Michael Jensen of San Francisco and Adora Liu of Newark claimed the individual titles in the 106th San Francisco City Championships with dominant victories in the finals at TPC Harding Park.
The 35-year-old Jensen, who also won the 2021 Stocker Cup in October, routed Kyle Dougherty of Irvine, 7 and 5, in the men’s final, while the 16-year-old Liu demolished Olivia Duan in the women’s title match, 9 and 8.
Neither Jensen, nor Lui trailed at any time during the 36-hole finals.
“Before the Stocker Cup, I was playing quite a bit but over the last four months I haven’t played much at all, so I’m surprised my game has held up,” said Jensen, who also won the 2018 Alameda Commuters.
“My putter and short game got a little finer each week and I could feel my swing loosen up a bit. There’s a lot of golf packed into these three weekends. It’s right up there with the biggest wins of my career, for sure.”
Jensen built a 4-up lead in the morning, which Dougherty sliced lead in half with wins on holes 15 and 16 to trail by only two at lunch.
After almost losing his ball on the tee shot on the first hole after lunch, Jensen found it and hit the pin with his approach shot to halve the 19th hole and then won the next holes to take a commanding 4-up lead on the way to his victory.
“I was very lucky to find my ball,” saic Jensen, who played college golf at Cal. “He’d clawed back a bit so if he had won that hole, I would have only been 1 up. I pulled off the shot and we halved the hole with birdies and then I won the next two holes to get a little breathing room. It was a big momentum keeper for me.”
Liu, a senior at Fremont High, also led all the way and closed out her good friend, Duan, a sophomore at Cupertino High, on the 19th hole.
In 2020, Liu claimed four titles on the Junior Tour of Northern California Series.
“It was relaxing (playing against Duan) but at the same time I didn’t know how to react after I won a hole,” said Liu, who has committed to play college golf at Cal. “Shooting low scores and beating good players in this tournament helps my confidence going forward.”
Chris Miller of Brentwood captured the Men’s Senior Division of the San Francisco City Championships with a 6-and-4 victory over Richard Maxwell of Santa Rosa, while Frank Apodaca of San Jose won the Super Senior Division with a 4-and-3 win over Rob Miller of Saratoga.
Miller’s daughter, Sammie, captured the Juli Inkster Division with a 3-and-1 victory over Janna Andaya of Santa Clara.
For complete results, visit https://thp-2022citychampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/8219293221998581349
