Realize Your Dreams
 

One of the great things about golf is that sometimes a player gets to realize her dream. That happened at the San Francisco City Championship at Harding Park last weekend. Emily Childs beat Dorothy Schwartz, 1 up, in the Women's Final. The match came down to the very last putt on the 36th hole.

If you ever plan to go to another golf tournament, you should consider the match play finals at the S.F. City. "The City" is the longest running amateur in the country. It began in 1917. I hope that my description of the Women's Final match will motivate you come out next year. You will see great golf. The part about realizing dreams comes a little later.

The first thing you have to know about "The City" is that it is a grueling test. There is qualifying, then preliminary match play rounds. The tournament spans three weekends. This year, both semifinal and final matches were played over 36 holes. Not even the PGA Tour Pros will put up with that. Endurance is a huge factor. So is fatigue.


Dorothy and Emily

 

 Setting the Stage
 

Dorothy Schwartz won the 18th hole of the morning round of the Finals to take a 1 up lead into the afternoon.

In the second round, both players striped their drives on the first hole - Dorothy hit the green and Emily missed left. Dorothy went two up when Emily couldn't get up and down. Momentum to Dorothy. Both players matched pars on the second.

Turning points in matches happen in strange ways. On the third hole, par three, Dorothy was on the green about twenty feet away. Emily was on the fringe, a little closer. Dorothy made an easy two-putt par but Emily stubbed her putt coming out of the fringe, leaving a difficult eight footer for a tie. Emotions boiled up. Emily shows what she's feeling, her face flushed and she looked upset. But she maintained her composure and made the putt, wobbling in the left side. Three down at that point could have ended the match. New life for Emily.

Emily won the fourth with a solid par 5 when Dorothy bogied - bunkering her iron from 150 yards. The fifth hole provided one of those bizarre swings that define match play. Emily drove left up against a tree and had to chip out. Dorothy was in the fairway, a short wedge to the green and a big advantage. Dorothy missed the green right and Emily stiffed her wedge to three feet. Dorothy chipped long and Emily made her putt. Out of the fire, back into the frying pan. Match all square. Momentum to Emily.

Both players bogied the sixth. Emily three-putted the seventh but got the hole back with a beautiful 185 yard four iron to fifteen feet on the par three eighth. Momentum back and forth. Then came what could have been a turning point for Dorothy. On the ninth, she drove with a fairway metal to stay in play. Her second shot leaked right into a bunker. Then, she muffed the "hardest shot in golf" leaving it in the next bunker. Emily, in the driver's seat for one swing, then made her mistake and hit her wedge over the green. Dorothy got it up and down from the bunker - a miracle par while Emily bogied. Dorothy was 1 up going into the back nine. Momentum to Dorothy.

The ninth hole showed a lot about Dorothy's demeanor. After missing two shots in a row and facing what looked like a certain loss of hole, she hit a great bunker shot and pulled out a win. Dorothy reminds me of Retief Goosen from the PGA Tour. She's cool behind her sunglasses, taking care of business. The most amazing thing about Dorothy is that she's just fifteen years old. With her talent and style, she could be playing on any college team in the country.


Emily giving winners interview to the press

 

 The Back Nine on Sunday Afternoon
 

Both players missed their drives right on the par five tenth - Emily hitting a bunker and leaving a full four wood into the green after escaping. Dorothy was slightly closer. Both players made two-putt pars with Emily sinking a tricky five footer downhill for the half.

Dorothy gave one back on the 125 yard par three eleventh. She pulled her short iron long left and took a double bogey. Match all square. Momentum all square.

Emily ripped her drive in the par 5 twelfth - leaving a five iron into the green from 165 yards. She played a smart shot to the middle of the green instead of going for the sucker pin. The two-putt birdie put Emily one up. Momentum to Emily.

Dorothy squared the match on the thirteenth with a long birdie. Momentum back to Dorothy.

