There has been talk in the last few years about NBA All-Star guard Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors hosting a PGA Tour event in San Francisco, and now it seems closer than ever to becoming a reality.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission has approved a proposal to amend the city’s contract with the PGA Tour, which would allow a tournament hosted by Curry to be played at TPC Harding Park.
However, it’s not a win-win situation for golf fans in the San Francisco Bay Area, because it means the 2026 Presidents Cup will not be played at Harding Park, as previously was scheduled.
The Chronicle report said the event hosted by Curry at Harding Park would take place in September of 2021 and that the initial contract will be for five years.
TPC Harding Park is scheduled to host the 102nd PGA Championship, without fans because of the Coronavirus pandemic next month, on Aug. 6-9. It will be the first major championship in the course’s 95-year history.
Curry, an avid golfer who has made two starts in the Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward on the Korn Ferry Tour, and finished fourth last weekend in the American Century Championship, an event for athletes, actors as other famous figures, at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev.
It seemed that Curry was closed to landing a PGA Tour event at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City on the outskirts of San Francisco a few years ago, but talks with the PGA Tour broke off in January of 2019.
“We are still committed to bringing an event to San Francisco,” Curry told The Chronicle at the time. “It just won’t be this year.”
Workday, a finance and human-resources software company based in Pleasanton, has agreed to be the title sponsor of the TPC Harding Park event. Workday stepped up and sponsored the Workday Charity Open on the PGA Tour last week at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, when the tour was left with an open week when the John Deere Classic was canceled for this year because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Curry has been very involved in golf in recent years, pledging $1 million to the Howard University golf program, holding a charity event at TPC Harding Park in conjunction with his foundation and the PGA of America, and serving as an ambassador for the PGA Junior League.
“To partner a PGA Tour tournament with an iconic global athlete like Stephen Curry would be an extraordinary opportunity and one we’ve been pursuing, as widely reported in recent months,” the tour said in a statement in January of 2019.
“ … We look forward to continuing discussions with Stephen Curry, his family’s foundation and other parties with the hopes of ultimately bringing a PGA Tour event to the Bay Area.”
The Workday event hosted by Curry probably would kick off the 2021-22 PGA Tour wraparound season, and be followed by the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort in Napa.
Curry will be busy that week, but don’t be surprised to see him playing in the pro-am.
