Latest news with #FirstCoast
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin bullish about Travis Hunter's potential on and off the field
Former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin is excited about the team's selection of wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter with the second overall pick of the 2025 draft. And from what he's heard and read about the Heisman Trophy winner, Coughlin thinks Hunter will make a huge impact on the First Coast, on and off the field. Advertisement "The possibilities are great ... they always are," Coughlin said on May 19 at the TPC Sawgrass, just before the first tee shot of the 30th Jay Fund Celebrity Golf Classic. "You've got a kid that's as talented as there is, probably the most talented kid in the draft. And he seems like a good, really solid person, which really feeds, feeds into this community." Coughlin has taken note of Hunter's 4.0-grade point average at Colorado, graduating on schedule and charming everyone from the Rockies to Duuuval with his outgoing personality. Former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin, left, has a laugh with Bill Merriam, center and his son Austin Merriam, right, while taking part in the 30th annual Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Celebrity Golf Tournament Monday May 19, 2025 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla. The event raises money for families whose children are battling different kinds of cancer. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] Coughlin was realistic about the nature of the transition from college football player to the NFL. Many of the game's biggest stars come out after three years and not everyone returns to complete a degree. Advertisement But he wishes more would follow Hunter's example. "That it's their future ... their future is not going to end in five or six years when football's done. Then what are they going to do?" Coughlin said. "You're always building for your future." One thing Coughlin encouraged his players to do, regardless of getting a degree or not, was to get involved and give back to the community. Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) catches a pass during the first organized team activity at Miller Electric Center Monday, May 19, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. "Get out in the community, meet people you know, let people know who you are," he said. "Show some depth. Show some pride in where you've come from and how you've developed yourself. Because life is going to go on many, many years after they're done playing." Coughlin proud of Tony Boselli's new job Coughlin also expressed great pride in the first draft choice he made as a Jaguars coach, Pro Football Hall of Fame tackle Tony Boselli, now the Jaguars Executive Vice-President for Football Operations. Advertisement "He's very happy with what he's doing. He's totally engaged ... he's got it going," Coughlin said. "His mind is working a million miles an hour. He's very smart. He stayed on top of the football aspect of it, so he knows people that are in the building, he knows the players ... he's very excited, and he'll do a great job." This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Travis Hunter has gotten former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin fired up
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Yahoo
First Coast veterans travel to Washington D.C. aboard an Honor Flight
A First Coast honor flight is headed from Jacksonville to Washington D.C. early on Saturday. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Honor Flights are designed to honor veterans by flying them to visit memorials dedicated to those who have served in the armed forces. Saturday's flight, which will be departing from Jacksonville International Airport landing at Regan National Airport, includes a 101-year-old World War 2 veteran. Click HERE to learn more about First Coast Honor Flights. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
USA Today
14-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia tied for lead at Players Championship after 36 holes
Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia tied for lead at Players Championship after 36 holes J.J. Spaun, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Stephan Jaegar are the closest pursuers Show Caption Hide Caption Min Woo Lee having success with his 2-iron at Players Championship Big-hitting Min Woo Lee is banging his 2-iron around TPC Sawgrass and has posted scores of 67 and 66 through 36 holes at 2025 Players Championship. Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia are tied for the lead at 11-under-par 133 after the second round of The Players Championship. PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Min Woo Lee First Coast phenomenon began two years ago when the Australian native, who was born to South Korean parents, contended at the Players Championship and found himself in the final twosome on Sunday, two behind Scottie Scheffler. Lee shot 76 that day and Scheffler left him and the rest of the contenders in the dust on the way to the first of his back-to-back Players titles. But Lee doesn't forget, either his mistakes that day or the crowd support he gets from the galleries at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, who have come to love the skinny, scrappy 26-year-old with a name perfect for cheering. The cheers of "Woooo" are echoing around the course once again. Lee birdied four of his first five holes on the Stadium Course front nine on Friday (his back) and with a 66 is tied for the lead in The Players Championship with Akshay Bhatia (66) at 11-under-par 133 after the morning wave of the second round. Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa lay in wait They are one shot ahead of J.J. Spaun (68) and two clear of 2019 Players champion Rory McIlroy (68) and Collin Morikawa (65, the low round of the morning wave). Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Jake Knapp (68) are tied at 7 under and Billy Horschel (71), Harris English (66), Emiliano Grillo (70) and Jacob Bridgeman (69) are tied at 6 under. First-round co-leader Lucas Glover played in the afternoon groups. McIlroy, second on the Official World Golf Ranking, Morikawa (fourth) and Fleetwood (10th) are the only players among the top 10 who are on the first page of the leaderboard when the morning groups finished. Two-time defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (70) is tied for 15th at 5-under. Lee wants to play for the crowd Lee teed off at 8:02 a.m. and was impressed by the crowd on the 10th tee, and the love they're showing him "A lot of support," he said. "Even early in the morning at 8 [a.m.] the whole tee box was full. It's a special feeling. You want to play well for yourself, but play well for others too." That he did. Lee birdied his first hole on a 10-foot putt. He was 3-under for the day when he turned, and then blitzed the first five holes of the front with a series of short-to-moderate birdie putts that were capped with a roll of nearly 11 feet at the difficult par-4 fifth. Lee almost aced the par-3 third hole, with his tee shot catching a piece of the cup before coming to rest 3 feet, 8 inches away. His only blip was the mess he made of the par-5 ninth, going from the right rough to a bunker and eventually making bogey. That enabled Bhatia, in his second Players, to catch him with a 5-foot birdie putt at the last. "I just hit it really close," Lee said. "Nearly holed it on 3. And that was really good shot. Clipped the hole. Felt really good over the ball. Just really good numbers and rolled some putts in. Today was solid again and hopefully two more of them." Lee said he's learning how to negotiate his way around the pitfalls of the Stadium Course since his first appearance. "Big learning curve," he said. "I think a bit more level-headed and a lot of learning between then and now. Obviously Scottie won that tournament and he played really good and just, yeah, learned to be in that final group, yeah." Akshay Bhatia made Players run early Bhatia, a two-time PGA Tour winner who had back-to-back top-10 finishes at the Mexico Open and Genesis Invitational before missing the cut last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, birdied four holes on the back, his front, highlighted by a 26-foot putt at No. 13. His blips were bogeys at Nos. 1 and 7 but he had another long birdie putt at the fifth hole, from 26 feet. Bhatia, 23, is the son of parents from India, and was born in Northridge, California. He had such a successful junior golf career (he won the Junior PGA twice and became the first high school player on a U.S. Walker Cup team) that he turned pro in 2019 and reached the Tour in 2023. He said being tied with Lee shows the youth movement coming on the PGA Tour. He was a first-time Players participant last year and Lee is in his third Players. "It's really cool," he said. "Obviously we had probably the youngest group in Players history [last year] with me, Nick [Dunlap] and Tommy [Kim]. So it's pretty amazing how young golf is getting and how many young players there are. It's refreshing to see. I feel like we're kind of the next generation of the Rorys and Scotties." McIlroy hit a wall on his back nine Speaking of McIlroy, he birdied the first hole when he holed out from the rough left of the green and proceeded to birdie every even-numbered hole on the back nine, including the 18th for the second day in a row. He was tied for the lead when turning, took the lead outright with a birdie at No. 11, but then failed to make another and bogeyed the ninth hole from the fairway when he got caught with a bad lie in the left rough. McIlroy is hoping that conditions that are predicted to bring more wind on the weekend come to pass, and his experience will be crucial. "I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I think it's going to be really important to try to flight your ball and keep it under the tree line. This course is challenging enough, but with a wind like that, yeah, I'm excited for that challenge.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
PGA Tour: Who are the First Coast, South Georgia players in the fields this week?
