Golf fans can rejoice with this week’s playing of the PGA Championship. The wait is almost over as we return to major moments this week at Harding Park.
There’s golf—and then there’s major championship golf. Although the Tour has been back for several weeks since the break, fans still haven’t been treated to a major championship in over a year. So it’s understandable why everyone’s getting a little antsy over this week. As you can imagine, the 102nd PGA Championship is one of the most heavily anticipated in the tournament’s history. After an extended major drought, the world’s best are eager to return to golf’s biggest stage. This week also jump starts a portion of the schedule that is packed with seven major championships that spans 12 months. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This week’s major is played at the seaside municipal gem, Harding Park, in San Francisco. The 156-man field will get play underway on Thursday, August 6, in what is often regarded as the deepest field in golf. Let’s take a closer examination of the venue, favourites, and examine our chances of having a Canadian champ come Sunday evening.
The Venue
The game is going back to its roots this year at Harding Park, a municipally-owned par-72—playing this week as a par-70—located along the shores of Lake Merced in San Francisco. Only the fourth municipally-owned track to host the PGA, Harding Park delivers a cypress-lined, 7,169-yard parkland layout designed by Willie Watson and Sam Whiting in 1925. The course was renovated and lengthened in the early 2000s to make it suitable for championship play. Harding Park has since hosted the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship, 2009 Presidents Cup, and the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play.
Bombers and Favourites
Tiger Woods won the aforementioned 2005 WGC at Harding Park, and Rory captured his WGC title there a decade later, so it seems the course favours the favourites heading into the week. Admittedly, we have a small sample size to extrapolate from, but if that trend continues we should take note of seasoned vets with major championship pedigrees. Will it be DJ? Brooks? Rory again? Or maybe one of the fearless young guns? Colin Morikawa is as steady and consistent as they come. Or could Tiger Woods deliver yet another electrifying major performance? Woods secured a perfect record of 5-0 at the Presidents Cup in 2009, so maybe this course suits his eye particularly well.
Dark Horses
Don’t discount anyone heading into a major championship, especially one that has a track record of surprising winners. Past champs such as Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, and YE Yang weren’t on anyone’s radar leading up to their wins, so maybe we’re primed for another relatively unknown victor. The big Austrian Bernd Weisberger has extensive major championship play and has been trending upward lately. Will this be the week he breaks through? Or will it be someone from the realms of obscurity who wins? Did someone say Benjamin Hébert? You heard it here first.
Canadian Contenders
Canadians Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor, and Adam Hadwin are expected to tee it up at Harding Park. The four countrymen have all won on Tour and contended on some of the game’s more notable leaderboards, making this year’s PGA Championship one of the better Canadian fields in a major. And although a Canadian has never lifted the Wannamaker, it should be noted that the Great White North haven’t had a roster this deep. After all, the PGA Championship has a history of crowning first-time major winners.
