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PGA Championship 2020: Tee Times, TV Schedule, Live Stream, Predictions
August 6, 2020
The world's top golfers will hit the greens on Thursday for the opening round of this year's PGA Championship. And not only will it be the start of the first major tournament of 2020, but it will also be the first time TPC Harding Park in San Francisco has hosted a major.
Justin Thomas enters the event as the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world, a spot he claimed by winning last weekend's WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. But he's going to have plenty of competition, including Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy, who have both recently been ranked in the top spot, two-time defending PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and 15-time major winner Tiger Woods.
Another golfer to potentially watch is Jordan Spieth, who is looking to complete a career Grand Slam. However, he hasn't won a PGA tournament since his victory at the 2017 Open Championship.
Here's everything you need to know heading into the PGA Championship.
PGA Championship Information
Dates: Aug. 6-9
TV: ESPN (Thursday and Friday 4-10 p.m. ET, Saturday 1-4 p.m. ET, Sunday noon-3 p.m. ET), CBS (Saturday, 4-10 p.m. ET, Sunday 3-9 p.m. ET)
Live Stream: ESPN+ and CBS Sports app
Tee Times: A complete list of Thursday and Friday tee times can be found at PGATour.com.
Tournament Predictions
Koepka falls short of third straight win at tournament
Koepka could make history if he wins the PGA Championship, becoming only the second person to notch victories at the event in three straight years (Walter Hagen won four in a row from 1924-27) and the first to do since the tournament switched to stroke play in 1958.
It's possible the 30-year-old could do it, but the prediction here is that he'll fall short.
Although Koepka tied for second at last week's WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, he's been inconsistent this summer. He missed the cut at two of his three July tournaments, and he hasn't played his best golf while dealing with left knee pain stemming from surgery in October to repair a partial tear of his patella tendon.
The field for the PGA Championship is stacked, so it will be important for the top golfers to get off to strong starts. But it seems unlikely Koepka will play as well as he did in the opening round at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, when he shot a 62.
With the stakes high, he won't be in danger of missing the cut, and he'll end up finishing in the top 15-20. It'll be a solid showing but not quite the historic performance he'll be looking for.
Tiger turns in best showing of 2020
Woods had an opportunity to shake off some rust at last month's Memorial Tournament, when he finished tied for 40th at six over par. He shot a 71 twice and a 76 twice, but he made the cut and had some solid moments during his first PGA Tour appearance since February.
Although he's no longer in the peak years of his career, the 44-year-old can still take his game to a high level on the largest stages, and he should be ready to do so at the PGA Championship, even if he didn't have his best showing on the greens last month.
"The results that I've seen at home, I'm very enthusiastic about some of the changes I've made," Woods said, according to Golf.com's Luke Kerr-Dineen.
While Woods didn't divulge what those were adjustments were, he has the career resume to back up the notion that he likely knows what tweaks he needs to make. So, he will get off to a solid start Thursday, then finish in the top five in the PGA Championship for his best showing of 2020 thus far.
McIlroy ends major drought with win
McIlroy is due. Not just because of his recent struggles (finishes of 32nd or worse in four of his last five tournaments), but because he hasn't won a major tournament since the 2014 PGA Championship.
Fortunately for the 31-year-old, he's had past success at TPC Harding Park, a course that not a lot of the current top-ranked golfers have much experience at. In 2015, he won the WGC-Cadillac Match Play event there with a strong performance, so he knows how the course plays.
"It tests all aspects of the game," McIlroy said, according to the Associated Press (h/t Yahoo Sports). "It's a big golf course, but it's not wide open. ... Look, I think it's maybe a little bit of a coincidence that the top players come here and win most of the times. But I think it says a lot about the course that it lets guys play, and it lets them have the freedom to go out there and play the way they want to."
Although the Northern Irishman hasn't had tremendous results recently, he's played enough to be tuned up for the PGA Championship. And now, with the stakes raised, he should be set to make an impact and contend for his fifth career victory at a major tournament.
Expect McIlroy to get off to a strong start and carry that momentum into the weekend, when he'll secure the victory.