The Range: PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park

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The Range is a comprehensive course breakdown and player fit for the upcoming PGA tournament with a DFS perspective. This week the tour heads out west to California as the players face off in the year’s first major, the PGA Championship.

The Basics

Course: TPC Harding Park
Par: 70 (Two par-5 will be played as par-4 this week)
Length: 7,234 yards (Though can play as long as 7,400 yards)
Fairways: Poa / Bent / Rye with some holes as narrow as 22 yards wide.
Greens: Bentgrass with a touch of Poa. 7,000 sq ft average (Large)
Architect: Willie Watson & Sam Whiting
Past five winners: ’19 Koepka (-8), ’18 Koepka (-16), ’17 Thomas (-8), ’16 Walker (-14) & Day (-20)
For a hole by hole breakdown, please visit the PGA Tour website here.

Course Breakdown

Many people are trying to get an understanding of how this course will play for the PGA Championship. It hasn’t been used for a PGA event since 2015, the WGC – Cadillac Match Play. Being a match play event, the score cards and more importantly, toughness of holes, are some what skewed. Prior to 2015, and the Champions Tour Finale, Harding Park was used in 2005 with Tiger famously rushing up after his putt, finger pointing knowing he just drained it, ultimately beating John Daly. Not exactly a lot of leeway to work with for this year’s first major. Nonetheless, I’ll take my best shot!

Scores have ranged (pun intended) from -8 to -20 over the last five years. This is a major after all but I think with some of the reports coming out of practice rounds, it’s gonna be a lower scoring week. While reports are showing steady, lower gust, wind through out the tournament it can always pick up.

Fairways will be narrow for the most part, with some reporting only 22 yards wide. The rough has been described as many different adjectives over the early week but I think gnarly fits nicely. Starting at 3.5 inches tall and climbing, the rough at the PGA Championship will certainly penalize a golfer missing with an errant drive.

Large bentgrass greens with little undulation, I expect the governing body to keep the speed up. With the potential lack of rain prior or during the tournament, it might even reach Ludacris speed!

Player Fit

Remember these numbers are not exact but it looks like four of the six hardest holes are par-4 and fall in between 450 – 500 yards. Proximity from 150 – 200 yards will be key as three of the par-3 are within this range. Not to mention the long par-5’s and deep par-4.

Ball striking once again is extremely important but this time OTT might get a bit of a bump over APP. Distance should be prioritized over accuracy (to an extent). Around the green should come into play this week, along with scrambling and GIR. Essentially a SG: T2G game will be needed this week.

Opportunities gained will be used greatly this week at the PGA Championship. While birdies are needed it will be third in the pecking order after Opportunities gained and Bogey Avoidance.

Final Recap for the PGA Championship

Usually with majors, the best of the best win. This week, I don’t think is any different. Sure I’ll have some lower owned guys a maybe a punt or two but for the most part my player pool will be a who’s who of top golfers. Mainly looking at players who are long off the tee and somewhat accurate. Golfers who can scramble with good GIR numbers that can get up and down. Being able to place them in position to not only birdie but avoid the bogey which might even be more important.

Course Setup
Difficult Scoring
Hard to hit fairways
Large, fast bentgrass greens

Player Efficiencies
SG:T2G
Ball Striking (Heavier emphasis on OTT over APP)
SG:ARG
Par-4 Scoring: 450 – 500 yards
Proximity: 150 – 200 yards

Thanks for reading and I hope this article is a great starting place for your DFS research for the PGA Championship. Look out for the Insight Sheet dropping Wednesday. It will include my personal player pool and reasoning why each golfer was chosen. Also Wednesday night you can find me in the Win Daily Discord helping members with their lineups and last-minute questions.