PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (Jan. 10, 2013) --
Michael Brannan, an exceptional
amateur golfer in Northern California for the
past four decades, passed
away late Tuesday night at age 57 after a
battle with cancer. The Alamo
resident, who just nine months earlier won the
51st NCGA Senior
Championship had four NCGA majors to his
credit, which also included an
NCGA Junior (1973), an NCGA Four-Ball
Championship (1973, with partner
Jim Lathum) and an NCGA Amateur Match Play
title (1976).
Moreover, Brannan is one of just 14 golfers to
have claimed multiple
California State Amateur Championships,
winning in 1973 and 1976, and
losing in the 1974 final. He is also just one of
12 champions to have won a
California State Amateur and earned medalist
honors in the same year.
Brannan, a Salinas resident in his youth,
dominated the Northern California
golf scene in the early 1970s having won three
NCGA Player of the Year
awards (1973, 1974 and 1976) all before his
22nd birthday.
Maybe most impressive of all though was
Brannan’s success at U.S. Junior
Amateurs. At the 1971 U.S. Junior Amateur at
the Manor CC in Rockville,
Md., Brannan beat Robert Steele 4 & 3 in the
final. With the win he
became the youngest player ever to win the
title at 15 years old and
eight months. That record would stand for 20
years until 1991, when a
golfer by the name of Tiger Woods won the
title at 15 years old and six
months. After losing in the first round of match
play in 1972, Brannan
came close to adding a second U.S. Junior
Amateur title in 1973, losing in
the final to Jack Renner in 20 holes. In the
semifinals Brannan beat future
U.S. Open Champion Scott Simpson.
He enrolled at Brigham Young University in
Provo, Utah from 1974-1978
where he was a four-time All-American and All-
Western Athletic
Conference. Brannan was named a third team
All-American his freshman
and junior years, and a first team All-American
his sophomore and senior
years. During his tenure at BYU, Brannan
additionally made it to the
quarterfinals of the 1977 U.S. Amateur and
was a member of the winning
U.S. Walker Cup team at Shinnecock Hills. One
of the highest honors an
amateur golfer can receive, only four other
Northern California residents
have earned a spot on the Walker Cup team:
Charles Seaver (1932),
Lawson Little (1934), Ken Venturi (1953) and
Nathaniel Crosby (1983).
After completing college, Brannan turned
professional and played several
years on the PGA Tour. He had four top 10
finishes in his career with a
runner-up performance at the 1979 Houston
Open. Additionally, Brannan
competed in three U.S. Opens and the 1978
Masters.
Brannan regained his amateur status in the
late 1980s and continued to
play at a high level golf, making it to the
semifinals of the 1989 U.S.
Amateur and the quarterfinals the following
year in 1990.
