Haag vs. Knoll highlights semis at San Francisco City Senior

Only four men remain in the senior division of the San Francisco City Championship, but there will be no easy pass to the championship match no matter what corner of the bracket you look at.

If there’s an upper hand to be had at TPC Harding Park, then Randy Haag has it. Haag, the 60-year-old from Orinda, Calif., has a strong history in this event. He is not only the defending champion in this division, but also won the senior title in 2016. He won the championship division in 1999.

After taking the No. 1 seed in stroke-play qualifying, Haag skated into the Round of 16 with a 6-and-5 victory. He won his next two matches by smaller margins but arrived at the semifinals nonetheless.

Haag is a four-time NCGA Player of the Year as well as a member of the NCGA Hall of fame, but his next opponent will likely be his toughest. He will face off against Jim Knoll, another of the NCGA’s most decorated players.

Knoll is a former PNGA Senior Amateur champion (2014) and U.S. Senior Amateur semifinalist (2012). He is the No. 21 seed in this event, but after a 19-hole scare against Jeff Britton in the Round of 16, has continued to advance through the bracket.

Consider Haag vs. Knoll the marquee senior match-up, but on the bottom of the bracket, Andrew Gabelman and Steve Schroeder will also be a tough contest.

Gabelman is a 60-year-old veteran of nearly a dozen USGA championships who also competed in this year’s Stocker Cup.

Schroeder, meanwhile, played the 1989 and 1990 U.S. Open, missing the cut both times, and was runner-up at the 2014 San Francisco City Senior Championship.

Both senior matches will be played Saturday March 16. In the super senior division, however, the bracket will be whittled from eight men to four on Wednesday March 13. Ely Orquiza already took down top-seeded Mark Miller in the opening match, 2 and 1, but No. 2 seeded Stuart Francis remains.