Edan Cui earns top seed at San Francisco City Championships

Edan Cui, a freshman at Crystal Springs Uplands School, earned the top-seed for the match-play portion of the San Francisco City Championships over the weekend.

Cui, a native of Atherton, Calif., was one of three golfers to finish the 36-hole qualifier with a 4-under 136 after carding rounds of 68 at TPC Harding Park and Lincoln Park Golf Course. Joey Hayden, a senior at De La Salle High School who will play his collegiate golf next year at Santa Clara, enters match play of the men's championship flight as the No. 2 seed while Matt Watkins, a junior at the Academy of the Art University in San Francisco, is seeded third.

Cui, 14, is building an impressive junior resume for himself. He won the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation World Teen Championship last July and followed with his first American Junior Golf Association victory at the UHY New York Junior Championship. Cui ended his summer by winning the AJGA Junior All-Star Tournament at Stanford with a 15-under par score of 205.

Amy Na, a sophomore at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, Calif., is the top seed in the women's championship flight.

The road to the men's championship is particularly grueling. Round of 64 and 32 matches will be contested next Saturday and Sunday, with quarterfinal and semifinals slayed for Saturday, April 2. The men's championship match will be decided over 36 holes on Sunday, April 3 at TPC Harding Park.

The San Francisco City Golf Championship, known affectionately to Bay Area golfers simply as "The City," was first played in 1917 and has been played every year thereafter, making it one of the longest consecutively contested amateur tournaments in America. With roughly 600 players annually, The City is also one of the last large municipal tournaments in the country. Competition takes place at TPC Harding Park and Lincoln Park golf courses where in keeping with tradition the ball is played down regardless of the weather.

The City has been a springboard for many amateurs who have gone on to play professionally. Past Champions include U.S. Open Champion Ken Venturi, PGA Champion Bob Rosburg, Masters Champion George Archer and U.S. Women’s Open Champion Juli Inkster.