In match play, there is such a thing as a "nemesis hole". The fourteenth was that for Dorothy. She lost the fourteenth in the morning round to bring the match back to all square. In the afternoon, she pulled her fairway metal approach left into the greenside bunker. She blasted long and then took three more for a double bogey. Emily won with a bogey to go one up. Momentum? Emily.

Emily's "nemesis hole" was the fifteenth. In the morning round, she chunked a short iron from the middle of the fairway to surrender her advantage after Dorothy drove into a fairway bunker and left her approach short. In the afternoon, her drive came up just short of the same fairway bunker. Dorothy was bunkered. Emily made the "mistake she couldn't make" and pulled her approach left, short-sided. Dorothy came out of the bunker still short of the green, then wedged on twenty feet above the hole.

Emily had a difficult little wedge shot that she needed to get on the green, no matter what. She chunked it. Then, she chunked the next one, leaving her "still away" after four strokes. Coming on the fifteenth hole of the afternoon round, the misses might have foreshadowed a meltdown. Emily looked despondent, walking away, kicking the dirt as Dorothy drained her putt for a par. The match went back to all square. Momentum Dorothy.

Both players halved the sixteenth with solid pars. Dorothy sinking a testy eight footer for the half.

And then the players reached the seventeenth - where the match was won. The Men's Championship match, with a much larger gallery, had caught up with the Women's Final. Randy Haag was facing a three foot putt for a birdie on the sixteenth green but marked his ball and stood aside to make sure that Dorothy and Emily had the spotlight. It's only about 100 feet from the sixteenth green to the seventeenth tee so both galleries were focused on the women.

With the honor, Dorothy hit a fabulous iron to a tucked back pin. It was a daunting shot of about 165 yards with the match all square. Emily then took the tee and matched Dorothy's shot with one of her own. When the gallery applause stopped, Emily was twenty feet under the hole, Dorothy slightly closer but with a more difficult, downhill angle.

Harding Park is a championship course. For "The City" the greens crew double cut and rolled the greens in the early morning. The result was greens that were playing very fast. If you were above the hole, you had to "tiptoe" down the slope. Emily's putt was longer, but it was uphill and she made a perfect stroke and holed it. A birdie two on the thirty-fifth hole. Dorothy's putt was more difficult, downhill with a break. She missed by a whisker. Momentum even, but Emily had the one up advantage.

The eighteenth at Harding Park is the "Signature" hole. It's incredibly difficult - too long for a par four played by amateurs. Emily and Dorothy both drove into the fairway and came up short with their second shots. Emily chipped to twenty feet. Dorothy chipped a little closer. Emily lagged her putt for a conceded bogie which left Dorothy with a fifteen footer to win the hole and go to overtime. Her putt bounced a little when it came off the face. Maybe that was the reason it stayed on the high side and missed by half an inch. That was the margin of victory for Emily. Half an inch over thirty-six holes.

In any sporting event, the outcome is much more satisfying when one player "wins" instead of the other player losing. In the Women's Final that's exactly what happened. Emily could have wilted after Dorothy put her shot close to the hole on seventeen. But for reasons that only Champions will ever understand, Emily responded, and then responded again by holing the putt. She forgot her problems on the fifteenth and focused on the moment. Emily won the City Championship on the seventeenth. Dorothy didn't lose. She played a terrific match. Her day will come.


Dorothy and caddy/dad - Ford

 

 The Men's Final
 

There's a new star on the horizon. Martin Trainer is sixteen years old and a Junior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto. He has made his mark by lapping the field in local tournaments.

On Sunday in "The City" he beat one of the best amateur players in California - Randy Haag - and he did it in style. Even though I was following the Women's Final, it was easy to lag behind to see what was happening in the Haag-Trainer match. They were all square in the afternoon round coming into 15. Haag hit his approach right over the flag, just a touch long, but a wonderful shot. Trainer matched Haag with his own approach to inside of ten feet. Both missed. Match still all square.

