San Francisco City amateur tees it up this weekend

I played a lot of amateur golf in my formative years long before the initial days of the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit in 1994. As a kid I used to tee it up in the Chicago Amateur, a colorful event first contested at Jackson Park Golf Course in 1904. Upon moving to sunny California I competed on the Northern California Golf Association's amateur circuit, entering city and county tournaments in such disparate locales as Weed, Susanville, Hayward, Oakland, Stockton, Sacramento, Livermore and the like. I got into prestigious tourneys such as the Alameda Commuters, the State Fair Amateur, the North Coast Amateur, and the Hangtown Open. I wandered away from California to play in tournaments in Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Illinois, and Michigan. I even played one year in the Irish Amateur and the winner at Lahinch was some unknown kid by the name of Darren Clarke. Yes, that Darren Clarke.

Although I loved entering these many tournaments, one of the more unique events that I only played in a few times was the long running San Francisco City Amateur. The City, as it is called, has been around since 1916, and although I can think of a handful of amateur tourneys with a longer history, it does advertise itself as the “Oldest Municipal Tournament in the USA.” My main reason for failing to enter the S.F. City was because it conflicted with my coaching 8th grade boys' basketball and the season concluding Lake County Tournament and the Crescent City Championships. The big advantage to coaching basketball is that it is played indoors and oftentimes the City Amateur was mired by heavy rains, mud, and temporary greens. There was no such thing as cancelling a round of golf during the S.F. City. It was tee it up and tough it out.

The San Francisco City Amateur begins its one month run this weekend. Originally it was contested at the Lincoln Park Golf Course, a quirky yet beautiful course just west of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Harding Park Golf Course, a historic and iconic course on the shores of Lake Merced. Lincoln Park was founded in 1916 and Harding Park was opened for play in 1925. Lincoln was designed by golden age architect Tom Bendelow (Medinah, Blue Mound) while Harding was routed as a joint project along with the Olympic Club by Willie Watson (Olympia Fields, Interlachen). Both courses got upgrades from San Francisco area architect, Jack Fleming (Adams Springs, Santa Rosa CC, Napa Muni) after World War II.

Nowadays Lincoln Park is no longer in the City Amateur's rotation and it has been replaced by another golden age of golf course architecture site, the Presidio Golf Club. The Presidio was a long time military golf course that was transferred over to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area some 20 years ago. Say what you will about the ages of Lincoln Park and Harding Park, they are mere pups when compared to the Presidio Golf Course. It was first opened for play in 1895 and was designed by Robert Johnstone

(Spokane CC, Ranier, Mercer Island).

To its eternal credit, the San Francisco City Amateur still prides itself on being an “everyman's tournament” with Olympic Club members teeing it up alongside municipal golf regulars who are mailmen, street cleaners, and car salesmen. There are multiple brackets and some of them have a very colorful history. There are divisions for women's amateurs and women's senior amateurs. Past women amateur titlists include Dorothy Delasin and Juli Simpson Inkster. There is a senior division as well as a super senior. My people are super seniors as one must be 65 years of age or older to enter. There are

also handicap limitations. For instance, a super senior must have a golfing handicap index of 9.4 or less, meaning most of the field shoots in the 70s.

The men's open division is a hot ticket item with close to 200 contestants who try to initially pre-qualify and then compete in a 36 hole stroke play tournament with one round at Harding Park with the second day at the Presidio. The low 64 golfers then advance to match play. Surviving match play means winning six matches with a 36 hole final to determine the ultimate overall champion. Former champions of the S.F. City include past U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi, former Masters' titlist George Archer, and the winner of the PGA Championship, Bob Rosburg. Some golfers of note entered the City Amateur but failed to take home the top prize including Johnny Miller, Tom

Watson, and Harvie Ward.

It was in the mid-1950s that the City Amateur had its real heyday. The area's two prominent amateur golfers of note were Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi. Venturi is better known as a member of golf's Hall of Fame. He was a PGA Tour regular, won the 1964 U.S. Open, and was a well known commentator for over three decades with CBS. Ward was a great golfer in his own right as he won the 1952 British Amateur, and won back-to-back United States Amateurs in 1955 and 1956. During that time both men were “sponsored” by millionaire car dealer Eddie Lowry. Lowry has his own place in golf history as the caddie for Francis Ouimet when Ouimet won the 1913 U.S. Open over British greats Ted Ray and Harry Vardon. It has been estimated that galleries numbered close to 12,000 spectators while

following Venturi and Ward during their finals matches. In 1957 the United States Golf Association determined that Lowry's sponsorship of Venturi and Ward would result in the forfeiture of their amateur status. Venturi went on to stardom on the PGA Tour while Ward never emotionally recovered.

The real color of the tournament involves the so-called Open Flight. The City Amateur accepts 160 open entries and they play a qualifying round. The end result of that round is the formation of 10 match play flights with 16 golfers in each flight. Those 16 golfers play it out at match play at Presidio and Harding Park. Sometimes golfers will intentionally play poorly in their qualifier in an effort to do well in their match play flight, but more often than not that isn't the case. The late Jack Lucich of Clearlake,

an NCGA rules official of note, played in the Open Flight for over 35 years and actually won it on one occasion. Adams Springs' member Sean Mullins is a regular in the Open Flight. Last year he sent me photos of his qualifying round with small streams flowing down the fairways and greens at the Presidio. This week Matt Wotherspoon is in the qualifying field for the overall championship and he too may have some memories of a lifetime with regard to the S.F. City Amateur and its inclement weather.

Ever since 1916 the “Oldest Municipal Tournament in the USA” has teed it up in late February and throughout the month of March for amateur golfers in San Francisco. It's all about the experience, the weather, and the survival of the fittest when it comes to the S.F. City Amateur.