Brandon Knight, of Pleasanton, California, defeated Mitchell Hoey, 1 up, in a hard-fought 36-hole final match on Sunday afternoon to win the men’s championship division of the San Francisco City Championship at TPC Harding Park.
Knight, a California high school state champion who is headed to the University of Colorado in the fall, had to battle against Hoey, an Alamo, California, resident who is a sophomore on the Saint Mary’s College golf team.
For 35 of the 36 holes, neither player could separate himself more than being 1 up in the match. Knight opened a 2-up lead through six holes before Hoey won three of the next six holes to regain the lead.
The rest of the marathon match – which started at 7:10 a.m. local time and ended more than nine hours later – would follow suit. Hoey maintained his 1-up lead heading into the lunch break but Knight won the 21st and 27th holes with a par and a birdie, respectively, to steal back the lead heading into the final nine. Hoey made a birdie on the 31st hole, the course’s par-4 13th, to bring the match even as they headed down the stretch.
In the end, Knight made an eagle on the drivable par-4 16th and then held on with two closing pars to capture the championship. Knight, No. 369 in the American Junior Golf Association rankings for all graduation years, picked up his first win since the 2021 Future Champions Golf Callaway World Championship.
There were a plethora of other divisions in play at “The City.” Randy Haag, of Orinda, California, won the senior division by a 5 and 4 score over Steve Schroeder. Olivia Duan, a Princeton University commit from Cupertino, California, earned the women’s crown by defeating Michelle Ho, 4 and 3.
Having started in 1916, the San Francisco City Championship is the oldest municipal golf tournament in the United States. It has been played continuously since its inception, including during the pandemic-impacted 2020 year. Past winners include Ken Venturi, George Archer and recent PGA Tour players such as Martin Trainer, Brandon Hagy and Justin Suh.
RESULTS
P.J. Maybank III, of Cheboygan, Michigan, shot 22-under 262 to win by 11 strokes on Sunday afternoon in the 75th Azalea Invitational at The Country Club of Charleston (South Carolina).
The high school senior and soon-to-be Oklahoma Sooner opened with a 5-under 66 and never relented, going on to shoot 64-68-64. His 22-under total easily broke a tournament scoring record, passing C.T. Pan’s 19-under mark from 2011.
Maybank had the low score for three of the four rounds and recorded only one bogey in his final 36 holes. He had three eagles and 22 birdies throughout the tournament.
One of the highest-rated recruits in the country, Maybank was the Golf Association of Michigan 2021 Boys’ Junior Player of the Year. He is the No. 12-ranked player in the American Junior Golf Association for all graduation years.
Hampton Roberts, of Cary, North Carolina, finished in solo second at 11-under 273. Roberts is headed to the University of North Carolina in the fall.
Sean Fairholm