Richard Donegan, of Okeechobee started day one with a bang by posting the course record, ten-under par 62! Donegan led the field by five strokes after round one with Drew Cooke in second place. T J Shuart, 2014 Public Links Champion, lingered close by tied for third place with Devin Suri, Kevin Reilly, and Jessel Mohammed who all shot 68. Donegan held onto the lead during round two after shooting a two-under par 70. Joe Alfieri, 2015 Mid-Amateur Stroke Play Champion, moved up the leaderboard to third place with a five-under par, 67. Devin Suri, of Saint Augustine finished the second round two strokes behind Donegan, in second place, with a two-day tournament total 134. Shuart fell to fourth place after a round two score of 71.
Sunday’s final round was a fight between Alfieri, of Lutz and Donegan. After the front-nine Alfieri was only two strokes behind Donegan who still remained in the lead. Alfieri opened with a three-under par, 33 while Donegan posted an even par 36. Playing hard, Donegan posted two birdies on holes 10 and 12 to finish his final round one-under par, 71. Alfieri fired three birdies on the back-nine and stood on 18 tee box one stroke behind Donegan. Alfieri missed his birdie putt on 18 to force a playoff and Donegan was crowned champion. With rounds of 62-70-71—203, Donegan seized a victory and an exemption into the State Amateur. Alfieri finished one stroke behind in second place (70-67-67—204) and Devin Suri moved down to third place after a round three score of 73, tournament total 207. Donegan, who plays golf for the University of Florida, earned his first FSGA win at the Amateur Public Links Championship.
The Amateur Public Links Championship is open to bona fide public course players who are not members of a private club and also do not have a handicap index any higher than 6.4. Competitors play 18 holes of stroke play on each of the three days.
