North Florida's Brett Schell, Jason Duff lead Ospreys to World Golf Village Collegiate victory

North Florida’s Brett Schell, Jason Duff lead Ospreys to World Golf Village Collegiate victory

Posted by author February 28, 2025 Golf

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The University of North Florida men’s golf team won their first team title since the 2022-23 season.
Seniors Brett Schell and Jason Duff, both past Florida Times-Union high school Players of the Year, led the Ospreys to victory.
Bolles senior Luke Balaskiewicz shot 11-under 133 to win the Stone Creek Open, tying the third-lowest 36-hole score in a Florida Junior Tour 16-18 tournament.

The University of North Florida men’s golf team won its first team title since the 2022-23 season and didn’t leave any doubt about it.

That wasn’t all — seniors Brett Schell and Jason Duff led the way, in their home county.

Schell, who graduated from Bartram Trail, shot 66 in the second round and earned his first career individual victory with the Ospreys and second as a college player at 8-under 136 in the World Golf Village Collegiate, at the King & Bear.

Duff, a Menendez graduate, opened with a 70 and tied for second at 1-under 143 as UNF won by 25 shots over Butler with a team score of 1-over 570.

Schell and Duff are both past Florida Times-Union high school Players of the Year.

UNF sophomore Filippo Serra (144) finished solo third and junior Adam Vermut, a Wolfson graduate who played as an individual, finished fourth (145).

Eastern Kentucky was the tournament host and finished eighth. Flagler College was 14th, with Rocco Randazzo (146) tying for sixth.

The Ospreys’ next tournament will be The Hayt, the annual event they host at the Sawgrass Country Club March 8-10.

Luke Balaskiewicz goes low in Ocala

Bolles senior and incoming UNF freshman Luke Balaskiewicz of Jacksonville tied the third-lowest 36-hole score in a Florida Junior Tour 16-18 tournament last week when he shot 11-under 133 to win the Stone Creek Open by two shots over Cameron Baez of Windermere.

Balaskiewicz shot 67-66 and eagled the par-5 16th hole both days. He left the field behind when he birdied three of his first six holes on the front nine in the second round and shot 4-under 32 on that side.

Balaskiewicz won his second FJT event. The other was also in Ocala, last year the Country Club of Ocala. In 19 FJT starts, Balaskiewicz has 11 top-10 finishes and six top-threes.

Ambrose Kinnare posts another second

It’s going to work out one day for St. Augustine’s Ambrose Kinnare.

He finished solo second for the second time this year in an FJT event, losing to Tyler Creavy of Orlando in a playoff in the Marsh Landing Open, a 13-15 event. Creavy birdied the first hole of sudden death after both finished regulation at 1-over 145.

Kinnare has three top-10s this season on the Florida Junior Tour and has six in his last eight starts.

Brady Dougan of Jacksonville (149) tied for seventh and Rafael DeCarvalho of Ponte Vedra Beach (151) tied for 10th. Lily Wachter of St. Augustine tied for sixth in the girls division (152) and Lily Chiang of Jacksonville (157) tied for 10th.

Flagler’s Stella Jelinek honored

Flagler College junior Stella Jelinek earned a Peach Belt Conference’s Women’s Golfer of the Week award after posting a 1-under 215 to win the World Golf Invitational last week at the King & Bear.

Jelinek leads the Saints and the Peach Belt with a 72.06 stroke average. She is ranked sixth nationally among NCAA Division II players and the Saints moved to third in the latest Division II women’s ranking.

Another kind of Navy “ace”

Connor Clancy, a Parker High graduate and a Navy Rescue Swimmer, is getting pretty good on the golf course as well.

Clancy recorded a hole-in-one at the Admiral Baker Golf Course in San Diego, muscling a 7-iron from 172 yards out at the third hole.

HDSA to hold charity tournament

The Florida Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) will host the 2025 Hack a Tee for HD tournament on March 21 at Queen’s Harbour. Registration is 8 a.m. and the tournament begins at 9 a.m. Visit florida.hdsa.org for more information.