Collin Morikawa won the PGA Championship without any fans able to witness it in personGETTY IMAGES
TPC Harding Park's "long-anticipated major debut" with the PGA Championship was pushed by the coronavirus pandemic into a "strange and unsettling realm, without spectators," according to Ron Kroichick of the S.F. CHRONICLE. The course itself "held up well, producing a tantalizing leaderboard" that ended with Collin Morikawa hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy, but the scene "was ... quiet." PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said of a “normal” PGA at Harding, with nearly 40,000 fans packed onto the property, “We were going to make it into Fenway Park or Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was going to be a bandbox, but cool and crowded. Obviously, that didn’t work." Kroichick writes the pandemic "did boost interest among fans across the country," since this was the "first big sporting event on television since the Super Bowl more than six months ago, in many ways, and the early numbers were strong." Meanwhile, fans should "not expect another major at Harding for a long time, if ever." The course and city officials do "expect to finalize a deal soon to host a regular PGA Tour event starting in September 2021," with Warriors G Stephen Curry to "serve as the host" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/10).
MORIKAWA SHINES: In San Jose, Dieter Kurtenbach writes the future of golf "is bright." Sunday’s final round "featured a flock of eight, at times, nine players vying to win the first major championship of this strange year," but there is a "new generation of greatness out there on the tour." Morikawa "might end up being the greatest of the crew." Kurtenbach: "Look out for what’s next. Because if this is the floor, the ceiling is going to be incredibly high" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 8/10). In San Diego, Mark Zeigler writes Morikawa is "golf’s next big thing." Only 14 months removed from college golf, Morikawa already has three tour victories, a major title and a No. 5 world ranking (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/10). NBC’s Savannah Guthrie said Morikawa “may already be golf’s next big thing.” NBC’s Craig Melvin: “Golf needed a fresh face, looks like it got one” (“Today,” NBC, 8/10).