The PGA Tour moves to Orlando this week for the fourth Signature Event of the season. It's also the first week for doubling up on the schedule. While 47 of the top-50 players on the World Golf Rankings will be at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando vying for a $20 million purse, there are opportunities for players who didn't qualify for the tournament to cash in, albeit for a bit less, at the Puerto Rico Open — where the total purse of $4 million matches what the winner at Bay Hill will earn. Both tournaments begin Thursday. The winner in Puerto Rico will also get a bonus. If he's not already eligible, he will get a spot in The Players Championship next week at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Every player in the field at Bay Hill is already eligible for The Players next week or is likely to qualify off the 2025 FedEx Cup points list, except amateur Jackson Koivun. First Coast: Ludvig Aberg, Nico Echavarria, Billy Horschel. Golden Isles: Harris English, Ben Griffin, Brian Harman, Andrew Novak, J.T. Poston, Davis Thompson. Purse: $20 million ($4 million and 700 FedEx Cup points to the winner). Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler. TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 12:30-2:30 p.m.). NBC (Saturday-Sunday, 2:30-6:30 p.m.). First Coast: Bud Cauley, Vince Covello, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Lanto Griffin, Philip Knowles, Russell Knox, Ben Kohles, Carl Yuan. Golden Isles: Jonathan Byrd, Paul Peterson, Greyson Sigg. Purse: $4 million ($720,000 and 300 FedEx Cup points to the winner). Defending champion: Brice Garnett. TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2:30-5 p.m.). LIV Golf Event: LIV Golf Hong Kong, Thursday/Friday-Saturday/Sunday, Honk Kong Golf Club. Purse: $25 million ($4 million to the winner). Defending champion: Abraham Ancer. Area player: Cameron Smith. TV: FS1 (Thursday/Friday, 11 p.m.-3 a.m.); FS2 (Friday/Saturday, 11 p.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday/Sunday, 11:30 p.m.-3 a.m.). LPGA Event: Blue Bay LPGA, Wednesday/Thursday-Saturday/Sunday, Lake Blue Bay Golf Course, Hainan Island, China. Purse: $2.5 million ($330,000 to the winner). Defending champion: Bailey Tarde. Area players: Auston Kim, Jessica Porvasnik. TV: Golf Channel (Wednesday/Thursday-Saturday/Sunday, 11 p.m.-4 a.m.). PGA Tour Champions Event: Cologuard Classic, Friday-Sunday, La Paloma Country Club, Tucson, Ariz. Purse: $2.2 million ($330,000 to the winner). Defending champion: Joe Durant. Area players: David Duval, Fred Funk. TV: Golf Channel (Friday-Saturday, 5-7 p.m.; Sunday, 5-8 p.m.). Korn Ferry Tour Event: Astara Chile Classic, Thursday-Sunday, Prince of Wales Golf Club, Santiago, Chile. Purse: $1 million ($180,000 to the winner). Defending champion: Taylor Dickson. Area players: Tyson Alexander, Samuel Anderson, Chris Baker, Chandler Blanchet, Cody Blick, Sebastian Cappelen, Tano Goya, Luke Guthrie, Rick Lamb, Raul Pereda, Marcus Plunkett, Julian Suri, Thomas Walsh. TV: None. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour: First Coast, South Georgia players in this week's fields
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PGA Tour: Who are the First Coast and South Georgia players in Mexico Open field in Vallarta?
The PGA Tour's Mexico Open, which begins Thursday, will be a respite for the world's top players. After a busy West Coast Swing in Hawaii, California and Arizona – including three Signature Events – the field for this week's tournament at VidantaWorld in Vallarta lacks star power, with only three of the top 50 players on the World Golf Ranking in the field, No. 29 Aaron Rai, No. 30 Akshay Bhatia and No. 43 Rasmus Hojgaard. Sam Stevens, at No. 16, is the highest player on the FedEx Cup points list in the field, followed by No. 21 Patrick Rodgers, No. 27 Michael Kim, No. 34 Harry Hall and Bhatia at No. 37. But that leaves numerous opportunities for other players such as Jake Knapp, who won the tournament last year as a rookie. The field includes a pair of Nease graduates making their first PGA Tour starts after long layoffs due to injuries and status: Tyler McCumber (shoulder injury), who last played at the 2024 American Express, and Vince Covello (who has conditional Korn Ferry Tour status), who has played 100 Korn Ferry Tour events and last played on the PGA Tour at the 2020 Wyndham Championship. PGA Tour Champions Tour member Padraig Harrington is playing on a sponsor exemption. Twin brothers Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard, who also are in the field for the Masters in April. Blades Brown, who turned pro in January at the age of 17 and was the runnerup in the 2024 Junior Players Championship. First Coast: Fred Biondi, Ricky Castillo, Vince Covello, Ben Griffin, Lanto Griffin, Philip Knowles, Tyler McCumber, Vince Covello, Sam Ryder, Danny Walker. Golden Isles: Will Gordon, Patton Kizzire, Paul Peterson, Greyson Sigg. Purse: $7 million ($1,260,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner). Defending champion: Jake Knapp. TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m.); NBC (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.). What other Tours are playing this week? Event: Honda LPGA Thailand, Wednesday-Saturday/Sunday, Siam Country Club, Pattaya, Thailand. Purse: $1.7 million ($255,000 to the winner). Defending champion: Patty Tavatanakit. Area players: None. TV: Golf Channel (Wednesday/Thursday-Thursday/Friday, 10 p.m.-3 a.m.; Friday/Saturday-Saturday/Sunday, 10:30 p.m.-3:30 a.m.). This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour's Mexico Open: Lack of star power may present opportunities
