First round of match play complete at San Francisco City Championship

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 2, 2013) -- The first round of match play is complete at the 2013 San Francisco City Championship and a number of matches went the distance --- and then some at TPC Harding Park.

Six matches went at least 18 holes, including five that needed extra golf to settle things.

Stroke-play medalist and top-seeded Andrew Biggadike needed 23 of them to knock off No. 32 Ryan Gronlund. Gronlund, the 16- year-old from Pleasanton, prevailed out of an eight- player playoff in last week's qualifier.

The top seed on the other half of the bracket also won. Tim Nelson knocked off Connor Blick 3-and-2 to advance to Sunday's round of 16 matches. Connor is the brother of 2012 champion Cody Blick.

In a matchup of two of the region's top players and the reigning amateurgolf.com Tournament Series co- Players of the Year, No. 3 seed Alex Franklin knocked off Northern California amateur legend Randy Haag, 3-and-1.

Justin Suh, seeded sixth, knocked off Jay Burlinson, 3-2, while No. 7 William Brueckner took down Stephen Molinelli, 2- and-1.

The ninth seed, Nick Ushijima, prevailed over Tanner Hughes, 3-and-2 while No. 10 Luke Vivolo took down Andrew Buchanan easily, winning 5-and-3 and t No. 11, Justin Paglia needed 19 holes to eliminate No. 22 Tommy Semeraux. Finally, M.J. Morin, seeded 16th, knocked off Esan Geroux in 19 holes.

Seven of the opening-round matches resulted in upsets.

At the top of the bracket, No. 4 Andrew Roberts was the highest seed to go down in early action. He fell to No. 29 Isaiah Salinda, 6-and-5.

No. 5 Andrew Morgan also fell victim to an upset, taking a 19-hole defeat at the hands of No. 28 Nicholas Rogers.

Eighth-seeded Nicholas Noya lost to No. 25 Austin Roberts, 8-and-7 while No. 12 Ryan Maund was also upset, falling to No. 21 Cameron Shaw in 18 holes.

No. 13 Hayden Shieh fell to a higher seed. The red-hot Shintaro Ban, who leads the amateurgolf.com California Player of the Year Points Race early on, dispatched of Shieh, 3-and-2, despite being seeded 20th.

No. 14 Brandon Baumgarten fell to No. 19 Josh Levin in 19 holes. while No. 18 Jimmy Castles defeated 15th-seeded Maxwell Plank, 4-and-3.

Match play continues Sunday morning at Harding Park with the Round of 16. Quarterfinal, semifinal and championship-round action will continue next weekend.

Amateurgolf.com will continue to provide coverage as the San Francisco City Championships move on. For more coverage on the Seniors and Women's events, click the following links: Seniors | Womens