- Frankie Albelda photo, for amateurgolf.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 6, 2011) --
Round-of-16 matches were played Sunday at
Harding Park, and defending champion George
Gandranata advanced to the quarterfinals with
a 3-and-1 victory over the very solid Kevin
Wentworth, a player from Arnold who qualified
for two national USGA Championships in 2010.
The qualifying medalist, Patrick Grimes,
was defeated today by Cal Berkeley player
Brandon Hagy, 3 and 1. Hagy has performed
well in the clutch this year; he eagled the final
hole to win the New Years Invitational in
Florida in January and pick up a national
"major" amateur win.
Randy Haag's back probably could have
used a better preparation for today's match
than the 25 hole marathon it took him to
defeat another solid Cal player, Jamie Core on
Saturday. Still, Haag, at age 52 and playing a
field with competitors often half his age, went
19 holes with Jack Persons, the 29 seed before
bowing out. Persons holed a clutch 8-foot
"make or go home" putt on No. 18 to force the
match to sudden-death; on the 19th hole
(Harding's 1st) Haag made bogey after going
for the back-right pin and finding the soggy
bunker.
"I'm not sure what's going on in the
universe," said a bemused Haag, "but the last
five matches I have played [starting with the
Olympic Club Championship, ed.] have gone
extra holes."
And for those that don't know Jack
Persons, Haag said the 18-year-old may have
the perfect match play short game for the
demands of Harding Park and San Francisco
weather. Playing on greens that often required
drops away from casual water, Persons'
putting style matches his all-around solid short
game.
"He gets up, aligns his putter in front of
the ball, doesn't take a practice stroke and
smoothly rolls it," said Haag.
It's certainly anyone's game in match play,
but with Hagy and Gandranata on opposite
sides of the bracket it's very possible we could
see a Cal sophomore (Hagy) vs. Cal Alumnus
(Gandranata, '09) final.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Many players noticed a very professional-
looking photographer and thought he was from
one of the local publications like The San
Francisco Chronicle. Not so, that was Frank
Albelda of Alameda, on assignment for
amateurgolf.com. To view his photo gallery,
visit our Facebook page. While
you don't have to "like" our page, we would
really appreciate if you would.
previously reported:
* * * SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 5,
2011) -- The first round of match play in the
San Francisco City Championship got underway
today at San Francisco's historic Harding Park
Golf Course.
Defending champion George Gandranata
was solid in defeating Stephen Molinelli of the
Olympic Club, 5 and 4. Molinelli enjoys Harding
Park almost as much as his home course and is
never an easy opponent there, but
Gandranata, as evidenced in this fantastic
photo by Frank Albelda, came out determined.
Medalist Patrick Grimes defeated Taylor
Bromley, 4 and 3.
Michael Vera and Ricky Stockton battled
through extra holes, with Stockton coming out
on top on the 2nd extra hole.
And the match of the day was one that
shows why golf is great - current division one
golfer Jamie Core (Cal Berkeley) went 25 holes
with 2010 NCGA Player of the Year Randy
Haag, 52 with this one going the way of the
veteran Haag.
Round two gets underway on Sunday. To
view stories about the senior and women's
divisions, see "regional news" on the right side
of the page. A match play bracket for the
men's division is available by clicking on the link
below.
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