2020 PGA Championship not to have any spectators

Harding Park (Wikimedia Commons)

According to Kyle Porter of CBS Sports on Monday, the 2020 PGA Championship will go forward as scheduled from Harding Park in San Francisco, California from August 6-9. However, this will be a very different major to say the least, as there will be no spectators in the crowd.

The PGA Championship will be the first major of the 2020 season. It was initially supposed to take place from May 14-17, 2020. However, due to coronavirus, the PGA needed to readjust their schedule. The men’s golf tournament from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, was supposed to take place from July 30-August 2, and the world’s best golfers were then to enjoy the full Olympic experience from Japan. However, the Olympic Games have been postponed a full year due to the deadly pandemic.

The PGA Championship will now also be the only major to be scheduled from August 6-9. The Evian Masters in France was also to take place that weekend, and be the first major on the LPGA schedule for 2020, but that was cancelled because of coronavirus. There are presently 158, 174 cases of coronavirus in France with 29, 575 deaths.

The coronavirus numbers remain high in the American state of California. There are 163, 541 cases in California, with 5286 deaths. Only New York at 406, 930 cases, and New Jersey, at 170, 871 cases have more cases than California.

Harding Park has hosted three significant golf tournaments in the last 15 years. They were the 2005 World Golf Championship-American Express Championship, which was won by Tiger Woods, the 2009 Presidents Cup, which was won by the United States, and the 2015 World Matchplay Golf Championship, which was won by Rory McIlroy. After the 2020 PGA Championship, Harding Park will host the 2025 Presidents Cup.