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San Francisco City Championship: Briones is Youngest-Ever Champion
- SF Chronicle Photo courtesy Michael Maloney
- SF Chronicle Photo courtesy Michael Maloney

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 8, 2009)--14-year-old Carlos Briones, a freshman at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, made history on Sunday as the youngest-ever champion of the San Francisco City Championship.

Briones, who moved from the Philippines at age 5, won the 36-hole final over Cal Freshman Jamie Core, 3 & 2.

The match was close through the final nine. Briones moved ahead with pars at No's. 14 and 15, and closed out the victory with a 7-foot par save on No. 16.

"The thrill of making that putt was amazing," said Briones.

In the Senior Division, long time friends, and sometime rivals Gary Vanier and Mark Miller faced off in the finals. Vanier, who had narrowly escaped the jaws of death on Saturday when he was 4-down with 5 to play against Jeff Early, (he won in sudden-death) had a much easier time with Miller on Sunday.

Vanier took the lead early with birdies on No's. 2 and 3, and never gave it up, winning 6 & 5. The last time the two faced off in a Northern California "major" was at the 2008 Alameda Commuters. Miller won that stroke play event, which is coming up in April.

In the Women's Division, Bonnie Hu defeated Jordan Ontiveros, 4 & 3. Hu is a junior at Mission Valley H.S. in Fremont; Ontiveros a senior at Monte Vista High in Danville.

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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