TPC Harding Park

TPC Harding Park holds a unique place in the history of golf as a municipal course that clawed its way back from being a simple parking lot to a host for major championships. In 1998, during the U.S. Open at the neighboring Olympic Club, this historic fairground was actually paved over to store cars for spectators. This indignity sparked a major effort by local advocates and golf legends to restore the course, which had fallen into deep disrepair after decades of budget cuts. The course opened in 1925 and was named after President Warren G. Harding, who passed away in a San Francisco hotel just two years earlier. Its original designers, Willie Watson and Sam Whiting, were the same architects who laid out the prestigious Olympic Club across the lake. By the mid-twentieth century, the course had become a regular tour stop, but it eventually lost its standing due to poor conditions. Its successful rebirth, beginning with a massive renovation in 2002, transformed it into the only municipal facility in the exclusive TPC network and led to it hosting the 2020 PGA Championship.