Brett Schell's long-distance ace sparks a 66 and a sprint up the Florida Amateur leaderboard
Bartram Trail graduate Brett Schell, an Ole Miss junior, made a hole-in-one at the Abacoa Club's 218-yard No. 4 in Jupiter and went on to fire a 66 to work his way into contention in the 106th Florida Amateur on Friday.
Schell, a St. Augustine resident, played his first four holes at 4-under, then rallied from a double-bogey at the seventh hole to play the back nine at 4-under with no additional blemishes on the card to finish at 4-under 140 and in solo seventh, six shots behind leader Marc Dull of Lakeland (66 at Abacoa).
Schell used a 5-iron for the hole-in-one, his fifth overall and second in competition.
Florida Amateur third-round tee times, groups
Sam Nicholson of Atlantic Beach, a senior at South Florida and a Providence graduate birdied two of his last three holes at Turtle Creek and is tied for fifth at 5-under 139 with Cooper Smith of Tampa (66 at Abacoa).
Matthew Soucinek of Lake City (73, Turtle Creek) is tied for eighth at 3-under.
Dull, a past Florida amateur of the year and mid-amateur of the year, parred his first six holes then made all of his birdies within the final 12, turning in a bogey-free round. He has a three-shot lead over Jay Brooks of Boca Raton (65 at Turtle Creek).
First-round co-leader Jonah Wasserstrom (71, Turtle Creek) is tied for third at 6-under with Jay Halvorson of St. Petersburg (68, Turtle Creek).
The 78 players who made the 4-over cut will compete in the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday at Turtle Creek. Among the 15 area players who survived are Sam Ohno of Ponte Vedra Beach (70, Turtle Creek) in a tie for 14th at 2-under 142; and Davis Lee of Ponte Vedra Beach (73, Abacoa), his assistant coach at the University of North Florida, Jeff Dennis (74, Abacoa) and Connor Holcroft of St. Augustine (70, Abacoa) in a tie for 20th at 1-under.
First Coast players in Florida Amateur
T5. Sam Nicholson, Atlantic Beach 70-69—139
7. Brett Schell, St. Augustine 74-66--140
T8. Matthew Soucinek, Lake City 68-73—141
T14. Sam Ohno, Ponte Vedra 72-70—142
T20. Jeff Dennis, Jacksonville 69-74—143
T20. Davis Lee, Ponte Vedra 70-73—143
T20. Connor Holcroft, St. Augustine 73-70—143
T29. Carson Brewer, Ponte Vedra 73-71—144
T29. Jason Duff, Elkton 73-71—144
T29. Chase Carroll, Jacksonville 75-69—144
T51. Peter Catanzaro, Jacksonville 74-73—147
T51. Joe Stepnes, Atlantic Beach 75-72—147
T51. Cody Carroll, Jacksonville 76-71—147
T51. Alexander Ramos-Fort, Jacksonville 76-71—147
T66. Brody Stevenson, St. Augustine 75-73—148
Missed the cut
Campbell Kennedy, St. Augustine 74-75—149
Andrew Riley, St. Johns 78-71--149
Cam Goldknopf, Ponte Vedra 72-78—150
Stefan Ink, Ponte Vedra 79-73—152
Sam Geise, Ponte Vedra 78-77—155
Thomas Brennan, Atlantic Beach 79-84--163
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sam Nicholson, Brett Schell in mix entering Florida Amateur final round
