San Francisco City: Soicher and VanderVeer Among Leaders

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 4, 2017) -- Cold, wet, and windy conditions greeted players for the start of the 101st annual San Francisco City Championship. Not a single under-par round was had at the 5,416 yard Lincoln Park Golf Course. However, even-par rounds of 68 were shot by five players including: Menlo Park's Tucker Kenny, San Francisco native Stephen Sparolini, Brian Ma of Milpitas, Isaiah Choi of San Ramon, and Ben Soicher of Milly Valley. Soicher, a 14-year-old who impressed us with an 8th-place finish at the AmateurGolf.com Wine Country Cup last weekend, tallied three birdies and three bogeys on the day. His most impressive birdie came on the 240 yard par-3 16th where he hit driver short of the green and pitched it in for birdie. It was only the second birdie on the hole for the day. Leading the pack at Harding Park were a trio of players including: St. Mary's freshman Dylan Vanderveer, Orinda's Brendon Choe, and Los Gatos native Cameron Henry. Vanderveer's round included a three-hole stretch of 4-under after birdies on 7 and 8 followed by an eagle on the par-5 9th. Henry and Choe each played very steady, tallying two birdies and one bogey on the day. Players will swap courses for tomorrow's round which will be followed by a cut to the low 64 players for match play. Last year the cut fell at 153 (+13) and it looks like this year is on track for a similar number. The average score at Lincoln Park today was just under 76 while Harding's average was 78.6. Defending champion Daniel Connolly is not the field, leaving the number one match play seed up for grabs tomorrow.