Biggadike Medals at San Francisco City

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Feb. 25, 2013) -- Someone once told me "Don't worry about what you shoot, nobody looks at the bottom of the leaderboard." But on San Francisco City Championship qualifying weekend, that couldn't be further from the truth. It seems like the bottom of the scoreboard is where the action is, especially now that the format has been reduced so that only 32 players make match play, as opposed to the 64 of years past. This year, 8 players sweated it out to see if 149 would make it, and while it did technically keep them alive, their hopes were down to an 8-for-1 playoff for the last spot. 16-year-old Ryan Gronlund of Pleasanton, a member of the "A" group that played Lincoln Park on Saturday and Harding Park on Sunday, took advantage of his location (players that finish at Lincoln have to drive to Harding for the playoff) and the fact that he had just finished on No 18 to emerge from the pack with a par at the 18th, the second playoff hole. Gronlund will face a tough customer in Andrew Biggadike of Belmont, who not only shot 140 to tie for the lowest qualifying score, but won a playoff of his own, for medalist honors against Tim Nelson. That playoff, which started on No. 18, ended there as Biggadike made par. Many of the usual suspects such as past champions Nick Ushijima (143) and Randy Haag (148) are sure to provide their opponents with all the golf they can handle. Defending Champion Cody Blick will not be in the field; his brother Connor can keep the title in the family after squeaking in at 148. 2012 Amateurgolf.com Tournament Series Co-Player of the Year Alex Franklin (with Randy Haag) finished in third at 142. Amateurgolf.com has compiled all qualifying scores in order of finish, and included an alpha list of all 154 players in the field courtesy of Jason Dobey and the staff at Harding Park. Good luck to all players in match play and look out for our photographer roaming the fairways.