A contingent of fans were at Harding Park cheering on Burkland
Mikey Burkland of Alamo, Calif., needed all 36 holes to secure the 2024 San Francisco City 2024 Men's Championship at TPC Harding Park on Sunday.
Burkland battled with friend and competitor AJ Fitzgerald of Salinas, Calif., all the way to the final hole, getting up and down for par to secure a 1-up victory.
"I knew it was going to be a battle," Burkland said about the final match. "AJ is a great player, a great competitor, and a good friend. We play a lot in these tournaments out here."
Burkland started hot and was 4-up through the first 18 holes, but found himself 1-down heading into the final nine holes after a blitz from Fitzgerald.
Then, Burkland played "the best nine holes of golf" in his life to secure the win. He needed to make a par on the 36th hole to win, and he got up and down from the tricky Harding Park rough to make the championship-clinching par. Burkland was 2-under and bogey-free in the difficult conditions on the final nine holes.
"The relief when the ball went in the hole was unbelievable," Burkland said. "Just so pumped."
Burkland defeated Ryan Vaughan of San Jose, Calif., 6&5 in the semifinals to get to the final match, while Fitzgerald took down Guilio Zanichelli 4&2 in the semifinal.
Burkland has been getting into great form, recently finishing in solo fifth place at the 2023
NCGA Valley Amateur and T11 in the 2023
Monterey Open.
In the women's competition, Nicola Kaminski of Los Gatos, Calif., defeated Darla May Dela Torre of Fairfield, Calif., 5&4 to win the title.
Nicola Kaminski"I am so excited," Kaminski said. "It was such a fun tournament, and I had a great time. I am happy it worked out."
Kaminski found herself quickly 2-down after the first two holes but was 5-up after the opening 18 holes. Part of the reason for Kaminski's solid play was the great play of her competitor.
"She is such a great player," Kaminski said about Dela Torre. "She would hit good shots, and it would put pressure on me to get some good shots."
And the challenge of Harding Park kept her focused and engaged throughout the round.
"You have to be straight with your drive, good out of the rough, straight into greens, and good with your short game, so it challenges you all around as a player," Kaminski said.
She added, "It was definitely a challenge all around.
However, there was a chance Kaminski wouldn't be playing on Sunday at all. She was 1-down with two holes to play in the semifinal round against Michelle Woo of Fremont, Calif., and it was her first time seeing the last three holes. She hit her approach shot into No. 17 to six feet to make a birdie, and on 18, from 160 years out, hit it to nine feet and made the putt to win.
Randy Haag In the Senior Division, NCGA hall of famer and four time NCGA player of the year Randy Haag of Orinda, Calif., defended his 2023 title after defeating Mark Sanchez of Kentfield, Calif., 1-up and defeating Scott Anderson Sr. of Bakersfield, Calif., 1-up in the semifinal match.
Haag is ranked No. 13 in the AmateurGolf.com Senior Rankings.
In the super senior division, Matt Vukicevich of Kenwood, Calif., defeated Ray Kong 3&2 after defeating Richard Petit 1-up in the semifinal match and in the women's senior, Christy Atencio of Reno, Nev., defeated Lynn Couillard of Irvine, Calif., 4&3 to win.
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
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