PGA Championship Tuesday

A delayed start to my blogging day, though you've nothing to fear.  Local weather precludes most other activities, so we've got all the time we'll need.

Mood, Set - Major Championship Golf seems ill-suited to Life During Wartime Lockdown, so there's likely to be an adjustment period.  Fortunately it's only the PGA....  More major than, you know, Major.

Vis Shack, we lede with this wonderful Chronicle slideshow of golf through the years at Harding Park, most of which come from an local event called the Lucky International in the early 1960's.  I'll use this photo for the amusement of Bobby D.:

Harvie Ward (1955 winner) and Ken Venturi (1956 winner) grapple with the trophy before the 1956 San Francisco City Golf Championships.

That shout-out is because Bobby just this week borrowed and read this book about a day of golf that would have already occurred before this photo was taken, but it would be a few decades before the world heard the tale.

Of course, what you really want are photos from the golf course, no?

You really should scroll through the slideshow on your own, as there's a wealth of gems.  You all probably know about the vibrant local golf scene, alumni including Venturi and Ward, but also Johnny Miller, Bob Rossburg and God knows who else I'm forgetting.

But the shots of the galleries are great as well, including kids sitting in the limbs of the famous Cypress trees.

But also props to the San Francisco Chronicles unique approach to paywalls. One can't actually read the article involved without subscribing, but the slideshow itself they fail to bury behind said paywall. Hey, it works for me....and you, as well.

Geoff also links to this Sean Martin backgrounder on the course, which sits in a most desirable neighborhood:

2. AHEAD OF ITS TIME 

Harding Park was one of the country’s first great municipal courses, predating places like Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines and Los Angeles’ Rancho Park. Harding Park, which opened in 1925, was designed by the same two men who created Olympic Club’s two courses: Willie

Watson and Sam Whiting. 

 

San Francisco caught the golf bug in the early 20th century, and Harding Park was built after the city’s first public course, Lincoln Park, was overrun with golfers. Lincoln Park is now a short par-68 but it is famous for its scenic vistas overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

Harding Park was built on a desirable piece of property, as well. The land, which was owned by the Spring Valley Water Company, was located next to Lake Merced. The fertile, loamy soil and rolling terrain made it prime golfing ground. The site also is just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. The ocean isn’t visible from the course, but its effect is felt by the strong winds and dense fog.

 

The land surrounding Lake Merced is densely populated by great golf courses. Harding Park, Olympic Club and the A.W. Tillinghast-designed San Francisco Golf Club surround the lake, while the Lake Merced Golf Club, which was re-designed by Alister Mackenzie, is nearby.

 

Would it be impolite to note that, architecturally, it's the least interesting of the three?  Well then, impolite we must be...

Sean lays down this interesting marker, something to look for during the week:

Harding Park’s curving fairways require players to choose how aggressive they want to be and to shape their tee shots. Players have to be careful to avoid the cypress trees, which are known to swallow golf balls, though.

 

“I've seen enough (balls) get stuck to where I'm going to try my hardest to avoid cutting off doglegs too much,” Jordan Spieth said before the 2015 Match Play.

Those that need to get out of the house more might remember the defining moment from The 1998 U.S. Open at neighboring Olympic.  The ultimate winner Lee Jantzen had apparently left a ball in a Cypress Tree, only to have it miraculously drop to the Earth as he was already on his way back to the tee....

And this that embarrasses your humble blogger, who wasn't aware of The Re-Match:

9. REMATCH

 

The four-ball match at Cypress Point between Hogan, Nelson, Ward and Venturi has become the stuff of legend. The sequel at Harding Park has been forgotten over the years, though.

 

The second match took place 10 days later. Hogan was replaced by Jack Fleck, the man who six months earlier had upset Hogan in the U.S. Open across the lake at Olympic Club. Fleck partnered with Nelson to take on the two amateur heavyweights. The match benefited local flood relief.

 

The match was highly publicized. There were several practice rounds, a hole-in-one contest and exhibition atmosphere all week.

