TPC Harding Park opened on July 18, 1925 along the shores of Lake Merced in San Francisco's southwest corner, named for President Warren G. Harding, an avid golfer who had died in office while visiting San Francisco two years earlier. The original 163-acre layout was drawn up by William "Willie" Watson and Sam Whiting, the same pair behind the Olympic Club's Lake Course next door. The site had previously been a lettuce farm, and the architects were paid $300 for their design plan.

On the course

The course attracted national attention early on, hosting the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 1937 and 1956, and serving as a regular PGA Tour stop in the 1960s for the Lucky International Open before the tour departed after 1969 due to deteriorating conditions. The low point came in 1998, when Harding was used as a parking lot during the U.S. Open at neighboring Olympic Club. Attorney and former USGA president Sandy Tatum led a campaign that produced a $16 million restoration, and the course reopened on August 22, 2003. In November 2010, Harding became the first municipally owned member of the PGA Tour's TPC Network.

Who it suits

The parkland routing is framed on three sides by Lake Merced and lined with tall Monterey Cypress trees that tighten the fairways and put a premium on accuracy over distance. Small, contoured greens make scoring difficult, and the closing stretch from the short par-four 16th onto a high bluff finishes at the signature par-four 18th, which doglegs hard left to an elevated, multi-tiered green with Lake Merced behind. The facility also includes the 9-hole Fleming Course, named for longtime parks superintendent Jack Fleming. Harding has hosted the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship (won by Tiger Woods), the 2009 Presidents Cup, the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play (Rory McIlroy), and the 2020 PGA Championship, where Collin Morikawa claimed his first major. It suits ball-strikers who can shape shots through wind and trees rather than bombers chasing distance.

Architect: Willie Watson & Sam Whiting · Opened: 1925