As the San Francisco City Championship 36-hole qualifying rounds come to a close, the top of the leaderboard is all Hayden.
Joey Hayden and Jack Hayden of Dublin, Calif., both finished the qualifying 5-under overall to earn co-medalist honors by one shot over the field.
"I played steady golf," Joey Hayden said. "I was just trying not to give anything away. That is a lot of what the city tournament is about."
Joey Hayden is a junior at Santa Clara, and Jack Hayden is a freshman. Jack qualified from the pre-qualifying round. All participants played one round at TPC Harding Park and one round at Lincoln Park Golf Course.
"There is so much history," Joey Hayden said. "My grandpa and dad played in this. And I love the format; there aren't many tournaments like that anymore. To get to play match play at Harding Park is pretty good."
Joey won the 2024 NCGA Stroke Play championship.
And they know there is a chance they will see each other in the match play bracket.
"He is playing well, so hopefully, we won't meet each other early," Hayden joked about playing his brother.
David Leede of San Francisco, Calif., finished one shot back of the Hayden's at 4-under, and Adam Barkow of Oakland, Calif., finished in solo fourth place at 3-under.
There was a 7-for-2 playoff at 12-over to finalize the match play bracket, and Jayden Jew of San Francisco, Calif., and Roshan Chandra of Los Altos, Calif. made it through with two pars on holes No. 1 and 2.
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This is the 109th playing of the historic championship. This year, Lincoln Park Golf Course was brought back as a second course to the iconic TPC Harding Park. Lincoln Park is where the tournament was founded in 1916 and features unmatched views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay.
It also has one of the most scenic par-3s in the world, No. 17.
Past champions include 1964 US Open Champion Ken Venturi, 1999 US Women's Open Champion Julie Inkster, and 1969 Masters Champion George Archer. More recently, LPGA Tour player Dorothy Delasin* of Daly City (winner of the 1998 US Junior Girls Championship and 1999 US Women's Amateur) claimed the Women's City Championship in 1998.