With more than 7,000 fans watching, Venturi and Ward were 3 up after 12 holes and defeated the pros, 2 and 1. Venturi shot 68, while Fleck shot 73, Ward shot 74 and Nelson struggled to a 78 (although it was match play, the players agreed to hole everything out for the spectators). Fans lined every fairway and green. Nelson called it the best-behaved gallery he had ever seen.

Unfortunately, there will be no fans at Harding Park this week. The course will still get its turn in the spotlight, though.

Where's Mark Frost when we need him....

I'll not excerpt, but don't miss this Bo Links (that can't possibly be his real name, can it?) ode to The City, San Francisco's premier amateur competition.   

Not to worry, we'll get to Tiger, but there's another guy with good memories of the place:

TPC Harding Park is the belle of the ball this week in the golf world. The San Francisco muni is set to host its first major championship and first Tour event since the 2015 WGC-Match Play.

Can we pull some knowledge from how that event played out? We will certainly try.

When the Match Play was held in the spring of 2015, the conditions were chilly by Tour standards, which might just always be the case for San Francisco golf, but players were raving about the setup. “It’s a great golf course,” Gary Woodland said. “The layout is awesome. It was in phenomenal shape. It’s a great match play golf course because there are a lot of birdies out there.”

You can’t blame Woodland for being complimentary. His game matched up well that week, leading him to a spot in the finals opposite Rory McIlroy. Woodland won a series of tight matches while McIlroy blitzed the likes of Jason Dufner (5 and 4) and Hideki Matsuyama (6 and 5). This happens in most match play events, where one player just isn’t feeling it that round and is bounced early.

 

I actually didn't realize that it's now a TPC....  Josh Sens is next up, with nine bits about the place that we didn't know.  First, about that name:

2. There’s a Presidential Connection

 

And not just in the form of the Presidents Cup, which Harding Park hosted in 2009. The course is named for Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States and an avid golfer, who died of a heart attack in 1923 while staying at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

It's named after a dead white guy?  That can't stand in these times, can it?  To the best of my knowledge, there's no actual statue of Harding for the rabble to tear down, though perhaps this wasn't the optimal moment to unveil this statue honoring the course's savior:

What's the half-life of a statue honoring a white guy these days?  

I liked this bit very much:

9. Many Eagles Landed Here, All Made By One Man

 

Tatum’s is not the only name memorialized at Harding Park. Another is Ovid Seyler, who was known as “The Institution” because, well, he was one — a longtime regular at Harding Park and four-time winner of the club championship. Cool achievement, right? Perhaps even cooler is the fact that over a 25-plus-year span of playing golf at Harding Park, Seyler eagled every hole on the course. A concrete bench near the putting green pays tribute to Seyler, and a feat that no one else is known to have pulled off.

 

A great nickname, though one prone to misinterpretation.

The Event - We've spent more than enough time on the venue and host city, so shall we consider this event and its context.  Alan Shipnuck takes a crack at the big storylines of the week:

1. What will make this PGA Championship memorable?

Is it me, or is there a whopper of an assumption buried in the question?

Rory McIlroy recently said that since the PGA Tour restarted all of the tournaments have had a numbing sameness, owing to the lack of fans or sense of place as the players are sequestered

inside the bubble. Harding Park will certainly make for an evocative television setting, with the fog wafting through the Cypress trees and glorious overheads of the City by the Bay. It is the course where the late Ken Venturi learned the game and he will be a palpable presence throughout the week as his former wingman in the booth, Jim Nantz, is well steeped in all of the lore.

 

Harding is the exactly the kind of place that needs to be celebrated, a course open to all that serves as a melting pot for a great city. This week a statue is being unveiled of Sandy Tatum, the former USGA president and patron saint of the Harding restoration. The course does not have a rich championship history — yet — but it has quite a story to tell. This PGA will be the most important part of that story, for Harding Park and for an interrupted golf season in need of clarity and definition.

