Mark Soltau Senior Writer Location: San Francisco Beat Assignment: Golf and Bay Area sports

W R I T E R ' S   B I O

Mark Soltau is a native of Palo Alto, California. He attended Chico State University, where he lettered in golf for four years and earned all-conference honors.

After graduation, Mark worked as sports editor of the Gilroy Dispatch and Salinas Californian, before joining the San Francisco Examiner in 1981. He spent 16 years at the Examiner, writing a weekly golf column and covering the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford University football and basketball.

Mark joined Sportsline.com in 1997 as a Bay Area columnist and national golf writer. His golf column appears weekly on PGATour.com and he covers most major tournaments, including the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.

Mark has played competitive golf since age 10 and still competes in amateur tournaments. He has played in five Bing Crosby/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ams.

Former president of the California Golf Writers Association, Mark authored "California Golf", a guide to Northern California courses, and assisted golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. with his book, "Golf By Design".

Mark's father, Gordy, was an all-Big Ten end/kicker at Minnesota and later spent eight seasons with the 49ers. Twice, he led the NFL in scoring and was named to three Pro Bowls.

Mark is married and has one child.