Bittersweet Monday At Harding Park On What Would Have Been PGA Championship Week

Will Gray talks to Harding Park GM Tom Smith on what would have been PGA Championship Monday for the San Francisco muni turned TPC.

Play has been robust at the course but thoughts are turning to a possible hosting in August.

Like with many PGA Tour events slated for later this year, there are still two distinct possibilities in terms of tournament operations: one that calls for the event to be played in front of at least some fans, and one that would include no fans at all. While Smith still holds out hope for fans to be able to experience a “traditional PGA Championship” in what would be the first PGA played on the West Coast since 1998, he admitted that course officials will be reacting to – and not making – the decision to allow fans.

“I think that’s really the unknown at this point,” Smith said. “We’re working scenarios right now for when it’s safe, when it’s responsible to do so, and of course under the guidance of the public health officials here, we will resume the build with whatever we are presented in terms of fan scenarios for August. Right now everything is in a holding pattern.”

The with-fans possibility appears all but dead and there is, sadly, a third-and-increasingly likely scenario: no PGA at all. Bay Area counties, which were the earliest in the country to order stay-at-home measures, are still “nowhere near” meeting reopening criteria as of Monday.

With Major League Baseball rolling out a proposed schedule keeping teams closer to home and playing without fans, Governor Gavin Newsom reiterated that much will need to happen even for the California teams to play in their stadiums.

From Jeff Passan’s ESPN.com story:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a media conference Monday that he had spoken to the commissioner as well. "He said, 'We won't do anything that's not consistent with state guidelines,'" Newsom said. "We certainly look forward to Major League Baseball and all sports resuming, but again, the question is when. And that will be determined on the basis of public health and public safety and the spread of this virus."

In contrast to baseball, the PGA Championship would be attempting to bring players from all over the world 15 weeks from now.