Steve Carter, Kelly Gosse, and Rick Woulfe will represent Florida in the 6th USGA State Team Championship at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, South Carolina on September 27-29. The players were selected by the Florida State Golf Association through an accumulation of points determined by their play in FSGA and USGA events.
Steve Carter, of Jacksonville, is the 2004 Mid-Amateur Champion and has qualified for the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship to be held at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tennessee on September 10-15. Carter also won the 2005 Four-Ball Championship with his partner, Andy Purnell, of Jacksonville, with a record setting 64-59—123 total to break the record by 5 shots.
Kelly Gosse, from Inverness, won the 2005 Match Play Championship held earlier this month at University Park Country Club in Sarasota and currently is the FSGA points leader for the 2005 season. He also finished a tie for 3rd at the 8th Amateur Public Links Championship and tied for 9th at the 2005 Mid-Senior Championship held at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine on August 12-14.
The 2002 and 2004 Florida State Player of the Year, Rick Woulfe, of Fort Lauderdale, will be playing in his 5th USGA Team Championship. Woulfe has won three state championships, the 1998 Mid-Senior Four-Ball Championship and the 1995 Four-Ball Championship. Rick also led Lago Mar Country Club to the 2005 Club Team title. Woulfe also qualified for the 2005 USGA Senior Amateur Championship to be held at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Georgia on September 17-22. He served president of the Florida State Golf Association from 2000-2001.
In 2003, the Florida team shot a 142-150-141—433. Rick Woulfe, Michael Nealy, and Andy Purnell competed in the 54-hole Championship at Charles River Country Club. The USGA State Team Championship began in 1995 to celebrate the USGA’s Centennial celebration. It was such a success that the USGA now conducts the event every two years. Fifty-two teams, from all 50 states and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, are invited to send three non-college amateur players and can choose their teams by any method. Teams compete in three, 18-hole stroke play rounds, the two lowest scores by players from each team constitute the team score for each round. The 54-hole total is the team’s score for the Championship.
Organized in 1913, the Florida State Golf Association is a not-for-profit organization that governs amateur golf in the state of Florida. In addition to conducting 21 championships for amateur golfers in the state, the FSGA is responsible for 41 qualifying tournaments for USGA National Championships and the Florida Junior Tour. The FSGA also maintains the USGA Handicap System, performs course ratings throughout Florida and assists in junior programs and scholarships.
