SF City Championship: Cocco Takes Historic Title

11 Mar 2007
see also: San Francisco City 2025 MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Harding Park Golf Course
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St. Mary's Univ. photo

SAN FRANCISCO, California (March 11, 2007) -- Chadd Cocco of Moraga headed for the lunch break in today's 36-hole final match at the San Francisco City Championship four down to tournament medalist Reid Scarff of Oroville. But something must have clicked during the break - the explosive Cocco (who had 10 birdies in Saturday's semifinal) charged out of the gates on the second 18 and won the first six holes.

And while Scarff may have provided a little assistance with bogeys on the first three afternoon holes, Cocco kept the momentum swinging in his direction with a birdie at the par-5 fourth (the long hitting former Oregon state am champ dominated Harding's par-5's all weekend).

Scarff had plenty of fight left in him. The players halved the short 7th hole with birdies, and Scarff won the par-3 eighth with a par after Cocco missed the green and failed to convert. Then it was Scarff's turn at some par-5 magic. He hit driver, 3-wood to 8 feet at the ninth and converted the putt for eagle. The players were all square going into Harding Park's awesome back nine.

Cocco birdied the par-5 10th and 12th holes to go 2-up, but missed a short putt to go 3-up at No. 13. When Scarff won fifteen with a par and the players halved at sixteen, it came down to the par-3 17th (where John Daly famously missed a 3-footer in a playoff with Tiger Woods at the Amex) and Scarff had the honor. He went right after the flag, which was tucked on the right side of the green, but missed the surface and left a tough up-and-down. Cocco was looking for the fat of the green, but missed to the left.

"I was really trying for the middle of the green on 17, but I pulled the shot a bit," said Cocco. "We both had putts in the 8-10 foot range and I was slightly away -- when I made mine it was the biggest putt of the tournament for me."

In fact, it was the putt that won the tournament, as Scarff's putt to extend the match narrowly missed.

Other Divisions:

Diane Kwon of Fremont repeated as Women's Champ with a 3-and-2 victory over eighth-grader Grace Na of Alameda, while Carl Selkirk of Chico defeated Doug Johnson of Fresno, 3-and-1 in the senior division.

ABOUT THE San Francisco City Men's Championship

>> The weekend qualifier is now closed, except for exempt players. Please email Info@SFGolfChampionship.com to register as an exempt player. Or, you may enter the Pre-Qualifier by clicking the link below>> PRE-QUALIFIER REGISTRATION

TOUR PORTAL (coming soon)

*An NCGA Points Tournament*

**Entry Procedure: Registration opens for all players on October 1. There will be 50 spots held for exempt players under the following categories:

* The past 10 years of the San Francisco City Golf Champions
* 2024 San Francisco City Men’s Championship Match Play Qualifiers
* Top 20 men’s 2023-2024 NCGA Points Lists
* 2024 NCGA Champions (Amateur, Mid- Amateur, Junior)
* The top 3 finishers in each of the 6 AmateurGolf.com Winter Tour events (Dec 2024-Feb 2025)

Registration for exempt players, and for non- exempt players with a handicap index of 6.4 or lower as of the date of entry, opens on October 1 and will remain open until the field limit (120 players including spots reserved for exempt players) is reached. When the field limit is reached, all additional registrants will be entered in the pre-qualifier at Lincoln Park on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Once entries close, if there are any unfilled spots in the Men's Championship (due to fewer than 50 exempt players registering or withdrawals), they will be filled by Pre- Qualifier registrants in the order in which they registered.

Players entering pre-qualifying will pay an entry fee of $165 for the pre-qualifier, and those advancing from the pre-qualifier will pay the remainder of the entry fee (must be paid prior to playing).

The 36-hole match play qualifier will be held March 8-9, 2025, with 18 holes played at TPC Harding Park and 18 holes at Lincoln Park for a combined 36-hole qualifying score.

There will be 156 players in the qualifying round with 64 players advancing to match play. When all qualifying has been completed, the Men’s Championship Flight will consist of 64 contestants. 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.

Match play will begin on March 15, 2025. All match play for the Championship Flight (Mar 15-16, 22-23) will be held at TPC Harding Park.

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 18 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 Men’s Championship Flight (Appendix I – Local Rule Applies)

SPECIAL OFFER TO SF CITY PLAYERS:

SF City players get 50% off Strackaline Yardage Books! CLICK HERE for details

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO CITY CHAMPIONSHIP
The oldest municipal tournament in the USA. Match play event with scratch men's, senior men’s, 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.

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