Past First Coast high school, college stars scheduled to compete in LOCALiQ golf Series

• The Jacksonville Championship marks a return of pro golf to Hidden Hills
• The Arlington course was the site of the Greater Jacksonville Open three times
• The Series winner will get a spot in a PGA Tour event later this season

The LOCALiQ Series, a set of seven 54-hole golf tournaments offering playing opportunities for those who would have competed on the PGA Tour's three international circuits had they not shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will make its stop on the First Coast next week with the Jacksonville Championship at the Hidden Hills Golf Club. 

The tournament pro-am will be Sept. 22 and the competitive rounds for a field of 144 players will be Sept. 23-25. The winner will earn $16,000. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, fans will not be allowed on the course. 

Among the entries are three former Times-Union high school players of the year and two of the top local college players in recent years. 

Travis Trace (Sandalwood), Joshua Lee (Fleming Island) and A.J. Crouch (Bolles) have played LOCALiQ events since it began in August. Trace, who played college golf at the University of North Florida, is 24th on the points list through four events, Lee, who played at Florida State, is 47th and Crouch, a former Florida Gator, is 65th. 

Raul Pereda, a former standout at Jacksonville University, is sixth on the points list. Andrew Alligood, who played at UNF, will be playing in his second LOCALiQ event.

Also in the field are former JU player Colin Monagle and former UNF player Phillip Knowles.

The top-78 players on the points list will advance to the 72-hole Series Championship Oct. 27-30 at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The overall points leader will get an exemption to one PGA Tour event during the 2020-21 season, as will the winner of the Bahamas event. 

Hidden Hills was the venue for the Greater Jacksonville Open from 1970-72, with Gary Player, Tony Jacklin and Don January winning. Player and Jacklin are in the World Golf Hall of Fame and all three players won major championships during their careers. 

Entering the Jacksonville Championship, former Clemson golfer Bryson Nimmer is the points leader, followed by Hayden Shieh (Santa Clara), Stoney Crouch (Lipscomb), Cooper Musselman (Kentucky), Alex Smalley (Duke) and Pereda.   

Mattiace Tour continues  

Some of the players in the LOCALiQ Series event may tune up by competing in one of the two Mattiace Golf Tour events scheduled this week. Pereda won the first event of the series at Marsh Landing in June with a 67. 

There will be 36-hole events Thursday and Friday at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club, and on Sept. 20 and 21 at Queen's Harbour. The tournaments are open to professionals, plus amateurs with a 5-handicap or lower. Male and female players are welcome. 

Registration is at mattiacegolftour.com.

LPGA won't play in Asia

For the first time in 45 years, the LPGA Tour will not be going to Asia this year.  

The tour lost three tournaments from its Asia swing in late February and early March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, the LPGA said two more tournaments scheduled for October in South Korea and Japan were canceled for 2020 and will return next year. Two other events in China and Taiwan that were part of the fall swing previously were canceled because of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements. 

The LPGA first started playing in Asia with the Mizuno Classic in Japan in 1976. 

The LPGA Tour added a one-time event called the LPGA Drive On Championship-Reynolds Lake Oconee. That will be Oct. 22-25 in Greensboro, Georgia, for a purse of $1.3 million. 

The LPGA also had a “Drive On” tournament at Inverness to mark its return to golf on July 31. 

“Since we unfortunately cannot travel to Asia, we felt it was very important to add another competitive opportunity for our players," commissioner Mike Whan said. 

Morikawa goes for two  

Collin Morikawa has a chance to join one of the smallest lists in major championship history.

In the last 100 years, only three players have won the next major immediately after winning their first. Jordan Spieth was the most recent when he won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015. Before that it was Craig Wood in 1941 in the Masters and U.S. Open. Gene Sarazen won the U.S. Open and PGA Championship for back-to-back majors in 1922. 

Morikawa won the PGA Championship last month at Harding Park. Next up is Winged Foot for the U.S. Open. 

“Walking here as a major champion, you have a sense of knowing how to get things done,” Morikawa said. “Yes, I’ve only done it once, but I’ve done it. You just want more. You get that little taste of what it’s like, and you know why guys mark in their calendars the major championships for the year.”  

Thomas caddie returns  

Justin Thomas used Phil Mickelson's former caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay since July but now has Jimmy Johnson back on his bag this week for the U.S. Open. Johnson, Thomas' only caddie as a pro, left to deal with a blood pressure issue. ... Among the threesomes the USGA put together for the first two rounds of the Open was the All-Georgia Bulldog trio of Brendon Todd, Harris English and amateur Davis Thompson. English and Thompson live in St. Simons Island, Ga. ... Tiger Woods, Mickelson and Steve Stricker are the only players at this U.S. Open this week who were at Winged Foot for the 2006 U.S. Open and the 1997 PGA Championship. Mickelson is the only one to make the cut in both. ... The winner of the PGA at Winged Foot, Davis Love III of St. Simons Island, is playing this week in the PGA Tour Champions Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach. 

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

PGA Tour 

Event: U.S. Open, Thursday-Sunday, Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, N.Y. 

At stake: $12 million purse ($2.25 million and 600 FedEx Cup points to the winner). 

Defending champion: Gary Woodland. 

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Friday, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.); NBC (Thursday, 2-5 p.m.; Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 12-6 p.m.). 

Area players entered: Tyler Duncan, Harris English, Lucas Glover, Lanto Griffin, Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, J.T. Poston, Cameron Smith. 

Notable: Woodland shot in the 60s all four days and defeated Brooks Koepka by three shots at Pebble Beach. ... The tournament was postponed to September because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was last played in September in 1913 when 20-year-old Francis Ouimet beat Harry Vardon and Ted Ray at The Country Club in Boston. ... Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas lead the field. ... Koepka is out because of a knee injury.  

LPGA 

Event: Cambia Portland Classic, Friday-Sunday, Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland, Ore. 

At stake: $1.75 million purse ($262,500 to the winner). 

Defending champion: Hannah Green. 

TV: Golf Channel (Friday, 9-11 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30-11:30 p.m.; Sunday, 8-10 p.m.). 

Area players entered: Chella Choi, Amelia Lewis. 

Notable: Green shot 63 in the second round and closed with a 67 to beat Yealmi Noh by one shot.  

PGA Tour Champions 

Event: Pure Insurance Championship, Friday-Sunday, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif. 

At stake: $2.2 million purse ($330,000 to the winner). 

Defending champion: Kirk Triplett. 

TV: Golf Channel (Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday, 9-12 p.m.; Sunday, 8-10 p.m.) 

Area players entered: Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh. 

Notable: Triplett won the tournament for the third time with a birdie on the first hole of sudden death, at the par-5 18th hole, defeating Billy Andrade.