Cal connections claim The City golf tournaments
Michael Jensen missed a family brunch to capture men's title; Adora Liu was joined by her grandfather in securing women's crown.
As Michael Jensen walked the 12th fairway at Harding Park on Sunday, his mind wandered across town. The amateur golfer hadn’t researched the 106th San Francisco City Golf Championship schedule, and learned Friday that winning the event would demand 72 holes over the same weekend his in-laws were in town to meet 4-month-old daughter Elle.
“I owe my wife big time,” said Jensen as he approached his 5-iron shot, closing in on a 7 and 5 victory (seven holes up with five to play) over Kyle Dougherty of Irvine in the men’s championship division final. “I didn’t know we had this many 36-hole days.”
About 9 miles north at Presidio Social Club, wife Lindsey and Elle were having brunch with Lindsey’s father and stepmother and Michael’s parents. The Jensens had followed their son’s 36-hole final for about six holes at Harding Park before splitting for Presidio around 8:30 a.m. Jensen, a 35-year-old Los Altos native and SF resident, walked the remaining 25 holes alone.
“It was like, hopefully I win, at least she’ll be happy,” said Jensen, who went on to summarize his Friday conversation with Lindsey. “It went like, ‘I think it’s 36 on Saturday, and maybe if I win it’s 36 again. But at least it’ll be twosomes, so it will be fast.’ They understand. They don’t need me. There are four grandparents there.”
One hole ahead, Adora Liu was walking beside 75-year-old grandfather Allen Wu, who was serving as her caddie in the women’s championship match. Grandmother Hai-Yang Ma, 70, kept pace in a golf cart. Liu, a Cal-bound senior at Irvington High in Fremont, went bogey-free during a convincing 9 and 8 victory over junior golf friend Olivia Duan, a high school sophomore from Cupertino.
Wu, a retired general contractor from China, took up golf after moving to Guam in the 1980s. After coming to the United States in 2001, he began playing courses across the Bay Area. When Adora turned 6, she began to tag along.
“She didn’t feel so good about the game at age 7,” said Wu at the awards banquet in Harding Park’s clubhouse. Liu began winning tournaments at age 11, and her passion grew. Last summer she had a breakthrough win at an American Junior Golf Association event at the Peach Tree Golf Club in Marysville, near Sacramento. ‘
On Sunday, distance set her apart. Averaging about 250 yards off the tee, Liu had a big advantage over Duong. And while the two are pals, few putts were conceded.
“We’re still friends,” assures Liu, who said all facets of her game worked on a public course that hosted the 2020 PGA Championship – also won by a Cal golfer, Collin Morikawa.
While the women’s match was a runaway, Jensen had his lead trimmed to 2 up through 18 holes. After an hour for lunch, the former Cal golfer caught a major break on the first hole after hitting into the trees off the tee. Jensen’s approach shot hit the flagstick and settled feet from the cup, allowing him to halve the hole.
Dougherty faced elimination on the 13th fairway when, down six holes with six to play (dormie, in golf terms), his drive landed behind a grove of California cypress trees in the right rough. Needing to win the hole, he had no choice but to thread a shot between tree trunks with about a 5-foot gap and overhanging limbs.
“You guys might want to get behind some trees or a golf cart,” Dougherty warned the gallery, then clarifying he was serious. Perhaps his best shot of the day — 7-iron from 197 yards – split the trees and landed on the front of the green. “I just prayed,” he said.
Only Jensen had hit to within 5 feet to close the match.
Jenson and Liu didn’t realize their Cal connection until tournament co-director John Abendroth mentioned it during the awards ceremony. At Berkeley, Jensen won the 2008 USF Olympic Club Intercollegiate, played across Lake Merced at Olympic Club. Liu calls Cal her “dream school” and secured a scholarship after her AJGA victory.
The two posed together with their championship trophies — past champions of “The City” include U.S. Open winner Ken Venturi, PGA champion Bob Rosburg, Masters champion George Archer and U.S. Women’s Open winner Juli Inkster.