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PGA Championship to Harding Park, along with Match Play, Presidents Cup

Jul 6, 2014

By

Antonio Gonzalez

Associated Press

Series: PGA

SAN FRANCISCO – The southwest corridor of San Francisco is going to get all the golf it can handle over the next decade. 
 
TPC Harding Park will host the Match Play Championship in 2015, the PGA
Championship in 2020 and the Presidents Cup in 2025. The announcement
was made Wednesday by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, PGA of America
President Ted Bishop and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at a swanky City
Hall news conference. 
 
Speaking on the second-floor balcony outside the mayor’s office to a
crowd that included about 100 leaders and golf officials, Finchem said
the coordination between the PGA Tour and PGA of America to stage all
three events at the same venue is unprecedented. He said he hopes
similar collaboration can be done in the future to benefit both
organizations and their fans. 
 
“Today is an announcement of a lot of firsts,” Finchem said. 
 
The trio of tournaments adds to an aggressive schedule in the area. 
 
The Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, which was held on the last weekend of
April this year, is set to return to Lake Merced just down the road in
Daly City in 2015. And the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship
is scheduled from April 30 to May 6 at The Olympic Club, where the U.S.
Open was last held in 2012. 
 
 
Organizers are counting on the sports-saturated Bay Area market â€“
loaded with corporate dollars from San Francisco to Silicon Valley â€“ to
provide support behind the ropes and on sponsorship banners. 
 
The PGA Tour’s commitment to hold the Match Play at Harding Park is
only for one year. The tournament had typically been held in February
the past eight years at Dove Mountain outside Tucson, Ariz. But the PGA
Tour’s contract with title sponsor Accenture ended after this year’s
event, leaving the event’s future uncertain. 
 
The tournament is set for April 29 to May 3 â€“ the week before The
Players Championship â€“ next year to improve the chances of dry
conditions at Harding. The title sponsor for the 2015 tournament remains
unclear. 
 
The Match Play’s debut at Harding also will feature a new format. The
tournament will have a similar structure to the World Cup, with group
play leading into single-elimination matches. 
 
The reconfiguration will ensure that all 64 players â€“ determined by the
Official World Golf Ranking, as in the past â€“ are around for at least
three days. Previously, single-elimination from the outset often led to
quick exits for top players and fan favorites. 
 
“It’s a lot more golf,” Finchem said. “It’s a ton of golf. We know the
fans here will relish the opportunity to have that much more golf.” 
 
MORE ON THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read the official press release
 
Finchem, Bishop and Lee all credited Frank “Sandy” Tatum for bringing
the events to Harding. Tatum, a longtime San Francisco attorney and
former president of the U.S. Golf Association who turns 94 on Monday,
spearheaded a renovation of the course and clubhouse, which now bears
his name. 
 
Finchem also quoted players such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as
being excited about the announcements. He said Johnny Miller told him he
honed his famed putting skills on Harding’s practice greens. 
 
Bishop said there was never any discussion of holding the PGA
Championship at another club in San Francisco, which has never hosted
the event. He also said the season’s final major in 2020 might also be
reworked on the schedule because of the Olympics that year. 
 
After going more than 40 years without being played on a public course, the PGA Championship is now headed to two in a row. 
 
The 2019 event will be played at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long
Island. The last PGA Championship on a municipal course was in 1974 at
Tanglewood Golf Course in North Carolina. 
 
The PGA Championship has not been played on the West Coast since 1998
at Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle. The 2020 event at Harding Park
also gives California majors in three consecutive years, with the U.S.
Open going to Pebble Beach in 2019 and Torrey Pines in 2021. 
 
Harding Park has never hosted a major, but it was the site of the 2009
Presidents Cup won by the U.S. The Presidents Cup features 24 of the
world’s top golfers â€“ 12 from the U.S. and 12 from around the world,
excluding Europe â€“ in a team match-play competition. 
 
 
TPC Harding Park in San Francisco will host the Match Play Championship
in 2015, the PGA Championship in 2020 and the Presidents Cup in 2025. 
 
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, PGA of America President Ted Bishop
and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee made the announcement at a City Hall news
conference Wednesday. 
 
The Match Play, which has been held the last eight years in Arizona,
will begin the last week of April under a new format. The tournament
will offer a similar structure to the World Cup, with group play leading
into single-elimination matches. 
 
The reconfiguration will ensure that all 64 players are around for at
least three days. In the past, single-elimination from the outset often
led to quick exits for top players and fan favorites. 
 
The trio of tournaments adds to an aggressive schedule in San Francisco’s southwest corridor. 
 
The Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, which was held on the last weekend of
April this year, is set to return to Lake Merced in nearby Daly City in
2015. And the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship is
scheduled from April 30 to May 6 at The Olympic Club, where the U.S.
Open was last held in 2012. 
 
After going more than 40 years without being played on a public course, the PGA Championship is now headed to two in a row. 
 
 
The 2019 event will be played at Bethpage Black, a public course on New
York’s Long Island. The last PGA Championship on a public course was in
1974 at Tanglewood Golf Course in North Carolina. 
 
The PGA Championship has not been played on the West Coast since 1998
at Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle. The 2020 event at Harding Park
also gives California majors in three consecutive years, with the U.S.
Open going to Pebble Beach in 2019 and Torrey Pines in 2021. 
 
The PGA Tour’s commitment to hold the Match Play at Harding Park is
only for one year. The tournament had typically been held in February
the past eight years at Dove Mountain outside Tucson, Ariz. But the PGA
Tour’s contract with title sponsor Accenture ended after this year’s
event, leaving the Match Play’s future uncertain. 
 
The tournament is set for April 29 to May 3 – the week before The
Players Championship – next year to improve the chances of dry
conditions at Harding. The title sponsor for the 2015 tournament remains
yet to be determined. 
 
As in the past, the top 64 players in the World Golf Ranking will
qualify for the event. Starting next year in San Francisco, the field
will be divided into 16 groups of four players. 
 
There will be round-robin match play on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
at the tournament. And the winner of each group will advance to the
round of 16 on Saturday morning. 
 
Head-to-head results will be used to break two-way ties, with
sudden-death playoffs for three-way ties. The quarterfinals will be
played Saturday afternoon, the semifinals Sunday morning and the
championship match and consolation match Sunday afternoon. 
 
Harding Park, the site of the Presidents Cup in 2009, has never hosted a
major. The Presidents Cup features 24 of the world’s top golfers – 12
from the U.S. and 12 from around the world, excluding Europe – in a team
match-play competition.