Harding Park's Other Championship And Its Namesake
/How the WGC Cadillac Match Play's vibe plays out over the first three days remains to be seen, but without the fear of losing half the field in one day Wednesday, we can savor the setting, city and venue as 64 of the best battle.
What the course lacks in architectural intrigue, it makes up for in the ghosts who have battled over Harding Park's mix of grasses. Sean Martin digs into the history of the San Francisco City Championships played at Harding.
Archer, the 1969 Masters champion, also is a past City champion. Miller and Tom Watson, a Stanford alum, competed in the tournament, but never won it. Juli Inkster, a seven-time LPGA major champion, won the women’s division twice.
Frank Mazion, a 6-foot-3 baggage handler at San Francisco International Airport embodied the blue-collar contingent that makes up a large part of The City. He won the City in 1979 and 1983. In addition to scratch flights for men, women and seniors, there are multiple net flights for higher-handicap players. Hundreds of players participate each year.
Mazion befriended John Brodie, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who later played the Champions Tour, after beating him in The City in 1974.
“Mazion looks like could have run interference for Brodie, or better yet, caught a lot of passes during a long National Football League career,” the Milwaukee Journal wrote in 1977, when Mazion was playing the U.S. Amateur Public Links there. “His golf clubs look like toys in his hands.”
The friendship between Mazion and Brodie, forged at The City, is testament to its diversity. Riveters, roofers and cops are among the tournament’s past champions. Stephen Molinelli’s opponent in the 1993 semifinals was a man nicknamed “Scarecrow.”
“He played in overalls, a flannel long-sleeve shirt and a straw hat. And he beat me,” said Molinelli, a former Olympic Club champion. “That’s the greatness of The City Championship.”
Over at GolfBlot, Steve Elling considers the life and golfing times of Harding Park's namesake, the former president.
The course opened in 1925, two years after the widely scorned Harding – whose short term in office was marked by accusations of larceny and prison terms of a key cabinet member – died in the city’s Palace Hotel. Harding loved the city so much that … he was immediately hauled off by train and buried in Ohio.
Having a lousy namesake hasn’t hurt the course in the eyes of players. It was designed by Willie Watson, who built the nearby U.S. Open venue Olympic Club, and Harding will host the 2020 PGA Championship.
Overall, Harding was generally considered the second-worst American president in history, behind U.S. Grant, though some put Harding at the top of the list, given the scandals that engulfed his short term in the White House.
