PGA Championship: major kick-off

This 102nd edition of the PGA Championship, born in 1916, will forever be etched in the history of modern golf. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this Grand Slam tournament will indeed be played out ... behind closed doors. Not a single spectator is allowed on the TPC Harding Park site in San Francisco. It will be the same for the US Open (September 17-20) at Winged Foot (New York). A situation both unprecedented and somewhat anxiety-provoking since the State of California has become, along with Florida, one of the main centers of Covid-19. As of August 3, there were 521,481 confirmed cases for 9,483 deaths (157,729 for all of the United States). The PGA of America, which organizes the event like every year, nevertheless wants to be reassuring, even if only 25 journalists have been accredited for the occasion. Never seen !

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Sanitary conditions have been strengthened on the PGA Tour since July 1, the day after a succession of positive cases recorded in just a few days. Originally, a ten-day quarantine was required for anyone who tested positive. But the new rules that came into effect a month ago allow a player or a caddy to return if they no longer have symptoms after two negative tests spaced at least 24 hours apart. The tests used on the PGA Tour also detect the virus even when the infection is over and the person is no longer contagious.

However, this did not convince some big names in world golf to make the trip to California. Let us quote John Daly, winner of the tournament in 1991, Padraig Harrington, also winner in 2008, the Italian Francesco Molinari, the English Eddie Pepperell and Lee Westwood, the Belgian Thomas Pieters, the Fijian Vijay Singh, victorious at the UPSGA 1998 and 2004, or the South Korean YE Yang, first Asian winner of a Major (at the USPGA 2009).

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Despite these main packages, almost all of the world top 50 are well at the start of this first Major of the season, initially moved to May since 2019 but postponed to August due to the pandemic.   

Winner this Sunday in Memphis at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, the American Justin Thomas, who at the same time became world No. 1 again two years later, is one of the big favorites for victory. Three times victorious this season on the US circuit, he has already won the USPGA in 2017 but was absent in 2019 with a wrist injury. Title holder Brooks Koepka, 2nd in Memphis after self-destructing on the 18th with a double bogey (ball in the water on his face-off), is aiming for a hat-trick after his successes in 2019 and 2018. Walter Hagen, legend of golf, had won the tournament four times in a row between 1924 and 1927 but the format of play at the time was match play.

The rough at TPC Harding Park will be a challenge all week at the @PGAChampionship.

Take a tip from @willrobinsgolfto help you out next time you find yourself buried in the thick stuff. pic.twitter.com/qYpo80iPFY

The last winner here at TPC Harding Park (at WGC-Match Play 2015), Rory McIlroy, world No. 1 just three weeks ago and now No. 3, is on the decline. Since the resumption of competition on June 11, he has failed to finish in a top 10 in five starts. It smacks of revenge ...

And then there's Tiger Woods, who is making his comeback after his 40th place finish at the Memorial Tournament three weeks ago. Weakened by new back warnings, the Tiger also won here (in 2005 at the WGC-American Express). Despite his physical problems, he will seek to land a 5th personal USPGA.

Major Championship Golf is Back. # PGAChamppic.twitter.com / mUbNb4KRni

Three French people are also involved. Victor Perez, who remains in 65th place at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, intends to cross his first cut in the United States (after three failures on the PGA Tour). Arrived for two weeks in the United States, Mike Lorenzo-Vera has not played in competition since March 6 and the Qatar Masters (European Tour) where he had not passed the cut. Benjamin Hébert, who flew from Britain on Sunday night after finishing 34th in the Hero Open, will play his first USPGA after two British Open (in 2008 and 2019).

All this beautiful linen (156 players in total) will face from Thursday (9 hours difference with France) this par 70 long of 6,615 meters which also hosted the Presidents Cup 2009 (it will still host the event in 2026) . Raised 95 years ago, the first West Coast course to host a PGA Championship since 1998, TPC Harding Park (name given in tribute to the President of the USA, Warren G. Harding, who died of a heart attack in San Francisco in 1923) is just a few hundred meters away from another architectural gem, the Olympic Club, which hosted the US Open 2012. Redesigned in the early 2000s by Sandy Tatum, then president of the USGA (United States Golf Association), Harding Park is world famous for being home to many varieties of eucalyptus, cypress and other Monterey pines. But it is above all renowned for the extreme complexity of its topography. It is also nicknamed the Bethpage Black Course of the West Coast, in reference to the “monster” of the East Coast, in the New York suburbs where the USPGA 2019 was played!   

PGA Championship - $ 11,000,000 endowment (9,329,928 euros endowment) 

Players to watch

Brooks Koepka (USA), Byeong-hun An (CdS), Daniel Berger (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Jason Day (Aus), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Ang), Tommy Fleetwood (Ang), Rickie Fowler (USA), Tyrrell Hatton (Ang), Max Homa (USA), Dustin Johnson (USA), Sunghoon Kang (CdS), Matt Kuchar (USA), Tom Lewis (Ang), Hideki Matsuyama (Jap), Rory McIlroy (IdN), Phil Mickelson (USA), Collin Morikawa (USA), Kevin Na (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (AfS), Jon Rahm (Esp), Chez Reavie (USA), Xander Sc Chaudele (USA) ), Webb Simpson (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Brendon Todd (USA), Matt Wallace (Ang), Richy Werenski (USA), Matthew Wolff (USA), Gary Woodland (USA), Tiger Woods (USA). 

The French engaged

Victor Perez, Michael Lorenzo-Vera, Benjamin Hébert 

To watch the PGA Championship on TV:

Thursday August 6, 1st round: 10 p.m. (Golf +); 10:30 p.m. (Canal + Sport); 02:06 (Canal +)

Friday August 7, 2nd round: 10 p.m. (Golf +); 10:37 p.m. (Canal + Sport); 02:12 (Canal +)

Saturday August 8, 3rd round: 10 p.m. (Golf +); 10 p.m. (Canal + Sport); 02:31 (Canal +)

Sunday August 9, 4th round: 9:00 p.m. (Golf +); 10 p.m. (Canal +