So, nothing then?  That was gonna be my answer, but Alan got there first.

2. Will it feel like a major championship?

With no fans at Harding Park and a limited number of on-site reporters, the atmosphere will undoubtedly lack the usual electricity that surrounds the majors. But while the cascading Sunday roars will certainly be missed, the players still know what’s at stake in a year with no Open Championship, Ryder Cup or Players. By the weekend, the enormity of the opportunity will be unmistakable. The tension and emotion that comes with playing for history will be written across their faces, which figure to be as furrowed as an Oakmont bunker.

Harding, which sits across the bay from the Olympic Club, should also be a fun test. Expect tight fairways and lush rush that’ll force the bashers to have their driving games on point. This week will represent the first major conducted on the refurbished muni, though it has hosted the 2009 Presidents Cup and ’15 Match Play (won by Rory McIlroy, who needs the good vibes to break out of his funk).

 

Lush rush?  Does nobody read these things before they're published?  

Golf Digest has a silly FAQ page up, silly because most are questions such as these:

Are the PGA Tour and the PGA of America different?

Yes, the PGA Tour and the PGA of America have been independent of one another since 1968. The PGA Tour is an elite organization of tournament professionals, while the PGA of America is made up of club and teaching professionals who work at on- and off-course golf facilities around the country (and the world).

When and where was the first PGA Championship? And who won?

The first PGA Championship was played in 1916 at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y. England's Jim Barnes won, 1 up, over Jock Hutchinson.

 

So, you won't learn anything from it, but that doesn't mean that they can't depress us further:

What are the future venues for the PGA Championship?

Future venues for the PGA Championship have been announced officially through 2029. There is also a “TBD” year for between 2030, as well as a venue locked in for 2031. They are as follows:

2021 — Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Ocean Course), Kiawah Island, S.C.

2022 — Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, N.J.

2023 — Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, N.Y.

2024 — Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Ky.

2025 — Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, N.C.

2026 — Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, Pa.

2027 — The East Course at PGA Frisco, Frisco, Texas

2028 — Olympic Club, San Francisco

2029 — Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, N.J.

2030 (TBD) — Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Okla.

2031 — Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Md.

2034 — The East Course at PGA Frisco, Frisco, Texas

Well, there's Aronimink to look forward to....  Other than that, it's pretty grim.  Rochester in May could be interesting, and that 2022 venue promises to bring the heat for sure.

But my vote for dereliction of duty goes to the award of two major championships to course that hasn't even been built yet.  We're in the best of hands, folks.

Most of us barely tolerate the presence of twenty club professionals in the field, not that they earn much air time in a typical year.  Of course their lives have been upended as well:

Then there’s Danny Ballin, the 33-year-old head pro from Fresh Meadow Country Club on Long Island, not far from what was once the epicenter for coronavirus. With cases of the virus down, rounds are up. Ballin said his club is doing five times the amount of business it did a year ago at this time.

“I’ve had zero preparation,” said Ballin, who will be making his seventh appearance in the PGA since 2010. “It’s all hands on deck, all day, every day.”

 

Indeed. Saturday afternoon he was still busy overseeing the club championship. Sunday, he was scheduled to fly to San Francisco. He’s played a few rounds with members over the summer, but last week was his first chance to hit balls uninterrupted on the driving range.

 We've doubled our round splayed, but five times?

John Feinstein sacrifices yet another straw man to the cause:

PGA Championship 2020: Why this year's winner won't deserve this (*) next to his name

This has been something of an issue in baseball and other sports, but I've not heard anyone make that case about golf and I can't actually envision what that case might be.

Question: If a major golf championship is played on an empty golf course, is it really a major golf championship? This is a little like asking, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

The player who wins this week’s PGA Championship at Harding Park will be a major champion just as surely as that tree made a sound.

