Jason Duff was crushed but knew what Adam Waller was feeling in the aftermath of the 63rd Jacksonville Amateur Championship’s final round on July 20 at the Jacksonville Golf and Country Club.
“I’ve got one of these [the 2022 Amateur at Deerwood],” said Duff, a rising senior at the University of North Florida. “I know how special this is and I’m glad Adam can experience it.”
Waller, who helped Wolfson win three post-season tournaments in 2020 and is a rising sophomore at Valdosta State, three-putted for bogey from 50 feet at No. 18 to beat Duff on the third playoff hole after both finished 54 holes at 6-under-par 210.
Duff hit his tee shot out of bounds on the final hole, then found the fairway with his third shot off the tee. However, he hooked his fourth shot left of the green and chipped long with his fifth shot.
Duff (71) had a one-shot lead with one hole to play but bogeyed the last after coming up short with his second shot and Waller (72) nearly holed a chip from behind the green and tapped in for par.
Waller’s chip on the final hole of regulation kissed the flagstick and burned the edge of the hole.
“I thought I was going to make it,” he said. “But I’ve played so much golf with Jason over the years and I forgot about and we went back to the tee. It felt normal to go back and play a few more holes.”
Both players parred the first playoff hole and both bogeyed the second. Duff missed a 20-foot par attempt after finding the front bunker with his second shot and Waller three-putted from 60 feet.
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The two playoff contestants shared the lead three times after Duff’s 6-foot birdie at No. 10, and were tied on the par-3 17th tee.
Waller then hooked his tee shot in the water, had to drop on the forward tees, hit his third shot in a bunker and made a 5-foot putt for double bogey. Duff could have taken a two-shot lead to the 18th hole but he bogeyed No. 17 after missing a 6-foot par attempt (he was short of the green) and led by one.
It was the second Jacksonville Amateur title in a row for a San Jose Country Club member and a member of the 2020 Wolfson team that lost the Class 1A state title by only one shot. Waller’s teammate at Wolfson, Will Davis, won last year at San Jose.
“I was talking to [a JAGA official] and I told him it would be pretty cool if we kept the trophy at San Jose,” Waller said. “It’s very cool.”
Tyler Gulliksen (67, the day’s low round) and Luke Balaskiewicz (73) tied for third at 5-under. Alexandre Vandermoten (68) and Danny Erickson (71) tied at 4-under.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Amateur stays at San Jose as Adam Waller outlasts Jason Duff
