Francesca Sumcad Wins Sacramento City Women’s Golf Championship
The Sacramento Golf Council (SGC) proudly announces the results of the 90th Annual Sacramento City Women’s Golf Championship. The Council wishes to thank each and every player that participated in the event as well as all the staff and volunteers from the SGC and Morton Golf at Bing Maloney that helped make this another wonderful golf tournament.
Sean Wong, tournament director, would like to especially thank all the spectators and players for their support, and special thanks to all the out of area players for making the long trip to Sacramento. Special thanks also to tournament co-directors, SGC members Janice Luis, Deb Kanner, Scott Bland, Mike Fleming, Steve Yates, Mark Perry and Charlie Cheung, and tournament volunteers, Allen Luis, Carissa Shubb, Kevin Marcy and Glenn Suitor, for their hard work, and also to Mychal Weitzman, the tournament director at Bing Maloney as well to all the course workers who managed to get the course in excellent condition for the tournament. Larry Glasmire was also helpful as usual with the Golf Genius software available to solve any glitches that arose. Vi McNally also put out a nice press release immediately following the tournament and Maynard Pace was very reliable delivering any needed equipment.
As has been the case for the last several years, the quality of the field was incredibly strong, with more than half the players in the Championship Flight playing to lower than a one or plus handicap index, as well as diverse, with top high school players, college players, some post-graduate players. We had past, present or future college players from UC Riverside, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UN Reno, Fresno State, Sacramento State, Menlo College, Chico State, University of Colorado, Univ. of Northern Colorado, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State Northridge, William Jessup, Mississippi University, Methodist University, Cal Lutheran, Dominican University, Contra Costa College, Sacramento City College and Delta College.
On the first day, Emily Guan, defending champion, played another solid round of golf, carding 6 birdies on holes 3, 7, 9, 12, 14 and 18 to go with bogeys on tough holes 2 and 17 before finishing with a 4 under par round of 68 and taking a one-shot lead over the University of Colorado Buffalo, Francesca Sumcad of San Jose, and former Sac State and UC Irvine player, Sienna Lyford of Elk Grove, a two time past Champion.
The course was playing very difficult with only two other players under par with opening rounds of 71 – Lillian McGowan of Folsom, recent Union Mine graduate on her way to CSU Northridge’s golf team, and Amelia Garibaldi, a local standout from Stockton, who is currently on the Fresno State golf team. Vani Karamanal, who had a solid season last year for the Aggies of UC Davis also had a very good round of even par. These six players separated themselves from the field on the first day as no one else came in lower than 75.
On the second day, the weather was a few degrees warmer but the wind was still a factor. Some of the players that did not play well the first day, turned it around, and shot even par or better rounds. Risa Mae Rodriguez, the youngest player in the championship field, who is entering the eighth grade next year from Elk Grove, shot nearly 10 strokes better with an even round 72 after an 81 in the first round. Maggie Vergura, a former elite college soccer player for USC currently residing in Alamo, shot eight strokes better also turning in a solid round of 72. Nikki Chindavong of Fairfield, playing for the UN Reno Wolves, shot 2 under 70 following up a tough 77 in the first round to finish in 7th place.
After 8 holes, it looked like we would possibly have a playoff like the past two years with 5 players all within a stroke of the lead with Emily, Francesca and Lillian tied at 3 under, and Vani and Sienna just one behind at 2 under par. However, the par 5 9th hole proved costly for both Sienna and Lillian as Sienna bogeyed and Lillian double bogeyed to both go to one under par at the turn.
Sienna, the three time Golf Council Women’s player of the year, had a roller coaster front nine, uncharacteristically starting the round with three straight bogeys, followed by three straight birdies and ending with two bogeys on 8 and 9 after her only par on hole 7. She righted the ship, however, and played an excellent bogey free back nine with birdies on holes 12, 14 and 17, to finish in second place overall at 4 under par, with a final round 71. Also, Emily, never could get the putter going in the last round and finished with 10 straight pars for a one over final round 73, and two day total of 3 under par to respectably finish in third place.
In the end, Francesca assumed control of the tournament immediately after the turn with a birdie on the difficult par 4 10th hole. She followed that up with an eagle 3 on the 11th hole to take a three shot lead that she never relinquished. She finished up with three more birdies on holes 14, 15 and 17 to finish at 9 under for the tournament with a tournament record 30 on the back 9.
The Sacramento Golf Council proudly welcomes Francesca Sumcad of San Jose as the 2024 Sacramento City Women’s Champion, joining a long list of accomplished women that includes former LPGA Major Champion Alice Miller, former US Girls Junior Amateur Champion Jamille Lee (Jose), former Big Break Kaanapali Champion and former Tour player Kim Welch, and four-time California Women’s Amateur Champion Lynne Cowan, who played in the inaugural Sacramento City Senior Women’s Championship this weekend.
In addition, in its very infancy, the Sacramento City Senior Women’s was held with the very minimum field of eight players. 2015 US Senior Women’s Champion Karen Garcia of Cool took control of the tournament with an even par 72 on the first day to take a five shot lead over Lynne Cowan of Rocklin. Taking advantage of her length with 5 birdies over the weekend on the par 5s, Karen continued to put the pressure on the field and won going away with a three under 69 on the second day to finish 3 under for the tournament. Lynne came in second at 8 over par. Marcia Whiting of Gold River, took the senior low net at even par, narrowly beating Julie Quinn of Sacramento and Karen, who finished at net one over par.
In the Handicap Flight, Rosie Ho of Sacramento and Karen Biscaha of Fair Oaks both played very well with the only net under par rounds of the tournament, each shooting 6 under, 138 for the two days. Rosie edged Karen in a cardoff with a net 33.5 on Sunday’s back nine. Newcomers Doreen Freund and Lily Woodward both from Roseville finished third and fourth respectively. Lily is someone to watch in the future as she is only 9 years old, commendably pushing her cart both days!
We hope to see everyone back next year!!! Please see the final results HERE.