There are some wondering if the absence of spectators caused by the COVID-19 virus will somehow make this PGA not as major as normal majors played in front of thousands of spectators. There are others, noting the absence of players like three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, 2018 Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari and frequent major contender Lee Westwood—not to mention John Daly and Vijay Singh, past PGA champions who now compete as senior citizens—as somehow meaning that an asterisk should be placed next to the champion’s name come Sunday evening.

 

They are wrong—completely wrong and totally wrong. How’s that for redundancy?

 

Now I get why I can't envision it, because it's not much of a case.

Did you know what time it is?  Apparently I didn't get the memo:

It's time again to talk about the best player without a major

Who knew?  

It turns out that it's a top ten list, though how this guy only gets an honorable mention is beyond me:

Honorable mention: Lee Westwood

The Englishman and former world No. 1 would have been in the top 10 but elected to not travel to the United States out of concerns for COVID-19. Unknown if he’ll play in the U.S. Open next month or the Masters in November. The winner of 44 titles worldwide has 12 top-5 finishes in majors (including three runner-up finishes), the most of any player who hasn’t won a major.

 Isn't that why we have lifetime achievement awards?

The list itself suffers from the usual category errors, in that no thought is given to qualification criteria.  For every Kooch, Paul Casey, Rickie and Hideki, for whom the failure to win one has meaning, the list includes Bryson, X-Man and Jon Rahm, for whom it's simply too early for the failure to win a major to tell us anything meaningful.

That said, this inclusion had me laughing out loud:

7. Tony Finau

Yes, a guy who has one PGA Tour win – that coming in an opposite field event in 2016, no less – is among the best to never win a major. The man with uber talent who can hit the ball as far as anyone has 30 top-10s since he won the Puerto Rico Open. In the majors, five of his six top-10s have come in the last eight majors played. Gained a lot of experience and confidence playing in the final group on the final day of the 2019 Masters alongside Tiger Woods.

 

You're worried about the guy never winning a big one, whereas the rest of us are a bit concerned about his ability to hold on and win ANYTHING.

Lastly, we've discussed those Euros that have chosen not to come an dpeg it in this event, guys like the aforementioned Westy, Eddie Pepperill and Frankie Molinari.  Obviously we're in strange times, but one expects world class athletes to crawl over broken glass for these kinds of opportunities.

But this one might be the strangest yet:

Ryan Moore has opted out of this week’s PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park. In itself, not surprising: Due to myriad concerns, COVID-19 safety chief among them, Moore was the 12th player to withdraw from the proceedings as of Monday afternoon.

Moore’s stated reasoning for pulling out, however, is something you don’t see at such a prestigious event.

On Monday, the PGA of America announced Moore was out of the field due to a “scheduling conflict.”

However, Moore was already in the area, playing at the Barracuda Championship in Truckee, Calif., just three hours away from San Francisco.

Moore's camp told Golf Digest's Brian Wacker that Moore didn't want to play both the Barracuda and PGA, and listed as ninth alternate for the PGA at the beginning of last week, decided to play in the Barracuda. When he ultimately got into the Harding Park field, Moore decided to pass, sticking to his original plan. Instead he is opting for rest in hopes for a FedEx Cup posteason run.

Le Sigh!  The man is passing up a major for...I can barely believe that I'm going to type these words, the playoffs?   It tells us far too much about Mr. Moore, a man once thought highly enough to receive a Ryder Cup captain's pick.  Is it too much to assume that everyone will draw the correct conclusions from such a decision?

But I elided quite the gem, one of those tragi-comic appeals to authority:

Now, it's not the first time a player couldn't make the PGA due to previous engagements. Ben Hogan famously passed on the 1953 PGA Championship after winning the Masters and U.S. Open earlier in the year. Although the Hawk did have a noble reason: The Open Championship overlapped with the PGA, and Hogan decided to go for the claret jug instead of the Wanamaker (which he won, completing a triple crown season).

Yes, Ryan Moore is just like Ben Hogan....  In Bizarro World.

