THE PGA Championship has received a huge boost to its chances of going ahead after the course where it will be held officially reopened.
TPC Harding Park in San Francisco had been closed since March 16 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Brooks Koepka was originally set to defend the title he won last year on May 14.
But with Covid-19 completely decimating the sporting calendar, the golf season's second major was pushed back to August 6-9.
PGA of America boss Seth Waugh said he was willing to stage the tournament without fans – and possibly at another course
He said: "The plan is to do it as normally as possible, with fans, obviously, and have a fairly normal PGA Championship at Harding Park.
"If the safest way, and/or the only way to do it is without fans, we’re fully prepared to do that. We believe that having it as a television event is worth doing regardless of whether there’s fans there or not.
"Obviously, that’ll change the experience, but we think the world is starved for some entertainment, and particularly in sports."
But Harding Park being open for business again not only increases the chances of the tournament being held there, it also opens the door further to fans being allowed to attend.
A tweet from the course's official account read: "We're pleased to announce that we will be open to the public for golf beginning on Monday, May 4th."
Koepka won £1.6million for successfully defending his title at Bethpage Black in New York last year.
And he will be hoping his haircut has recovered when he begins his second defence begins after girlfriend Jena Sims ruined it in lockdown.
The PGA will be the season's first major, with the US Open pushed to mid-September, the Masters in November and The Open cancelled altogether.
Source: Read Full Article