Celebrating the 100th San Francisco City T
here simply isn’t a golf tournament like it anywhere else. California amateur great Randy
Haag, who’s won NCGA Player of the Year honors a record six times, recalled a year when due to heavy rains, players were unable to take an unplayable lie—because there wasn’t anywhere to take a drop. “The whole course was a river,”
Haag said. Welcome to the San Francisco
City Championship. Known affectionately as ‘The
City’, the championship has been held every year—through sometimes hell and definitely high water—since 1917. It’s the longest running amateur tournament in the world. And that’s just some of the rea-
sons why the players adore it. This year, ‘The City’ celebrated its 100th anniversary. As part of the festivities, a number of former champi- ons returned to Harding Park for a gala dinner. The 2015 championship was dedicated to former S.F. resident Ray Pellegrini, who passed away in Decem- ber. Pellegrini qualified for match play in the championship 40 straight years, winning the title in 1982. The night of the celebration, San
Francisco mayor Ed Lee, a golfer himself, made time to stop by and give ‘The City’ a hug. “Thanks for keeping this champi-
onship running,” Lee told the tourna- ment’s brass. Also embracing the champion- ship was digital golf news magazine Global Golf Post, who went on to donate the funds for all the green fees for the 22 finalists. Along with the weather, there
have been other quirks too. A two- time winner of the Women’s title, Pat Cornett once had an instance where the caddies couldn’t get a flagstick out of the hole. It was completely stuck. “I think it’s the most unique
tournament there is,” said Cornett, a former Curtis Cup captain.
There’s also been the glory of ‘The
City’—the 1956 showdown between Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, and George Archer’s win in 1963. Archer went on to win the 1969 Masters, but it was the ‘The City’ that really counted. “Around here, George Archer was
a San Francisco City champion, then a Masters champ,” Cornett said. “It went in that order.” Over the century, there have also been those who’ve tried to win ‘The
City’ and failed. Guys like Tom Watson and Johnny Miller. As Haag simply put it, “The San
Francisco City is one of the most important tournaments you can play growing up in Northern California.” Cheers to ‘The City.’ Here’s to another 100 years!
–J.S.
For results of this year’s championship, see Tournament Central on page 58.
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