An Irish celebration following Daniel Connolly's win at the San Francisco City Championship
Randy Haag photo
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 13, 2016) -- The
longest running city championship in the country
concluded its 100th event Sunday with Daniel
Connolly taking the historic title.
Connolly, a resident of San Francisco, defeated
Noah Shiekh 3-and-1 in the 36-hole championship
match hosted by TPC Harding Park. The win
concluded a long month of golf for Connolly that
began with rounds of 71, 76 to earn the 13th match
play seed.
Several of those rounds required serious
comebacks, and the final was no different.
The Stuart Hall high school senior found himself
2 down with three to play in his opening match
against Bryan Baumgarten. Connolly rallied to force
extra holes and matched Baumgarten's three
consecutive birdies on the first three playoff holes,
eventually pulling out the match on the 22nd hole.
A 4&3 win over Aaron Chen in the round of
16 and and a 2-up win over Ben Peters in the semi's
further exemplified Connolly's strong play. Although
St. Patrick's day is around the corner, the Irish
Connolly certainly relied more on his golfing ability
than Irish luck in his final match.
Once again down on a rainy San Francisco day,
vs. the 6 foot 7 Noah Sheikh, Connolly squared the
match, relying on his foul weather play and sheer
determination to square the match, then pull ahead.
“It was pretty brutal out there,” Connolly told
the San Francisco Chronicle. “But to me, it’s kind of
cool; it’s what makes this event unique. You play no
matter what.”
And having his father Martin, the owner of the
most popular Irish bar and restaurant in San
Francisco (Johnny Foley's) on the bag
surely didn't hurt.
The elder Connolly, worn out from a weekend of
caddying, called the weekend magical.
"[It was] very surreal to be a part of
it," he said.
The family had a strong contingency of Irish
golfers and friends in the gallery, including Kitt
Flood, whose brother Ronan caddies for Padraig
Harrington on the PGA Tour. Many of the gallery play
just across Lake Merced at The Olympic Club, known
for its Irish contingency of members. (Notably,
Another Olympic Club member, Randy Haag, won the
Senior Championship.)
Connolly won the match in fashion, with a
downhill, 20 foot putt on the 35th hole, Harding
Park's par-3 17th.
|
Daniel
Connolly (Steve Lewis photo) |
The win the biggest in Daniel's young amateur
career that includes two U.S. Junior Amateur
appearances. In 2013 he recorded a big win at the
AmateurGolf.com Christmas Classic,
where, at age 16, he shot a shocking 8-under 64 in
the final round to grab the title against a field of
collegiate players.
We've been paying attention ever since.
Look out for Connolly as he starts his freshman
year at SMU this fall.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
The 100th playing of the San Francisco City
Championship was dedicated to 1982 champion Ray
Pellegrini (1952-2015), a San Francisco golfing
legend. Pellegrini played in 45 consecutive San
Francisco City Championships, qualifying for an
amazing 40 in a row. Visit the Ray Pellegrini
tribute page.
ABOUT THE
San Francisco City Men's Championship
>> The weekend qualifier is now closed, except for exempt players. Please email Info@SFGolfChampionship.com to register as an exempt player. Or, you may enter the Pre-Qualifier by clicking the link below>>
PRE-QUALIFIER REGISTRATION
TOUR
PORTAL (coming soon)
*An NCGA Points Tournament*
**
Entry Procedure:
Registration opens for all players on
October 1. There will be 50 spots held for
exempt
players under the following
categories:
* The past 10 years of the San Francisco City
Golf
Champions
* 2024 San Francisco City Men’s
Championship
Match Play Qualifiers
* Top 20 men’s 2023-2024 NCGA Points
Lists
* 2024 NCGA Champions (Amateur, Mid-
Amateur,
Junior)
* The top 3 finishers in each of the 6
AmateurGolf.com Winter
Tour
events (Dec 2024-Feb 2025)
Registration for exempt players, and for non-
exempt
players with a handicap index
of
6.4 or lower as of the date of
entry, opens on October 1 and will
remain
open until the field limit (120 players including
spots
reserved for exempt players)
is reached. When the field limit is reached, all
additional registrants will be entered in
the
pre-qualifier at Lincoln Park on Friday,
March 7,
2025.
Once entries close, if there are any unfilled
spots in
the Men's Championship (due to
fewer than 50 exempt players registering
or withdrawals), they will be filled by Pre-
Qualifier
registrants in the order in which
they registered.
Players entering pre-qualifying will pay an
entry fee
of $165 for the pre-qualifier, and
those
advancing from the pre-qualifier will pay the
remainder of the entry fee (must be paid
prior to playing).
The 36-hole match play qualifier will be held
March
8-9, 2025, with
18 holes played at TPC Harding Park and 18
holes at Lincoln Park for a combined 36-hole qualifying
score.
There will be 156 players in the qualifying
round with
64 players advancing to match play. When all
qualifying has been completed, the Men’s
Championship Flight will consist of 64
contestants.
In the event of a playoff to qualify for
match
play, a
player must be present in order to retain his
right
to participate in the playoff.
Match play will begin on March 15, 2025. All
match play for the Championship Flight (Mar
15-16,
22-23) will be held
at TPC Harding Park.
A schedule of all dates of
play can be found on the tournament website
sfgolfchampionship.com.
WITHDRAWALS AND REFUND
POLICY
Players needing to withdraw should do so by
filling
out the form at
sfgolfchampionship.com/contact/. Players withdrawing
before
the entry deadline of
February 18
will
receive a
refund of their entry fee minus
$50.
There will be no refunds after the
entry
deadline.
CART POLICY
The use of carts is prohibited for players and
caddies
in the Men’s Championship Flight (Appendix I
– Local
Rule
Applies)
SPECIAL OFFER TO SF CITY PLAYERS:
SF City
players get 50% off Strackaline Yardage
Books! CLICK HERE for
details
The oldest municipal tournament in the USA.
Match
play event with scratch men's, senior men’s,
women's, senior women’s, and open flight
divisions.
Past champions include Ken Venturi, Harvie
Ward,
Juli Inkster, Bob Rosburg, George Archer, and
Dorothy Delasin. Some of the “non winners”
include
Tom Watson and Johnny Miller. Click the
“history” tab
for more about this wonderful event.
View Complete Tournament Information