Tigers on PGA Tour: Glover, Redman Play in First Major of 2020
It's taken until August to get here, but the first major of 2020 is finally set to take place this week.
At one time, it seemed as if the COVID-19 pandemic would keep any of the four premiere events from happening when The Masters was postponed back in March. Thankfully, Augusta National is still on the schedule for November, while the U.S. Open was moved to September. Unfortunately, the Open Championship was canceled for 2020.
That leaves this week's PGA Championship to shine first as opposed to second in 2019. Before that, this was an annual major held in August, so there's some normalcy for the 156 golfers in the field at the Par-70 TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
The tournament, which runs Thursday-Sunday, will feature a pair of former Clemson golfers looking to put their name on the Wanamaker Trophy after four rounds. Here's a look at those two Tigers (first-round tee times in parentheses):
Lucas Glover (10:55 a.m.)
The two-time Clemson All-American is looking for his second career major. The 2009 U.S. Open champ, who is the only former Tiger to win a golf major, is making his 11th appearance at the PGA Championship. Glover's best-ever finish at this event coincidentally also came in 2009, when he placed fifth. It's also his second-best finish in a major and the best finish ever by a Clemson golfer at the PGA Championship.
Glover, who finished T16 last year at Bethpage Black, has made the PGA Championship cut in his previous two showings. He is, however, coming off his only missed cut since the PGA Tour returned from a 13-week layoff back in June. Glover had his streak of five end when he shot 73-75 at the 3M Open two weeks ago. He didn't tee it up at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last week.
Glover, who qualified with his top-30 finish at the FedEx Cup finale last year, has also qualified for The Masters and U.S. Open in 2020. He has five top-25 finishes this season and finds himself ranked 107th in the FedEx Cup Standings.
Doc Redman (5:15 p.m.)
A pro since leaving Clemson in 2018, Redman is playing in his first PGA Championship and third career major this week. Redman missed the cut as an amateur at the 2018 Masters but finished tied for 20th at last year's British Open. This event at TPC Harding Park is the only major he's already qualified to play in this summer.
After getting last week off, Redman's looking to get back on track after missing cuts at the Memorial Tournament and the 3M Open in consecutive weeks. Ranked 88th in the FedEx Cup Standings, he was coming off three straight top-25s after the brief hiccup. Ranked 35th in shots gained: off the tee and 13th in shots gained: approach to the green, Redman could make some noise at a difficult, strategic TPC Harding Park. If his putter gets going, Redman could post his best major finish.