Brandon Knight of Pleasanton captured the Men’s Division and Olivia Duan of Cupertino took home the Women’s Division title in the 107th San Francisco City Golf Championship at scenic TPC Harding Park overlooking Lake Merced.
Knight, a senior at Foothill High, holed a wedge shot from about 90 yards for an eagle on the par-four 16th hole to defeat Mitchell Hoey of Alamo, 1 up, in 34 holes in a thrilling Men’s Division championship match.
“I had 89 yards into the wind and I think I played it at 95 and I was a little undecided whether to hit a hard sand wedge of an easy gap wedge,” said Knight, who tied for third in the AmateurGolf.com Silicon Valley Amateur earlier this year, and won the 2022 CIF State Boys High School Championship.
“I hit the gap wedge and it came off perfectly. I pulled a lot of wedges today and wanted just one good one to put the pressure on him a bit. It took one hop and then hung on the hole for a bit before dropping in.”
Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge and Cal, who is a five-time winner on the PGA Tour including two major titles, made a similar eagle on the 16th hole three years ago on his way to winning the San Francisco City Men’s title.
Hoey, a sophomore at St. Mary’s College who won the Concord City Amateur in 2020 and 2022, said: “Brandon is friend and a heck of a player. I didn’t have my best stuff off the tee today and I was grinding a lot just to stay in the match.
“I was happy to be 1-up at lunch and I have to give a lot of credit to my caddy and teammate, Jonathan Curran, for keeping me in the present the entire match. It was a lot of hard work today, to say the least. I was just grinding for pars.”
In the semifinals, Knight defeated Michael Carrillo of Chualar, 2 and 1, and Hoey beat Vijay Srinivasan of Fremont on the 19th hole.
Duan, a junior at Cupertino High who has committed to Princeton, claimed a 4-and-3 victory over Michelle Ho, a sophomore at Dougherty Valley High in San Ramon, to win the S.F. City Women’s title.
After taking a 1-up lead at lunch, Duan, who won the 2021 American Junior Golf Association Junior and tied for third in the 2022 Arizona Silver Belle Championship, went on to win the match on the 34th hole.
In the Women’s semifinals, Duan turned back Emily Luo of Danville, 3 and 2, and Ho got past Camille Thai of Los Altos, also by 3 and 2.
NCGA Hall of Famer Randy Haag of Orinda, who has more than 200 victories in his career, claimed the Men’s Senior Division title for the third time since 2016 with a 5-and-4 victory over Steve Schroeder of Monterey.
“If it’s not my favorite tournament, it’s definitely one of the best tournaments you can play in,” said Haag, who has won the last two NCGA Senior Amateur Championships. “As a kid, I’d read about the S.F. City in the San Francisco Chronicle, and it was a dream just to play in it, let alone to have the success I’ve had here.
“(Harding Park) is sacred ground. It’s special and is unlike any other tournament you can play in the country. There’s nothing like winning in your own backyard.”
Michelle Woo of Fremont captured the Juli Inkster Division title with a 1-up victory over Emma Wang of Palo Alto.
For complete results, visit https://thp-2023citychampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/9202417416477366084
