Domingo Jojola won three matches this weekend (Photo by Mike Benham, for AmateurGolf.com)
After a long weekend at TPC Harding Park, the Men's Championship is down to the final four players, setting up a final weekend which will crown a first-time champion.
Three matches were played over the weekend -- one Saturday and two Sunday -- paring the field from 32 down to four semifinalists.
Normally, the match play field for the San Francisco City is 64, but the field was compressed, and the tournament played earlier this year, due to preparations for the PGA Championship which will be held at TPC Harding Park in May. It will be the first-ever major hosted by Harding Park.
The upside to the changes is the conditioning of the golf course. As two-time senior champion
Jim Knoll attested (and he has played his fair share of City championships), it may be the best playing conditions ever seen for this championship. "What a privilege to able to play a course as it prepares itself for a major championship," said Knoll. "Most of us will never have this opportunity again!"
Domingo Jojola, the No. 32 seed who got into the match play on the qualifying number, won his three matches to reach the semifinal round. On Saturday, he got a big win over the qualifying medalist and 2018 champion
Jason Anthony, 2 and 1. Then on Sunday, he really got on a roll, winning on the 13th hole in the morning and then on the 15th hole in the afternoon against Ty Macias.
Related: Jason Anthony earns Medalist honors at San Francisco City
Jojola will face
Michael Jensen, the No. 4 seed who cruised Saturday 5 and 4, and then on Sunday got a 2 and 1 win over Ryan Grauman and a 4 and 3 win over Sam Harris.
Tony Verna made the semifinals for the second-straight year. Last year he lost to the eventual champion
Evan Peterson, but hopes to succeed him as champion this year. After narrow wins on the 19th hole and 2 up, Verna got it going Sunday afternoon with a 5 and 4 win over Andrew Biggadike.
Related: Peterson finds his inner fire in winning San Francisco City
Verna will face first-time City championship participant
Charles Porter, who played 37 holes on Sunday but pulled out both matches to reach the semis. He edged out
Alex Chin on the 19th hole in a tight battle on Sunday afternoon.
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Alex Chin (Mike Benham photo)
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Former California Amateur champion
Bobby Bucey, a semifinalist here a year ago, fell in his second round match to Chin.
Women's Championship
The women were the last group to start their championship, with stroke play qualifying held on Saturday and the first round of matches played on Sunday.
Leigh Chien was the qualifying medalist, shooting the only under-par round, a 2-under 70. Faith Low was second with an even-par 72 but took the No. 3 seed into match play as the defending champion, Danielle Suh, was seeded No. 2.
The top 16 players qualified for the Championship bracket, while the next 16 made the Inskter Flight bracket.
Eight players remain after a couple of surprises that saw both Suh and Low lose their matches. One thing is for certain though -- youth will be served next weekend. Every remaining player is a teenager, with Andrea Gomez the oldest at the age of 18.
ABOUT THE San Francisco City Championship
*An NCGA Points Tournament*
**
New Entry Procedure for 2024: Registration will open 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
* 2023 San Francisco City Men’s Championship Match Play Qualifiers
* Top 20 men’s 2022-2023 NCGA Points Lists
* 2023 NCGA Champions (Amateur, Mid-Amateur, Junior)
* The top 3 finishers in each of the 6
AmateurGolf.com Winter Tour
events
Registration for exempt players, and for non-exempt players with a handicap index
of
6.4 or lower as of the date of entry, will open 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 Presidio Golf Club on Friday, March 8, 2024.
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 $150 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 9-10, 2024, with
18 holes played at TPC Harding Park and 18 holes at Presidio Golf
Course 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 16, 2024. All
match play for the Championship Flight 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 19 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)
ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO CITY
CHAMPIONSHIP
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