Junior Golfers Ready to Hit Course

It’s tee time.

The annual San Leandro City Junior Golf Championship will be held Thursday at Monarch Bay Club, where more than 200 boys and girls will compete in a tournament as old as the city’s main golf course.

Competitors range from 7 to 17 years old. The 12- to 17-year-olds will play on the 18-hole Tony Lema course. The 11-and-unders will be on the nine-hole Marina course.

“This tournament has grown into one of the largest single-day tournaments on the West Coast,” said tournament chairman David Sams. “It’s a busy day, and it’s a lot of fun.”

The tournament, which is part of the Junior Golf Association of Northern California, has had its share of entrants go on to play professionally, including LPGA golfers Pat Hurst and Christina Kim, Sams said.

The first tee times are scheduled for 7 a.m. The last golfers to tee off — at 12:30 p.m. — are expected to come off the course around 5:30 p.m.

Most of the golfers live in the Bay Area, but entrants come from all over Northern California, from places such as Chico and Fresno, Sams said. There is even an entrant from Cincinnati, OH.

Tournament winners receive a trophy and a $150 gift certificate to the golf club’s pro shop. Sams said that between gift certificates and trophies, nearly $4,000 goes toward prizes.

The tournament, which is run by the City Public Works department and the American Golf Corporation—which operates the courses for the city, has been held every summer since 1963.

Volunteers from the men’s and women’s clubs at Monarch Bay help run the one-day tournament.