Curry golf event a go — in Ohio, not in S. F.
Warrior, sponsor sign 10year deal at Nicklaus’ place
So much for an annual Stephen Curry hosted PGA Tour event at Harding Park.
Those longsimmering plans all but disappeared Thursday, when the tour announced that Curry’s charitable foundation will become a primary beneficiary of the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Workday will serve as presenting sponsor of the Memorial in a 10year contract starting in 2022.
The Chronicle reported last week that a Curryhosted tour event probably would not take place next year in San Francisco. Now its longterm prospects at Harding Park also are essentially dead.
“Our city is facing greater challenges right now than a lost golf tournament, so it’s important to keep this in perspective,” Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the Recreation and Park Department, told The Chronicle.
“But of course we’re disappointed. We know we have a worldclass course and one of the best cities in world to host an event, so we’ll be ready when another opportunity presents itself.”
Workday, the finance and human resources software company based in Pleasanton, previously was in line to become title sponsor of a potential Curry event at Harding. The tournament would have benefited the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, established by Ayesha and Stephen Curry to benefit Bay Area kids.
But Workday and Curry chose to align themselves with the Memorial, one of the most prominent non
majors on the PGA Tour schedule.
“Ayesha and I are honored to be part of one of the PGA Tour’s marquee tournaments and thankful to Workday and the Memorial for inviting Eat. Learn. Play. to be involved in this incredible event,” Curry said in a statement.
Workday sponsored another tournament in Dublin in July; an event won by Cal alum Collin Morikawa. Chief executive officer Aneel Bhusri — who also has endorsement deals with Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker and other tour pros — grew intrigued by the idea of establishing an affiliation with Jack Nicklaus, two sources said.
Nicklaus built Muirfield Village Golf Club, site of this year’s Workday event and annual host of the Memorial Tournament.
Thursday’s news leaves Harding Park without a PGA Tour event on the horizon for the first time in nearly 20 years. City officials revised their contract with the PGA Tour in July, relinquishing the 2026 Presidents Cup in anticipation of landing an annual event hosted by Curry.
Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago now will host the ’ 26 Presidents Cup, tour officials confirmed last week.
“We have had an interest in returning to TPC Harding Park, but to pull off an event you need a number of things to come together,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement emailed to The Chronicle. “You’ve got to have a host organization, a title sponsor, an open date that makes sense, a golf course and support from the community. These things can take time. ...
“We still have a lot of interest in bringing a PGA Tour event to San Francisco.
We just won’t be doing it at this time.”
The ’ 26 Presidents Cup marked the last in a series of marquee events the tour was contractually obligated to bring to Harding Park, before the deal was amended. Most recently, Harding hosted the PGA Championship in August ( won by Morikawa) and the 2015 Match Play Championship ( won by Rory McIlroy).
Ginsburg did not express regrets about giving up the Presidents Cup, suggesting the tour would have moved it anyway.
“We felt an annual event was better longterm for Harding than a onetime Presidents Cup,” Ginsburg said. “But the tour always had the right to opt out of the Presidents Cup, for a ($ 1 million) payment, which they’ve done. ... The only silver lining here is that the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation is still the beneficiary of this event, even if it’s in Ohio. So I’m hopeful Bay Area kids will still benefit.”
Harding Park doesn’t have bigtime pro events on tap, but the U. S. Women’s Open will be played at San Francisco’s Olympic Club in June. Peering further ahead, Olympic’s Lake Course is scheduled to host the 2028 PGA Championship and 2033 Ryder Cup.
“We have had an interest in returning to TPC Harding Park.”
Jay Monahan, PGA Tour commissioner