Walsh has good showing at City championships

And what better way to get into the spirit of the Masters than by recounting the showing of local kids playing for the San Francisco City Golf Championship? Despite all the beautiful courses around the Bay Area, tournament golf has almost disappeared, save for the San Francisco amateur, which still carries some cache.

The men’s championship flight has always been a proving ground for local high school golfers and the 2022 edition was no different. This year, it was Serra’s William Walsh who went the deepest. Walsh, a junior who verbally committed in the fall to play at Pepperdine, advanced to the semifinals of the tournament.

Walsh, the No. 26 seed, won his round-of-64 match 4&3 over Lukas Taggart ( to understand match play scoring, Walsh was leading by four holes with three to play, meaning his opponent had no chance of catching him and the match was over after the 15th hole).

In the round of 32, Walsh held off Nathan Wang 1-up, but in the round of 16, Walsh absolutely demolished Tyler Kowack, 7&6.

Walsh needed overtime to get to the final four. Tied with Bobby Bucey after 18 holes of the round-of-eight match, Walsh punched his ticket to the semifinals by winning the 19th hole.

Walsh’s magical ride came to an end in the semis, as he fell to eventual champion Michael Jensen, 6&4. Jensen would beat Kyle Dougherty, 7&5, to win the title.

Walsh wasn’t the only local high school player to make the round of 64. Crystal Springs Uplands School freshman, Edan Cui, was the top seed in the 64-person match-play tournament. He was joined by high school teammate Keshav “KC” Mungali, who came in as the 63rd seed.

Neither Gryphon lasted long. Mungali was knocked out in the first round, 3&2, by Joey Hayden. Cui won his first-round match, 5&4, over Patrick Igoe, but Cui went out in the second round, 2&1, to Leonardo Vieira.

Lequan Wang, a sophomore from Aragon, was the No. 54 seed. He was strong in a first-round win, beating 27th-seeded Adrian Davis 6&5. But Wang’s tournament ended with a competitive 1-up loss to Jensen.

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Bobby Cook, who starred for the Terra Nova girls’ basketball team as Ivonne Cook Taylor before spending five seasons at Texas Tech, was killed in a motorcycle crash, according to family friend Corey Cafferata. The Texas Tech Twitter account verified his passing.

In 2020, Cook changed his name to Bobby Cook. He was 28.

Cook, who spent his spent his freshman season at Sacred Heart Cathedral, transferred to Terra Nova for his sophomore year where he teamed with Terilyn Moe and Jayzyl Tuala to help the Tigers to three straight Peninsula Athletic League tournament titles and a spot in the 2012 Central Coast Section Division III championship game, falling 61-56 to Sacred Heart Cathedral.

At Terra Nova, Cook averaged a double-double for his career, with 15 points and 12 rebounds per game.

Cook, Moe and Tuala all earned Division I college scholarships, with Cook playing at Texas Tech. After redshirting his freshman year, Cook went on to be named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention his junior and senior seasons. Cook averaged just under 10 points per game for his Red Raiders career, but scored 14.1 points per game during his junior year. Over his last two seasons, Cook started 60 of 61 games for the Red Raiders.

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A few years ago, when longtime Bay Area sports media personality Gary Radnich was retiring as sports anchor at KRON, I relayed a story about my “brush with fame” with Radnich following a Utah Jazz-Golden State Warriors playoff game in 1989.

What I didn’t mention in 2018 was that waiting for his own live shot was longtime KTVU sports anchor Mark Ibanez, who recently retired from KTVU after 43 years.

But on that evening in 1989, there was Ibanez lounging in the stands, arms draped over the adjoining seats, with a huge smile of satisfaction on his face — back when he still had that fabulous duster mustache.

From Wayne Walker at KPIX, Don Sanchez at KGO, Radnich and now Ibanez — the men I watched on a daily, or nightly basis, who helped instill in me my love of sports — are all gone.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.