Nicole Iniakov picks her ball out of the hole on No. 9 after making a birdie
Nicole Iniakov of Prunedale, Calif., Iniakov took advantage of the warmest day of the year in San Francisco and was the lone golfer to break 70 at the 2024 San Francisco City Women's Championship at Presidio Golf Course. Iniakov shot 3-under 69 to best the field by two shots.
Iniakov is a junior in high school and is committed to playing collegiate golf, but that announcement will come later. The junior plays out of The Club at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas, Calif., and occasionally at Bayonet Black Horse.
Iniakov started on the back nine, birding her first hole, and made three total birdies before making the turn and making two birdies on the front nine coming into the clubhouse.
Taylor Baker of Sacramento, Calif., and Emily Luo of Danville, Calif., finished T2 and two shots back of Iniakov at 1-over. Darla May Dela Torre of Fairfield, Calif., finished in solo fourth place at even par, and Sydney Silva of Castro Valley, Calif., finished in solo fifth place at 1-over.
Iniakov did a little bit of everything in the round, even putting with the pin in the final hole, No. 9, to help pace of play after a ruling on the hole. Pin in or out, she poured in her fifth birdie of the day and finished birdie-birdie on holes Nos. 8 and 9 to get to 3-under.
"My biggest aspiration is to play LPGA, but there are a lot of stepping stones, and I want to have a great summer this year and play in some bigger amateur tournaments and play well in them," Iniakov said. "I am just excited to keep going."
However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows in the round as she hit a 9-iron to a foot but missed the putt. She also recorded a four-putt in the round.
"It was a lot of up and down today but mostly up, which is always fun," Iniakov said.
In the Senior Division, Christy Atencio of Reno, Nev., finished at the top of the leaderboard at 10-over 82, besting the field by seven shots. Claire Chang of Palo Alto, Calif., finished in solo second place at 17-over, and Lynn Couillard of Irvine, Calif., finished in solo third place at 18-over.
A four-for-two playoff determined the 15th and 16th spots in the Championship Division. Both of the golfers, Allison Yang of Santa Clara, Calif., and Morgan Pittman of Chico, Calif., won with a birdie on the first playoff hole, No. 18.
The 16 players that advanced to the match play portion will play at TPC Harding Park on Saturday. The Julie Inkster flight and the Senior Division will have their first round at Presidio Golf Course on Saturday.
View results for San Francisco City Women's Championship
ABOUT THE San Francisco City Women's Championship
>>
TOUR
PORTAL
*An NCGA Points Tournament*
Open to the first
84 entries received;
Championship and Senior Divisions. No
handicap index is required.
Qualifying consists of one 18-hole stroke play round
on Fri Mar
15, after which the lowest 16 scorers will be seeded
accordingly in
the Women's Championship Flight. Contestants with
the 17th through 32nd
lowest scores will be seeded accordingly in the Juli
Inkster Flight.
For the Senior division, participants must have an
age of 50 or older as of the first day
of the tournament. Qualifying will consist of one 18-
hole stroke play round, from which
the low 8 scores will advance to the Women’s Senior
Championship Flight.
Individual scores will determine seeding for match
play.
In the event of a playoff to qualify for
match
play, a player must be
present in order to retain his right to participate in
the playoff.
New for 2024: Stroke play qualifying will
be held at Presidio Golf Club, as will the first
match play round in the Inkster Flight and the Senior
Flight. All other
match play rounds will be held at TPC Harding
Park.
Match play is scheduled for Sat-Sun Mar 16-17, with
the semis and finals on Sat-Sun Mar 23-
24. For seniors, there will be no match play round on
Sun Mar 17.
A schedule of all dates of
play can be found on the tournament website
sfgolfchampionship.com.
WITHDRAWALS AND REFUND POLICY
Players needing to withdraw should do so by filling
out the form at
sfgolfchampionship.com/contact/
. Players withdrawing
before the
entry deadline of
February 19 will receive a
refund of their entry fee minus
$50.
There will be no refunds after the entry
deadline.
CART POLICY
The use of carts is prohibited for players and caddies
in the Women’s Championship and Inkster Flights
(Appendix I – Local Rule Applies)
SPECIAL OFFER TO SF CITY PLAYERS:
SF City
players get 50% off Strackaline Yardage Books! CLICK HERE for
detailsThe oldest municipal
tournament in the USA. Match
play event with scratch men's, senior, women's,
senior women's and open flight
divisions. Past champions include Ken
Venturi, Harvie Ward, Juli Inkster, Bob Rosburg,
George Archer, and Dorothy Delasin. Some
of the 'non winners' include Tom Watson and
Johnny Miller. Click the 'history' tab for more about
this
wonderful event.
View Complete Tournament Information