Golf Plus | Florida State Mid-Amateur begins this week at famed Sara Bay Country Club

The Florida State Golf Association's State Mid-Amateur arrives at Sara Bay Country Club this week. The tournament starts Thursday with the first of two stroke play rounds. The top 32 scores following Friday's second round qualify for the match play portion of the event. Matches start Friday afternoon, then continue Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon before the semifinals and championship match are held Sunday. To be eligible to compete, golfers must be 25-years-old-and-older. Spectators are welcomed to attend. Bradenton's Timothy Roberts, Bradenton's Matt Wells and The Concession Golf Club's membership director Alan Pope are the lone Manatee County representatives in the field.

Lakewood Ranch alum Danny Walker logged a tie for ninth place in his last college golf tournament, the DICK'S Sporting Goods Collegiate Cup Challenge, in late September at The Golf Club of Tennessee in Nashville. Walker, a University of Virginia sophomore, fired a 1-under par 212 total over three rounds to help the Cavaliers force a playoff with Vanderbilt. The Commodores beat the Cavs in the playoff, and then edged UVA 3-2 in the match play portion of the tournament. Following the 54-hole stroke play format, teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference were paired up with counterparts of similar standing from the Southeastern Conference in a Conference Challenge Cup competition. The ACC defeated the SEC, 15 1/2-14 1/2.

The 18th annual Bradenton City Amateur Championship is scheduled for Nov. 7-8 at River Run Golf Links. The entry fee for the 36-hole weekend tournament is $85, and it includes greens fees, tee prizes, continental breakfast both days and lunch at the awards ceremony following the final round. Cart fees are an additional $15 per day. The entry deadline is Nov. 4. The format is individual stroke play, which is then flighted after the first round. For more information, contact the River Run pro shop at 708-8459.

Web.com Tour Qualifying School is in session with the first stage beginning at four different venues this week. Several Bradenton-based golfers are at the Grasslands Golf & Country Club in Lakeland, which began the first stage on Tuesday and concludes the event Friday. Only three Bradenton golfers, Charles Wang, Scott Lamb and Steve Sowards, are inside the top-23 through the halfway point. The top 23 and ties advance to the second stage, which will be held at various venues across the country next month. At the Grasslands, Wang, an amateur, is tied for 11th place with a 7-under par total. Lamb is one shot back of that mark, while Sowards is on the cut line of 5-under par through 36 holes.

At ArborLinks in Nebraska, Lakewood Ranch's Jared Kobren sits with a 1-over par 145 total through two rounds of play. As of press time Wednesday, Kobren was tied for 35th place. Only the top 24 golfers and ties advance from the ArborLinks site.

HOLES-IN-ONE

On Tuesday at University Park Country Club, Beckie Suverkrup aced the 98-yard fifth hole with a 7-iron. Witnesses were Judy Leto, Liz Greenawalt and Mary Bennett.

-- Jason Dill, Herald sports reporter

This story was originally published October 7, 2015 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Golf Plus | Florida State Mid-Amateur begins this week at famed Sara Bay Country Club ."