The First Look: PGA Championship

After the PGA Championship moved to May last year, it returns to August because of the schedule shuffling caused by the coronavirus. For the first time since 1971, the PGA will be the first major championship of the season. Brooks Koepka looks for a PGA Championship three-peat at TPC Harding Park but will do so in front of no spectators. FIELD NOTES: Tiger Woods will make his return to action after finishing T40 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. That is his lone start since February… Woods and Rory McIlroy have both won World Golf Championships at TPC Harding Park in the last 15 years (Woods in 2005 and McIlroy in 2015)… Ninety-five of the top 100 in the world are expected to tee it up at TPC Harding Park… Justin Thomas returns to the PGA Championship (a title he won in 2017) after not playing last year due to a wrist injury… Twenty PGA of America professionals will be in the field (from the 2019 PGA Professional Player of the Year standings)… Jim Furyk, Adam Scott, and Zach Johnson are the only golfers in the field who played both the 2009 Presidents Cup and both World Golf Championship events (2005, 2015) contested at TPC Harding Park. FEDEXCUP: Winner gets 600 FedExCup points. COURSE: TPC Harding Park, 7,234 yards, par 70. The first course on the west coast to host the PGA Championship since Sahalee in 1998, TPC Harding Park has a lengthy history with the PGA TOUR. Set against Lake Merced, the course was substantially renovated in the early 2000s, including adding 400 yards to make it a championship-ready golf facility. The course opened 95 years ago and was designed by Sam Whiting and Willie Watson and named after President Warren G. Harding. The course has hosted two World Golf Championships and the PGA TOUR Champions season finale – the Charles Schwab Cup Championship – in 2010, 2011, and 2013. TPC Harding Park was the also the home of the 2009 Presidents Cup and will once again play host in 2026. STORYLINES: The PGA is the penultimate event of the PGA TOUR’s regular season. After Harding Park, only the Wyndham Championship remains for players to jockey for position entering the FedExCup Playoffs and the conclusion of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 race… Brooks Koepka looks to be the first golfer to win the PGA Championship three years in a row since Walter Hagen (who won four in a row from 1924-1927 during the match-play era of the championship)… Jordan Spieth will once again try for the career grand slam. This is his fourth crack at it… Golfers ranked No. 1 in the world at the time (Woods and McIlroy) won both of the PGA TOUR events held at TPC Harding Park… There hasn’t been a non-American winner of the PGA Championship since Jason Day in 2015… Tiger Woods looks to win his fifth PGA Championship title, which would tie him for the most all time with Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Brooks Koepka (2018 at Bellerive CC) 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Bruce Crampton (2nd round, 1975 at Firestone CC), Raymond Floyd (1st round, 1982 at Southern Hills), Gary Player (2nd round, 1984 at Shoal Creek), Michael Bradley (1st round, 1993 at Inverness), Vijay Singh (2nd round, 1993 at Inverness), Brad Faxon (4th round, 1995 at Riviera CC), José María Olazábal (3rd round, 2000 at Valhalla), Mark O’Meara (2nd round, 2001 at Atlanta AC), Thomas Bjorn (3rd round, 2005 at Baltusrol), Tiger Woods (2nd round, 2007 at Southern Hills), Steve Stricker (1st round, 2011 at Atlanta AC), Jason Dufner (2nd round, 2013 at Oak Hill), Hiroshi Iwata (2nd round, 2015 at Whistling Straits), Robert Streb (2nd round, 2016 at Baltusrol), Brooks Koepka (2nd round, 2018 at Bellerive; 1st round, 2019 at Bethpage Black), Charl Schwartzel (2nd round, 2018 at Bellerive). LAST TIME: Brooks Koepka finished at 8 under and joined Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back PGA Championship winners since the major went to stroke play in 1958. Koepka led wire-to-wire but stumbled home in the final round with a 4-over-par 74 at Bethpage Black. He had a record seven-shot lead heading into Sunday but lost most of it over a difficult and windy day in New York. It was Koepka’s fourth title in his last eight major championship appearances. Dustin Johnson had the full support of the crowd (at one point after Koepka made four-straight bogeys on the back nine they were chanting, ‘DJ, DJ, DJ’) but ended up two shots back at 6-under for the week. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, and Matt Wallace finished T3. Luke List (-1) finished sixth alone, and was the only other golfer to be under par for the week. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (ESPN+), 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (ESPN). Saturday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. (ESPN+), 1 p.m.-4 p.m. (ESPN), 4 p.m.-10 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (ESPN+), 12 p.m.-3 p.m. (ESPN), 3 p.m.-9 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday 3 p.m.-9 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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