SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Mar. 10, 2012) -- The quarter and semifinal matches of the 96th San Francisco City Championship were played today at Harding Park Golf Club.

Quarterfinal Recap

Playing in his first City, 16-year old Shintaro Ban of San Jose, downed 33-year old veteran player and long-time amateurgolf.com member, Andrew Biggadike of San Mateo 4 & 3. Ban was 4-under par after 15 holes and had no bogeys on his card.

Ban is set to play Weston Payne of Menlo Park in the semis. Payne advanced with a 2 & 1 victory over newly reinstated amateur, Jake Yount of Alamo. Their match seesawed until hole 6, but with birdies at 7, 9, 10 and 12 Payne was now 4-up. After Payne bogeyed 13, Yount charged back birdieing 14 and 16. He gave one back on 15 and they halved 17 with pars giving Payne the 2 & 1 victory.

In the lower bracket Cody Blick of Danville beat Nicolas Noya of South San Francisco 3 & 2. Blick had birdies at 3 and 4 and holed out a wedge on the 395 yard par 4 5th for an eagle. Blick was 2-up through 12 but bogeyed 12 to give one back. But a Noya bogey at 14 and a Blick birdie at 15 left Blick 3-up. The two halved 16 and Blick took the match.

In the semis Blick will play Alex Franklin of San Rafael. Franklin advanced after a close match with Michael Weaver of Berkeley. Their match was all square after 6 holes. A birdie by Weaver at 9 put him 1-up but he gave it back after a bogey at 10. After Franklin birdied 12 and Weaver bogeyed 15 Franklin was now 2-up and dormie. After halving 16 Weaver charged back, canning a 25 footer for birdie at 17 to narrow the margin to one. But Weaver’s luck ran out and he was forced to concede the match after he suffered a lost ball after at a hooked tee shot on the 440 yard par 4 18th.

Semifinal Recap

The semifinals matched up Weston Payne and Shintaro Ban. The two traded bogeys on 2 and 3 and they halved 4 with pars. After making birdie at 5 and a bogey by Payne at 6, Ban now held a 2-up lead. But he gave one back with a bogey at the tricky par 3 8th. Payne squared the match with an eagle to Ban’s birdie at the 9th. But a bogey by Ban at 11 and a birdie by Payne at 12 gave Payne a 2-up lead. They halved the next three holes and Ban bogeyed 16 to give Payne the 3 & 2 win.

The other semifinal match was between Alex Franklin and Cody Blick. After a lackluster front nine and a birdie by Franklin on 9, Blick was 2-down at the turn. Halving 10 through 12, Franklin made bogey at 13 reducing his lead to one. The two halved 16 with birdies then Blick birdied 17 to square up the match. Commenting on 18, Blick said,

“ I drove it into the fairway bunker forcing me to lay up short. I was left with 115 and hit a poor wedge shot over the green. With my opponent close for par I buried a 25 footer to extend the match.”

The two only needed one extra hole to determine the winner. Blick hit a wedge to a couple feet tapping in for birdie and the win. Asked about his thought for the finals tomorrow, Blick said,

“I just need to play well and focus on my targets. There's no need to worry about my opponent, I'm playing the course tomorrow, not him.”

The final 36-hole match-up will be Weston Payne vs. Cody Blick

NOTE: Amateurgolf.com is maintaining a Facebook page devoted to the San Francisco City, where we will be posting photos, links to stories, and more. If you use Facebook be sure to visit the page and "like" it by clicking here.

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