Tops SF legend Gary Vanier (AJGA photo)
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 1, 2008)-- Six-time San Francisco City winner Gary Vanier and two-time defending champ Diane Kwon were each defeated Saturday in their Round of 16 matches of this year's installment of the event, held at Harding Park.
Vanier held a two-hole lead over Taylor Travis through eight, but saw his putter abandon him down the homestretch while Travis came on strong to take a 2 & 1 victory.
Travis said after the match that he knew Vanier had won the event, but was surprised to hear just how accomplished his opponent was.
As for himself, the long and solid ball striker's short game is showing signs of "peaking" entering the quarterfinals.
"My putting has been pretty solid," said Travis. "During qualifying it was horrendous, but it's come back."
He will take on Tim Honeycutt, who topped Andrew Haggen 3 & 2, on Sunday.
"I've never had a match against Tim, but I know him through junior golf," said Travis. "It's going to be one hell of a match, there's going to be a lot of birdies I have a feeling."
Another former champ is still alive as Randy Haag didn't give opponent Scott Hardy much of a chance after sinking several 20-plus foot putts en route to a 5 & 4 victory.
He made five birdies and an eagle over 14 holes.
Haag will face off Sunday with the medalist, Colby Smith, who again looked sharp in a 4 & 3 win over Freddy Wolfe.
The pair were matched in the same foursome on Saturday, giving each other a preview of their quarterfinal opponent.
"He's got good distance control with his irons, even a miss with is driver and he's still hitting the ball 320 so he has a short iron in," Haag said of Smith. "But I don't mind hitting into the greens first, sometimes you can put some pressure on your opponent going first."
"What did I learn watching him?" said Smith. "Watch out for his putter, he is a very solid putter."
In the other matches, Eric Meeker downed Kory Storer 2-up and will face off with Kent Yamane, who beat Adam Barkow 2 & 1.
Martin Trainer defeated Dennis Carson 2 & 1 to set up a quarterfinal contest with Nick Sako, who beat Matt Lewis 1-up.
For the full championship flight bracket, click here.
In the women's division, Jordan Ontiveros completed a late comeback to overcome two-time defending champion Diane Kwon 1-up with a five-foot par putt on the 18th hole.
"I had the option of playing it safe with the three-wood or going with driver," said the 17-year-old Ontiveros. "I said, know what, this is the 18th hole let's just smack it down the middle. Then I hit the green and two-putted for par."
Ontiveros said her father caddying for her helped break some of the nerves of playing Kwon, who had limited time to practice for the event after undergoing ankle surgery after a skateboarding accident.
Kelly Wilson, a former tennis pro, defeated Casie Cathrea in 19 holes to advance.
For the full women's championship bracket, click here.
Then senior men were off for the weekend, they will resume semifinal play next weekend. For a look at that bracket, click here.
For a look at the brackets of the open flights' John Susko bracket, click here, for the Ken Venturi bracket, click here, and for the Harvie Ward bracket, click here.
amateurgolf.com would like to thank Kemper Sports and the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department, and be sure to check back in Sunday for video coverage of the quarterfinal round.
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
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Books! CLICK HERE for
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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.
View Complete Tournament Information