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SF City Championship: Round 1 Match Play Results
- The Cal Golden Bear defeated Jim Porter, 3&2
- The Cal Golden Bear defeated Jim Porter, 3&2

By Matt Foley, exclusive to amateurgolf.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 18, 2006) –Stormy skies and wet conditions dampened the Harding Park fairways, but not the spirits of the 64 golfers who teed off today as match play rounds began in the SF City Championship.

Competitors battled several flurries of rain and hail in the afternoon after the morning had stayed fairly cold, but dry. The greens, though, held up to all that Mother Nature could dish out and managed to roll true most of the day.

Tournament Notes:

- Joseph Bramlett, the Medalist during qualifiers, was able to make it off the course before the foul weather really took hold. He continued his impressive run with a 7&6 win over Richard Castanon. The Stanford bound senior did not have what he considered his best round, but he managed to avoid any costly mistakes.

- Christopher Wilderotter of Oakland advanced 1up over Purdue bound Ryan Thomas in a match that needed all 18 holes to decide a winner. All Square going into the final hole, Thomas found trouble in the trees off the tee which forced him to punch out to safety. Wilderotter was able to hold him off, and will now advance to face Bramlett in the Round of 32.

- Once again much of the talk today centered around 14 year old Martin Trainer. In a see-saw affair, Trainer managed a 1up win over Elliot Wainwright, a match that did not see him take the lead until the 11th hole. After losing the lead again after 14, Trainer battled back to take a 1up lead after 17, and Wainwright had his 35 foot putt on 18 roll just an inch left that would have sent the match into extra holes. The Gunn High School Freshman moves on to play Justin Madison of San Jose State.

- Justin Madison cruised to a 6&5 win over Scott Gilgallon. The San Jose State Senior will be heading to Q School and the Canadian Tour later this spring. But first up he has 14 year old phenom Martin Trainer in what should be one of the feature matches in the Round of 32. Gilgallon did pull off one of the shots of the day on the par 4 13th. After receiving relief from dirt near the cart path, he was able to thread a 3 wood out of the rough and through the maze of trees and landed it 15 feet from the cup. Unfortunately that only earned him a halve of the hole.

- Cal Golden Bear Brandon Beck survived a topsy-turvy match-up with Jim Porter of Vacaville. Porter started out extremely hot, holing from off the green and taking a 2up lead early on. Beck, however, stayed strong and managed to pull away thanks to a string of birdies on the back nine. He finished with a 3&2 victory following his back to back pars on 15 and 16. He advances to face Keigo Painter of Burlingame.

- Keigo Painter never trailed en route to a 5&3 win over impressive youngster Josh Bleyle of Mill Valley. Bleyle battled Harding Park and the wet conditions in his comfortable running shoes. Painter was equally impressive on the day, playing solid golf that never allowed his opponent an opening.

- Perhaps the upset of the day came from the #4/#61 match-up. Rob Frye, who advanced to match play during extra hole qualifying, upset 5 time SF City Champ Gary Vanier 2&1. Frye secured the win with a birdie on 17, thanks to a masterful tee shot that took a fortuitous hop off the ridge in front of the green and rolled to within 4 feet.

- In the tightest match of the day, Taylor Travis of Fremont needed 3 extra holes to finally fend off John Enright of Montara.

- While many matches ended early, leaving several twosomes to navigate the course down the stretch, at least one foursome had all four competitors battling it out to the wire. Jeff Hamm used a late comeback to down Phillip Herrera. Hamm trailed 1down on 16, but pulled out the 1up win. In the same foursome, Blake Yu and Michael Donnelly headed to 16 All Square, with Donnelly holding on for a 1up win.

RESULTS:

- Men's Championship Match Play Tree - Click Here>
- Women's Championship Qualifying, Story and Results>
- Senior Division Results>

ABOUT THE San Francisco City Men's Championship

>> 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


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.

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