PGA of America schedules press conference at Southern Hills, possible that both Senior PGA Championship and PGA Championship on tap
By Ken MacLeod
The PGA of America has scheduled a press conference for May 30 at Southern Hills Country Club. Sources say there is a good possibility the press conference will be to announce that both a future Senior PGA Championship and a future PGA Championship will be held at the historic club.
The Senior PGA Championship is currently scheduled through 2019, with even-year commitments through 2024, meaning the first open date is 2021. The PGA Championship is scheduled through 2023.
Southern Hills has hosted the PGA Championship four times previously, in 1970, 1982, 1994 and 2007, with the winners being Dave Stockton, Ray Floyd, Nick Price and Tiger Woods, respectively. The club has also hosted the U.S. Open in 1958 (Tommy Bolt), 1977 (Hubert Green) and 2001 (Retief Goosen).
The PGA of America is considering joining the PGA Tour, USGA and Royal and Ancient in a major reshuffling of golf’s schedule which would move the PGA Championship into May, the Players Championship back to its March date and have the Fed-Ex Cup playoffs shortened by one event and concluding in late August instead of battling college and professional football in the fall. If Southern Hills is in line for a future PGA Championship in 2024 or later, odds are it would be in May if the new schedule is adopted as many experts now say is likely.
The Senior PGA Championship is currently a late May event as well. It has never previously been held at Southern Hills, but was in Oklahoma at Oak Tree National in Edmond in 2006. Southern Hills superintendent Russ Myers confirmed to Golf Oklahoma in a story earlier this spring that Southern Hills would be fully able to host a major championship with superb agronomic conditions in a mid-to-late May timeframe.
Future PGA Championship sites that have been announced previously are as follows:
99th PGA Championship
Quail Hollow Club
Charlotte, N.C.
August 2017
100th PGA Championship
Bellerive Country Club
St. Louis, MO
August 2018
101st PGA Championship
Bethpage Black
Bethpage State Park
Farmingdale, NY
August 2019
102nd PGA Championship
TPC Harding Park
San Francisco, Calif.
2020
103rd PGA Championship
Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Ocean Course
Kiawah Island, S.C.
August 2021
104th PGA Championship
Trump National Golf Club
Bedminster, N.J.
2022
105th PGA Championship
Oak Hill Country Club
East Course
Pittsford, N.Y.
2023
- 2017 – Trump National Golf Club, Potomac Falls, Virginia[8]
- 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 – The Golf Club at Harbor Shores, Benton Harbor, Michigan[9][10]
- 2019 – Oak Hill Country Club, Pittsford, New York[11]