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Golf

Lake Jovita helps Saint Leo athletes

By MIKE TOMPKINS
Published January 11, 2006

DADE CITY - Saint Leo University, according to its Web site, is "Florida's first Catholic institution of higher learning." On Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club's site, it boasts it is the "No. 1-ranked course in Tampa Bay," according to Links Golf Guide.

On April 17, the two become one, as Lake Jovita hosts the fifth annual Spirit of Saint Leo Golf Tournament. The club, which features two nationally-ranked courses as well as a nationally-ranked golf shop, is at 12900 Lake Jovita Boulevard off State Road 52.

The tournament will benefit the Division II university's athletic scholarship fund, which covers men's and women's sports ranging from baseball and softball to golf and lacrosse.

Considering the caliber of the course for the tournament, the $250 per player entry fee may not seem like so much. Golfers will receive 18 holes of golf, a cart, beverages on the course, range balls, a pretournament boxed lunch, a buffet dinner, live and silent auctions, hole contests and a raffle.

The four-person team tournament will use a handicap scramble format. Prizes will be given for first place through third.

Registration begins at 10 a.m., with a noon shotgun start. Nonplayers who wish to join in the dinner and auction may for $25 each.

For more information, call Vicki Fredrickson at 352 588-7314 or e-mail at Vicki.Fredrickson@Saintleo.edu

While Lake Jovita will host a benefit for college athletes, it also was recently the site of a junior golf benefit, sort of.

On Dec. 4, Wesley Chapel senior and FSU recruit Cameron Knight, who failed to qualify for the 2005 FHSAA state finals after winning the title in 2004, rebounded with a victory in a Florida Junior Tour Event at the course.

Knight, the 2003-04 Tour Player of the Year in the 16-18 division, shot a first-round 66, followed by 68, in winning the season's second tournament by nine strokes. Knight's two-round total of 134 was the second lowest in the tour's three-year history, behind Robert Gates Jr.'s 132 in 2003-04. His first round also was three shots shy of tying the one-round record.

Knight, who struggled to a 27th-place finish in this season's first event Nov. 27, earned 1,000 points, putting him in a first-place tie heading into a Super Bowl weekend tournament at Golden Hills in Ocala.

For more information, go to Floridajuniortour.org.

What's going on at your golf course? Contact Times correspondent Mike Tompkins at 813 431-4812 or e-mail MTompkins61@yahoo.com

[Last modified January 11, 2006, 00:59:45]