Jason Anthony of Fairfield captured medalist honors by three strokes in stroke-play qualifying in the 104th San Francisco City Championship at TPC Harding Park https://tpc.com/hardingpark and Lincoln Park Golf Course www.lincolnparkgolfcourse.com.
The 36-year-old Anthony, who won the tournament in 2018, shot 69 at TPC Harding Park, which will host the PGA Championship in May, and totaled 68 at Lincoln Park to post a score of 3-under-par 137.
“There’s just kind of a calm over me when I play in this tournament,” said Anthony, who last year claimed titles in the Northern California Mid-Amateur Championship and the Alameda Commuters. “I never really know what to expect coming in because it is my first tournament of the year, with usually not much opportunity to get out and practice much.
“They manicured around the greens (at TPC Harding Park) and especially the bunkers much better. They also cleaned up a lot of areas around the trees. … Lincoln is 5,400-yard monster. It’s one of the toughest mental tests of the year, with the bad lies, mud, and tiny targets. And this year the greens were firm, which made it even more difficult.”
Alex Chin of Pleasanton posted a score of 70-70—140 to tie for second with Andrew Biggadike of Belmont, who totaled 71-69—140.
Darren Pang of San Ramon finished at 70-71—141 to tie for fourth Charles Porter of San Francisco, who wound up 72-69—141, Jonathan Curran of Scottsdale, Ariz., who totaled 72-69—141, and Michael Jensen of San Francisco, who shot 73-68—141, while Ty Macias of San Francisco was eighth at 72-70—142.
Luis Terraza of Santa Rosa carded a score of 73-70—143, to tie for ninth with Sam Harris of San Mateo, who also was at 73-70—143, Brett Viboch of Sacramento, who finished at 68-75—143, Tony Verna of San Francisco, who wound up at 73-70—143, Ryan Grauman of Alamo, who totaled 72-71—143, Redmond Lyons of San Francisco, who shot 70-73—143, and Wyatt McGovern of Hillsborough, who came in at 71-72—143.
The top 32 players advanced to the match-play portion of the tournament, which will determine the winner and will be played entirely at TPC Harding Park beginning Saturday.
Past champions of the tournament include Ken Venturi, George Archer, E. Harvey Ward, Tal Smith, Bob Sylvestri, Charlie Ferrera, Jim Molinari, Verne Callison, Bob E. Smith, Gary Vanier, Randy Haag, Brandon Hagy, Cody Blick, Shintaro Ban and Justin Suh.
“The City,” as the tournament is known, is the oldest consecutively played golf competition in the world. Even the British Open, the oldest golf championship on the globe which began in 1861, took time off during World Wars I and II.
For complete results, visit https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/6007296761910024125
