Former Golf All-American Guerra Set to Make PGA Tour Debut

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Former Nova Southeastern University All-American golfer Juan Jose Guerra (JJ) is set to make his debut PGA Tour start, beginning on Thursday in the Dominican Republic at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
 
“Very excited for this week at my first PGA Tour event, been waiting for this for some years now and to finally be able to show my game alongside the best in the world feels great,” Guerra said. “NSU has helped me become a more mature player and I believe this will help me in the coming years when tournaments like this present themselves.”
 
Played Sept. 24-27 at the Corales Golf Course in Punta Cana, D.R., this week’s event features plenty of young talent and is a great place for Guerra to make his first mark at a PGA event. The course will play as a par 72, measuring 7,666 yards with paspalum greens. The tournament offers full FedExCup points to the winner. Hailing from 120 miles west of the course in Santo Domingo, Guerra won top honors in the grand final of the Canita Tour on this course in March, closing -6 under par in all four rounds of the event (70 + 66 + 73 + 73) for a total of 282 – earning his spot in this week’s PGA event.
 
Guerra becomes the first NSU graduate to make a PGA Tour appearance, with two-year player Ben Taylor making his debut in 2015. Taylor is also among the field this weekend in Punta Cana. Guerra will tee off at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, and Sharks can track his round HERE. The tournament is set to air on Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday, then Saturday and Sunday will appear on NBC.
 
“I am really looking forward to see how JJ will play this week,” NSU men’s golf coach Joey Marino said. “I know him and his family are very excited about the opportunity to make his first PGA tour start in his home country. He is a great player and he has been putting in a lot of work at our facility to prepare for this event. I Am very happy for him and his family, hope the putter gets hot and he has a chance to contend on Sunday.”
 
Selected to the 2019 Golf Coaches Association of America’s (GCAA) All-Nicklaus Team and a finalist for the Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, Guerra was a four-time All-America honoree with All-South Region and All-Sunshine State Conference honors in each season. Guerra earned individual medalist honors as 2018 SSC Champion. Notching his highest final national ranking at No. 7, Guerra reached as high as No. 2 nationally in his career, and his performances are very evident in the NSU record book. He ranks second in program history for tournament wins (5) and rounds of par of better (65), while leading the program in career birdies (496). When he registered a 60 in the second round of 2017’s The Battle at the Shores, he became only the ninth player at any level of the NCAA to reach that score, and secured the lowest round in NSU history – he owns the four lowest rounds for the Sharks program, in addition to the three best 54-hole totals in NSU history.
 
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