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The 96th San Francisco City gets underway
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Feb. 23, 2012) -- The San Francisco City Championship was inaugurated in 1917 and is the country's oldest municipal golf tournament. The Women's division was added in 1958. In its early years, the tournament was hosted by the Sun-Bulletin newspaper and has had numerous presenting sponsors throughout its history including Varner-Ward Leasing, Roos Atkins, Tom Culligan, Pepsi, and Visa.

The field is primarily comprised of Northern California's finest amateur golfers; however, players of national and international heritage occasionally contest for the title simple known as "The City." As a matter of fact, the 1999 field included Mark Murphy of Waterville, Ireland, who made it to the quarterfinals before being ousted in a nail-biter by Gary Vanier. (Vanier eventually lost to Randy Haag in what was called the best final since Ken Venturi beat Harvey Ward in 1956 in front of 12,000 fans.)

Another thing that makes the City Championship a unique event is the inclusion of an "Open" Division, allowing for golfers of varying abilities to compete. The top two flights in the Open Division, named the "Venturi" and "Susko" respectively, are named for two of the tournaments' most popular competitors, Ken Venturi and John Susko, the latter of whom met an untimely death from Crohn's disease in 1983. Susko is remembered as a popular Lincoln Park golfer who won the City Championship in 1978 and 1980, won the Alameda Commuters in 1981, and participated in a number of National amateur events even with a condition that often sidelined him for weeks at a time.

Those familiar with the City Championship will tell you about the tradition of playing the ball as it lies at San Francisco's Lincoln and Harding Park Golf Courses in less than ideal conditions. More than one player has marched in to the tournament office claiming that they will never play again, but their applications usually find their way in the following year. Conditions are the same for everyone; the ability to accept the occasional bad break is paramount to a competitor's success.

Past champions include 1964 US Open Champion Ken Venturi, 1999 US Women's Open Champion Juli Inkster, and 1969 Masters Champion George Archer. More recently, LPGA Tour player Dorothy Delasin* of Daly City (winner of the 1998 US Junior Girls Championship and 1999 US Women's Amateur) claimed the Women's City Championship in 1998.

The men's championship field is so large that many players must endure two qualifiers to just make it to match play. The field is open to the first 240 entries. Of those 240 entries, 96 contestants will proceed directly into the Championship qualifying based upon the exempt categories or by earliest date entry received.. The balance of contestants shall compete in a one round prequalifying competition at Lincoln Park Golf Course.

The low 48 qualifiers on Friday shall advance to the weekend qualifying at Lincoln Park and Harding Park Golf Course. Over the weekend, the low 31 scores completing the 36-hole qualifying from the field of 144 contestants will advance to match play at Harding Park along with the defending champion, who shall hold the number 1 seed for match play. Individual scores will determine the seeding for match play.

The matches continue the following two weekends until the champion is crowned.

Results: San Francisco City Championship
WinCACody BlickDanville, CA180
Runner-upCAWeston PayneMenlo Park, CA120
SemifinalsCAAlex FranklinSan Rafael, CA80
SemifinalsCAShintaro BanSan Jose, CA80
QuarterfinalsCAAndrew BiggadikeBelmont, CA50

View full results for San Francisco City Championship

ABOUT THE San Francisco City Championship

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*An NCGA Points Tournament*

**New Entry Procedure for 2024: 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
* 2023 San Francisco City Men’s Championship Match Play Qualifiers
* Top 20 men’s 2022-2023 NCGA Points Lists
* 2023 NCGA Champions (Amateur, Mid- Amateur, Junior)
* The top 3 finishers in each of the 6 AmateurGolf.com Winter Tour events (Dec 2023-Feb 2024)

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 Presidio Golf Club on Friday, March 8, 2024.

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 9-10, 2024, with 18 holes played at TPC Harding Park and 18 holes at Presidio Golf Course 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 16, 2024. All match play for the Championship Flight (Mar 16-17, 23-24) 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/con tact/. 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 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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