hronek of North Port posted the best score of the foursome, 75-70 (145).  Tommy Mou of Bradenton had 70-76 (146); Arnond Vongvanij of Gainesville shot 74-74 (148); and Kevin Collins of Palmetto scored 74-75 (149).

Every so-called golf expert has the latest and greatest way to improve your game. Betty Day, an 88-year-old late bloomer, does it her way: stay fit and read the bible.
   
Her routine has served her well in the 20-plus years she has been playing after retiring as a fitness salon owner in Indianapolis. Just recently, she recorded her 10th career hole-in-one.

Six Bradenton amateurs and one from Sarasota qualified for the 92nd Florida State Amateur to be played June 25-28 on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and the East/West Course of Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach. Tory Henderson of Bradenton was the medalist with a 3-under-par 69 at the University Park CC qualifying. Also qualifying were Nicholas Mullhaupt of Bradenton, 70; Lawrence O'Brien of Sarasota, Marcel Puyat and Sean Kelly of Bradenton, 73. The last two spots were won in a playoff at 74 by Blake Soni and Patrik Sterner of Bradenton.

Sarasotans Brian Schmidt and David Perna also posted 74 and are alternates. Visit www.fsga.org for complete list of all scores. In other FSGA news, Sarasota’s Mark Leetzow lost a sudden-death playoff to Tim Hume of Tampa in the inaugural Mid-Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Sara Bay Country Club.

Ten years ago IMG Academies Golf and Country Club was called El Conquistador Country Club. That’s where and when current PGA Tour star Sean O’Hair was the club champ while attending Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton. Just recently, its status changed to a semi-private club, waiving most of its initiation fees. For example, golfers can pay a $100 per month fee to play, plus cart fees and food minimum through October. It is just one of many deals golfers can enjoy at private and semi-private clubs during the summer.

The Meadows, Palm-Aire, River Strand, Bent Tree, Misty Creek, Jacaranda, University Park and Laurel Oak offer similar packages or special rates. River Strand’s membership runs through the end of the year. 

Manatee County’s Tony Jacklin is a legend in Great Britain for winning the 1969 British Open and the 1970 U.S. Open. Now, the transplanted Brit may have a produced a son capable of following in his footsteps. Teenager Sean Jacklin won his first Florida Junior Tour tournament at Orange County National in Orlando, blowing away the field by seven strokes.

Competing in the boys 16-18 division, Sean posted rounds of 68-69-70 for a nine-under par total of 207. He was the only player in the field to record all three rounds under par, playing from 7,093 yards. It was the final FJT tournament of the spring. Jacklin, who will be a senior at Manatee High School in the fall, plans to play the American Junior Golf Association tournament circuit this summer.

When he was a golf pro, Jay Engstrom, 40, was an assistant at Calusa Lakes Golf Club and Lakewood Ranch CC. Several years ago, he got out of the golf business and became a salesman. He also regained his amateur status. This past spring, as a member of The Meadows Country Club, Engstrom won the overall club championship. Normally a right-hander, Engstrom uses two putters and doesn’t carry a 3-wood. For putts outside 15 feet, he putts left-handed. For everything else, he putts righty. He also led his doubles team to a title in The Meadows tennis club 3.5 men’s championship.

Junior profile: Merkley receives scholarship Kalin Merkley, who just graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota, is going to Seminole Community College in Orlando on a two-year golf scholarship.

After the success of last year's summer golf camps at Tatum Ridge Golf Links, the Kids Summer Golf Camps are back by popular demand. This year, there will be five separate dates for the camps, so you'll have a number of opportunities to attend.

The dates are: June 8-12, June 15-19, July 6-10, July 13-17 and August 3-7. Camps last from 9 a.m. until noon Monday - Friday and include three hours of golf instruction per day, a sleeve of Titleist golf balls, a Tatum Ridge golf towel, plus fountain drinks and lunch daily. The cost per participant is $175.00 per week.