Barret Dowling of San Francisco, Calif., and Giulio Zanichelli of San Francisco, Calif., each shot a first-round bogey-free 6-under 66 to tie at the top of the leaderboard of the pre-qualifier for the San Francisco 2024 Men's Championship at Presidio Golf Course.

There were 38 spots to get into the 36-hole weekend qualifier at Presidio Golf Course and Harding Park.

"It was the round of my life," Dowling said. "It was just one of those days. I can't explain it. It felt easy, which golf never does, so I embraced it. I was 5-under through 17 holes, and I knew I had a chance at the round of my life. I had a 12-footer for birdie (on No. 18), and it went right in the middle.

Dowling added that it was his "lowest score ever in general and in a tournament."

Barret Dowling

Dowling has been waiting for this tournament, as he played for the first time last year, where he was playing well and then hit his tee shot out of bounds on hole No. 12 and made a triple bogey. 

Dowling is from Seattle but has been in San Francisco working for Brighton Jones. He has a vast resume, working as a bicycle repairman in Maui and a commercial fisherman in Alaska, and he spent a year studying abroad at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria.

For Zanichelli, it was his first time playing in this event. Zanichelli currently plays for the Academy of the Arts University and hails from Northern Italy. 

"It was a good round, and I was happy because the hard work is paying off," Zanichelli said. 

Zanichelli added, "I played pretty strong off the tee and tried to improve my second shots and putting, but today, everything was strong. I'm happy that I get to play this weekend and I am going to try to play well and have some fun."

Jackson Suh of San Francisco, Calif., Grant Johnson of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Matthew Lin of Orinda, Calif., finished T3 at 4-under. 

In the playoff, Kevin Dexter of San Francisco, Calif., Jacob Boyce of Fairfield, Calif., Brandon Pantaleon of San Jose, Calif., and Khai deSpretter of Rio Vista, Calif., survived a 7 for 4 playoff to move on and finish T35 at 6-over. Pantaleon, who turns 16 on March 22nd, holed a 30-footer to advance. The playoff hole was the par-5 No. 10. 

Eleven golfers shot even par or better, and six golfers shot rounds in the 60s.