Wither Tiger - I'm not especially hopeful for his chances, but let's see how others are thinking.  First, I suspect this means pretty much nothing:

Perhaps more than any other golfer in history, Tiger Woods has done a large portion of his winning at specific tournaments, on specific golf courses. Woods has never played as much as the average PGA Tour pro, instead crafting his schedule around courses that suit his eye. A remarkable 40 of his record-tying 82 career PGA Tour victories have come at just six different events.

Simply put, there are some courses that Woods just seems to love: Firestone, where he won eight WGC events, Torrey Pines (seven Farmers and a U.S. Open), Bay Hill (eight Arnold Palmer Invitationals), Muirfield Village (five-time Memorial winner), Doral (four WGC titles) and, of course, Augusta National (five Masters).

Unlike any of the aforementioned courses, TPC Harding Park was never an annual host of a PGA Tour event during Woods’ career. Only twice has Tiger played the San Francisco public course in competition: the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship and the 2009 Presidents Cup. (He missed the 2015 WGC-Match Play at Harding Park due to injury). His results in those two competitions, however, suggest an inchoate love affair.

Woods won the Amex in 2005, beating John Daly in a clash of high-powered golfers that ended with a thud in a playoff. Four years later at the Presidents Cup, Woods went 5-0-0, his best career showing in any team event, as the Americans made easy work of the Internationals, beating them 19½-14½.

 

Given that the most recent of those was eleven years ago, it's hard for me to think there's much carryover.  

Dylan Dethier is a Tiger dead-ender, though his header seems a tad defensive:

5 reasons Tiger Woods could still win the PGA Championship

Still?  Dylan, you know the event hasn't started, right?  I mean everyone is tied at this point...But this would seem to be quite a big factor:

2. He’ll be cold, but not too cold

 

I don’t think there’s any question that Woods wishes it was going to be a bit warmer this week in San Francisco. He has talked extensively about how much better he moves in balmy conditions, and he would have welcomes 80 degrees and sunny with open arms. But the last time he won, at Narashino Country Club in Japan, it was hardly roasting, either, and he led after every single round.

 

A quick forecast check reveals that this week’s event is going to be contended mostly in the 50s and 60s. Thursday and Friday’s highs are around 67 degrees, Saturday gets up to 69 and Sunday gets up to 70. If Tiger shoots the temperature each day — 67-67-69-70 — that’ll be a heck of a week.

 

The more relevant number may be the low temperature, which gets down to the mid-50s each night. Woods will presumably play one morning tee time and one afternoon tee time on Thursday and Friday. He’ll need to survive that chilly morning session and capitalize on the afternoon warmth.

 

You sure of that?  He came up lame on Friday at Muirfield, and it was closer to ninety degrees there...

And this is Dylan's rousing coda:

5. He’s Tiger Woods

Well, he used to be....  Again it's hard to get invested in the man's prospects when it's uncertain that he'll be able to play for four straight days. But my snark aside, if his body does allow him to swing freely, it would be foolish to say that he can't win.

And the early reports have been good:

Not that I’m saying he’s come to some events unprepared, but there was definitely an urgency to the Monday proceedings at Harding Park. Getting comfortable on the green was the primary focus, particualrly given that his swing, ball-striking and body all appear ready to go.

—Short game consultant Matt Killen went nine holes with him and they discussed his putting at times.

—He played one of his approach shots as if a real putt, but with Joe LaCava giving his read first, then consulting the green reading charts, before putting.

—Woods practiced putting one-handed a few times

 

—Flexibility appeared excellent despite the cool conditions. No 80% swings as we’ve seen in run-ups or early week of majors.

 

—He took some big swipes at tee shots and reached the 607-yard 4th hole in when the fog had rolled in. His back clearly feels good.

—Mood was great, relaxed and focused.

Geoff has some of his own tweets on the subject embedded in his post that are worth a gander.

I'm going to leave you there of necessity.  I've got some blogging to do on other topics, but I'm unclear when that might happen.  I'll likely skip tomorrow, but be back Thursday morning before balls are in the air.