Course Overview

Harding Park Golf Club

Harding Park Golf Club, a municipal course owned by the city and county of San Francisco, opened for play in 1925 after a design by noted architects Willie Watson and Sam Whiting, who also oversaw the construction of the Olympic Club. Watson and Whiting charged the city $300 for their services, with construction costs coming in at just under $300,000.

Officials named the course in the southwest corner of the city alongside Lake Merced after President Warren G. Harding. The 29th President of the United States was an avid golfer who died at the Palace Hotel on Aug. 2, 1923 during a visit to San Francisco.

The course became immediately popular and gained national notoriety when the United States Golf Association selected the par-70 layout to host the U.S. Public Links Championship in 1937. Harding Park again was the site of that tournament in 1956. In between, professional golf arrived at Harding Park, with Byron Nelson outlasting Harold "Jug" McSpaden to win the 1944 San Francisco Victory Open.

In 1959, Mason Rudolph won the Golden Gate Championship at Harding Park, edging Dow Finsterwald and Bob Goalby. The PGA TOUR made Harding Park a permanent TOUR stop in 1961 when it added the Lucky International to its tournament schedule. The Lucky International was played from 1961 to 1968 (there was no tournament in 1967).

While its signature event was the San Francisco City Championship, which attracted the best amateurs from California, a slow deterioration of the course began as it went from a jewel in the Bay Area to nothing more than what some described as a clover patch by the 1980s. A San Francisco Chronicle story described the course: "Weeds, clusters of daisies and splotches of dirt came to characterize this once-pristine layout."

Enter Frank "Sandy" Tatum, who had played in the San Francisco City Championship while attending Stanford University and stayed in the Bay Area, spending his career there as an attorney. Tatum had gained stature in the golf industry, serving as president of the USGA. Tatum became instrumental in turning Harding Park's fortunes around, receiving assistance from local government leaders. As part of the renovation process, Tatum eventually turned to the PGA TOUR and the International Federation of PGA Tours, the governing body for the World Golf Championships. Under the direction of PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, the International Federation named Harding Park the site of the 2005 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship (now known as the CA Championship and played in Doral, FL.)

In advance of the event, Harding Park underwent a 15-month renovation project that expanded the course from 6,743 yards to around 7,200 yards. The course reopened on Aug. 22, 2003, with the World Golf Championships event held there in October 2005, and Tiger Woods defeating John Daly in a playoff. As Tatum envisioned, Harding Park is also the site of The First Tee of San Francisco, with Alexandra Choy, a local First Tee participant, earning the distinction of First Tee Scholar, one of 20 in the U.S. in 2008.

The spotlight next falls on Harding Park the week of Oct 5-11, 2009, when the Presidents Cup, a biennial competition between U.S. players and players from all countries other than Europe, is held at the San Francisco course. This will mark the first time the U.S. is the host country and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Prince William County, VA is not the venue.

STANDINGS
Results		Points
	US TEAM	19.5
	INTERNATIONAL TEAM	14.5
Leaderboard