Mikey Burkland’s day ended much better than it started.
At 6:00 am, on his way to the course from his hometown of Alama on the Bay Bridge, Burkland got a flat just as he approached the Fremont Street exit.
“I felt a loss of traction just as I got off the bridge,” said Burkland. “Fortunately, I could get off and park the car in a safe place."
Burkland quickly summoned his caddie, who was following him, to pick him up and asked his dad for help taking care of the car. He made it to the course, won his first match over Matthew Lin of Orinda in sudden death, and went out for the semifinals in the afternoon without barely taking a breath or stopping for lunch. Still hot from the extra-hole win, Burkland went out strong and defeated Ryan Vaughan to advance to Sunday’s 36-hole final.
Vaughan was complimentary of his opponent's play and took his semifinal defeat in stride.
“I was just looking to make match play when I entered,” he said, taking stock of his solid run at the title.
On the other side of the Men's Championship bracket, AJ Fitzgerald of Salinas took out a very solid opponent in Giulio Zanichelli of Parma, Italy, who plays for the Academy of Art in San Francisco. The duo played neck-and-nick through the front nine, with Fitzgerald leading by a hole at the turn. Then he birdied No. 10 to go 2-up, and never relinquished the lead, closing out the match on No. 16 after Zanichelli lost control of a couple of tee shots.
Still, the tournament has seen a number of Irish players make solid runs towards the championship, but never (to this author's knowledge) has a native of Italy gone so far.
In the Women's Championship division, tomorrow's final match will see Darla May Dela Torre go up against Nicola Kaminski of Los Gatos. Mark Sanchez will play defending champ Randy Haag for the Senior title, while Matt Vucicevich will play Ray Kong in the Super Senior final.
Many other flights are being contested on Sunday, and spectators are welcome at TPC Harding Park. Use the results link to see the updated brackets.