Daniel Connolly (AmateurGolf.com Photo)
Daniel Connolly of San Francisco, Calif., finished on top of the 36-hole medal play portion of the San Francisco City Championship at Presidio Golf Course and TPC Harding Park. Connolly won the 2016 San Francisco City Championship.
Connolly, who has dual citizenship with the United States and Ireland and played his collegiate golf at SMU, shot a first-round 1-under 71 at Presidio Golf Course on Saturday and a second-round 2-under 70 at TPC Harding Park. He recorded ten birdies and seven bogeys over the 36 holes.
18-hole leader Parker Mapes of Pleasanton, Calif., finished in solo second place at 1-under. He shot 4-under at TPC Harding Park and 3-over 75 at Presidio Golf Course.
Related:San Francisco Men's City: Parker Mapes holds the qualifying leadConnolly's family owns Johnny Foley's, a popular Irish pub in San Francisco and Connolly is a member of the Olympic Club.
The highlight of his weekend was his birdie on Hole No. 12 at Presidio Golf Course, one of the toughest holes in San Francisco.
He had two different strategies for the two courses over the two days.
"It is a different strategy," Connolly said about TPC Harding Park. "Big and flat greens, you can be more aggressive when attacking pins. There is more of an emphasis on the tee ball with thick rough and a longer course."
However, Connolly wasn't concerned about where he was on the leaderboard. He just wanted to play great golf.
"I had no idea where I stood," Connolly said. "I just wanted to play as best as I could and get in the house."
Suffice to say, mission accomplished.
In 2023, Connolly won the NCGA Mid-Amateur and the Alameda Commuters.
Related:
NCGA Mid-Amateur: Daniel Connelly defeats Nick Randazzo in sudden death for the win
Griffin Chiu of Los Altos, Calif., finished T3 at even par, but got off to an insane start on Sunday, shooting a 5-under 31 on the back nine (his front nine) at Presidio Golf Course. He shot a 3-over 39 on the front nine coming home to shoot a 2-under 70 in the second round.
Arnold He of Fremont, Calif., Matthew Lin of Orinda, Calif., and Nikolai Friedman of Mill Valley, Calif., all finished T3 along with Chiu at even par.
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.
PLAYOFF
It took three times playing the storied 18th hole at Harding Park to determine the last two spots for match play.
And how about this for a twist?
We started with a nine-for-one spot playoff, but in the middle of the playoff, we learned a player had withdrawn due to injury, making a second spot available.
It took three long trips down the dogleg left No. 18th -- with the steep slope to Lake Merced guarding the left side -- to determine the final two spots. Chris Audi and Nick Nienken both parred for the third straight time and will take the No. 63 and 64 seeds next weekend.
QUALIFIER NOTES
Grant Johnson of Walnut Creek, Calif., an investment advisor and recent Gonzaga grad, made a 70-foot “bomb” on No. 12 from the front right of the green and also holed a big 15-foot putt for the world’s best bogey on No. 1 after “knifing” it out of the bunker, as he said. He made match play.
Papon Sawatyanon Ben Gould of Carlsbad, Calif., who plays for Dominican College, shot 85 at Presidio and 70 at Harding to get to 11-over for the tournament and make the playoff. The Carlsbad resident flew up the night before the first round after having a golf lesson. “I think I three-putted every hole on the back nine yesterday,” he said. “I found something today.” He lipped out for par on the second playoff hole to get eliminated.
Sean Kwok of Pleasanton, Calif., showed a 16-shot improvement, going from 86 at Presidio to 70 at Harding. “I didn’t have a single part of my game that went well yesterday,” said Kwok. “But I was striping my irons today."
If not for a missed 2 -footer for birdie on No. 15 that hit a bump and lipped out, he would have made the playoff.
Papon Sawatyanon of Berkeley, Calf., shot the low round today - his 4-under 68 a huge improvement over his 79 at Presidio on Saturday. “I worked on my putting at Presidio after the round for a while, then went over to Richmond CC to grind a little longer.”
Nobody has played more golf than Sawatyanon in the last three days. The junior at Cal Berkeley from Taiwan played the pre-qualifier on Friday, rushed over to a college qualifier Friday afternoon, then back to Presidio and Harding for 36 holes this weekend. And he’s not done yet.
"I have qualifiers on Monday and Tuesday”, he said. But don’t feel sorry for him, the team is playing Cal Club and San Francisco G.C.
ABOUT THE San Francisco City Championship
>>
TOUR
PORTAL
*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
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