At the end of a blustery day, a wind-beaten Daniel Connolly was left hoisting the trophy after he defeated Michael Carrillo in a playoff to win the 95th playing of one of the oldest amateur tournaments in the nation.
The native San Franciscan got off to a dream start by making birdies on his first two holes. He erased a bogey on the fourth with two more birdies on holes 6 and 8 to turn at 3-under 33.
With the winds increasing in strength, Connolly was in survival mode on the back nine and it looked for the most part he was going to do just that as he stood on the 18th tee box with a two-stroke lead over Carrillo, a semifinalist at this year's San Francisco City Golf Championships who carded a final round 70 to finish at 2-under.
Connolly made things more interesting than they needed to be as a stong head wind led to an errant drive into the fairway bunker and a double bogey six, dropping him into a playoff with Carrillo at 2-under.
As misery loves company, Connolly's playing partner, Barber, also three-putted the final hole to finish one stroke out of the playoff at 1-under.
The playoff was shortlived, however, as Connolly only needed a par 5 on Corica's opening hole to add another impressive win to his resume, which includes victories at the 2016 San Francisco City Golf Championships and the 2017 and 2021 NCGA Stroke Play Championship.
The conditions were difficult Sunday afternoon with steady winds over 20 mph and justs up to 30," said Connolly. "That combined with greens running at about 12 on the stimp made for quite the challenge.
"I got off to a nice start birdieing my first two holes and played good golf on the front nine, finishing at 3-under. Winds picked up more so on the back nine, and a few holes in particular were quite difficult with strong cross winds. I hit a few errant shots, but hung in there.
"It's an honor to win this historic event that is one of the majors of amateur golf in the Bay Area."
Teeing off an hour before the leaders, Zack Missigman carded the lowest round of the day with a 4-under 68 which moved him 38 spots up the leaderboard into a three-way tie for third place with Barber and Matt Thorton.
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Division Winners
Seniors: Randy Haag; 142 (-2); 72-70
Super Seniors: Frank Apodaca; 141 (-1); 71-70
Legends: David Hemrick; 154 (+10); 78-76
Women: Darla May Dela Torre; 141 (-3); 71-70