The sixteenth hole provided the fireworks. Haag hit first from the fairway, sticking his approach to three feet from the "Tournament" pin located just a couple of steps from the back edge of the green. Trainer followed with an even more spectacular shot - a wedge that carried a little past the pin, jumped into the fringe and then backed up to six inches from the hole for a conceded birdie.

Then Haag, with a touchy three footer for birdie to tie, made his statement. He marked his ball and stepped aside to focus attention on the Women's Final that was just a few feet away. He gave the spotlight to Dorothy and then to Emily - teeing off on seventeen. A less sensitive - and less confident - player would not have waited. After allowing the women the attention, Haag made his clutch birdie putt - with his trademark sidesaddle putting style - to halve the hole. The gallery saw that as a very classy move.

The Haag-Trainer match was also decided on the seventeenth. Trainer, hitting first, just cleared the front bunker, leaving himself thirty feet under the hole. Haag missed the green to the right, short-siding himself. He left his difficult chip short and then two- putted for bogey. After Trainer made his eight foot par putt, Haag went to eighteen one down.

The eighteenth also came down to the final putt, but it wasn't that close. Trainer hit the green. Haag came up short in the diabolical left bunker. A decent bunker shot left Haag fifteen feet from the hole, downhill and sidehill. Trainer's first putt ran a little too far by. But when Haag missed his par putt, he conceded Trainer's par and took the two down loss - another classy move from the 1999 City Champion who put up a good fight - 49 years old - and in his 30th "City".

 

 About Those "Dreams"
 

If you win the San Francisco City Championship your name will always be on a trophy won by Ken Venturi, Harvey Ward and George Archer. On the women's side, Julie Inkster won in 1979 when her maiden name was Simpson and again in 1981 with her more famous moniker.

I knew I had to be at the woman's final because both Dorothy and Emily are Golf Lab clients. Dorothy is a new client, but we've known Emily at the Golf Lab since she was in eighth grade. Her goal then was to become a solid tournament player and earn a University scholarship. We built her a set of clubs - most of which she's still using. The irons are classic Balliwick forged cavity backs - shafted with Nippon 950's. The driver is an original Nakashima 420 shafted with a Fujikura Rombax. The wedges and fairways are a collection of the best of their era. When you look in Emily's bag, you have to be a golf historian to appreciate her collection of tools.

Over the years, I've had a chance to play a couple of rounds with Emily. As a club fitter, there is no better way to validate your opinions than by watching a player on the course. It's even better to see a player in a tournament round. You see the great shots and you see the misses. The key question: could any of the misses be improved with different specifications? I'll answer those questions on another day.

 

 It All Starts with the Coach
 

Emily's father, John is a good player in his own right. He served as Emily's caddy through the tournament - and countless prior tournaments. There is no doubt that without her father on her bag, Emily would not have won. My favorite image was father and daughter, stretched out on the twelfth fairway, waiting for the green to clear. The match was on the line, but the caddy had the player loose and smiling. With her next shot, Emily hit the par five in two and took a one up lead.

John doesn't think he knows it all. For swing instruction, he has trusted professionals.

This weekend, John got to relive his own dream. Twenty two years ago, he was medalist in qualifying for "The City". He didn't win that tournament. But this year he was on the winner's bag - his own daughter. It was a happy day.


Emily and caddy/dad - John

 

 Emily's Dream
 

A couple of months ago, Emily signed with Colorado for a full ride golf scholarship. She fell in love with the Boulder campus and the atmosphere at one of the best public Universities in the world. She is a talented artist and will nurture that talent at Colorado. As the San Francisco City Champion in 2008 she will always have the respect of her opponents. It is a "Major".

But more than that, she'll always have the memory of standing on the seventeenth tee, all square, with her opponent just fifteen feet from the hole. A difficult shot, into the wind. She made that shot, then the putt, and won the Tournament.

That's the ultimate lesson of golf. You will win the tournament if you believe in yourself.