The PGA Championship is reportedly back on the calendar, and poised to return to a familiar date.
The tournament was originally scheduled for May 14-17 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, but was one of several tournaments either postponed or canceled last month as concerns grew over the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a San Francisco Chronicle report, the event will remain at Harding Park and will be moved to Aug. 6-9 as the golf world looks to salvage what it can from a disrupted 2020 season.
The new date would be similar to the tournament’s former spot on the calendar, as the PGA was played in mid-August for several decades before a move to May last year.
But with coronavirus cases continuing to climb across the country, questions remain about when exactly sports, including golf, might be able to return to competition. California governor Gavin Newsom expressed skepticism Saturday about whether his state could host NFL games in stadiums as planned beginning in August, which could cast doubt over the PGA of America’s ability to conduct their marquee event around the same time frame.
“Our decision on that basis here in the state of California will be determined by the facts, will be determined by the health experts, will be determined by our ability to meet this moment and bend this curve, and have the appropriate community surveillance and testing to confidently determine whether that’s appropriate,” Newsom said. “Right now, I’m just focusing on the immediate, but that (NFL games in stadiums) is not something I anticipate happening in the next few months.”
The PGA Championship was one of two majors, along with the Masters, postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. A rescheduled date for the Masters has not yet been announced.
The U.S. Open remains scheduled for mid-June in New York, although the USGA continues to evaluate the situation, while the R&A sent out a statement last week refuting a report that The Open had been canceled, but admitted that a number of options including postponement remain on the table.
Should the PGA Championship be played this year at Harding Park, it would be the first time the event was held on the West Coast since Vijay Singh won at Sahalee in 1998.