2020 PGA Championship -- Round 4

 

The final round!  Early start time with the first player teeing off at 730AM.  It's FOGUST in San Francisco and since Harding Park is located in the western side of town, it's the foggy part of the city.

The Wanamaker Trophy!

Today, I was assigned to the Par 3, third hole.  This is what the players see from the tee.

This is a view of the third green from the "Quick" perspective.

The person closest to me works for CBS Sports.  That person's job is to gather information about the player and report back to the studio.  For instance, caddies will give hand signals to the person to tell what club is being used. The person then also tells the studio, "player X for birdie."  The volunteer in the distance is the walking scorer.

On this day, I was the "Final," therefore I needed a view of the entire green.  

My lonely red camp chair!

This was a pretty typical view for me.  Two balls on the green.  Turns out the "Final" is simply supposed to confirm that the cameras have correctly located the ball.  The "Final" confirms the location.  

I also could look off to my left and watch players tee off from the fourth hole.  When the fog lifted (only a little), I could see The Olympic Club golf course on the other side of Lake Merced.

This being the third day at the tournament, I was getting bored, so I decided to take pictures of guys who had interesting and good fashion choices.  I also kept track of facial hair...turns out caddies have facial hair more often than the players.  Here's Erik Van Rooyen, the only player to wear what appears to be a camo pattern and a ski hat!

Danny Lee with the short sleeve over long sleeve look that turned out to be pretty common.  That's my "Quick" partner on the other side.

If it's Sunday and it's Tiger, he's wearing red.

Always a fan of colored pants!  Yellow on Billy Horschel.  Also, turns out lots of guys like to go monochrome, like Abraham Ancer here.  I'd like some more contrast, please.

Mickelson out of the bunker, one of the few who hit it in that trap all day.

Hideki Matsuyama and Li Haotong clearly didn't coordinate (or maybe they did?) when both went with all white ensembles!

Interestingly, the ONLY caddy I saw wear a mask was the caddy for Japanese native Matsuyama.

Green was a popular color.  It's Emiliano Grillo putting in this photo. I spent some time talking to his putting coach.  I was trying to get his coach to tell me what exactly a putting coach does, but I didn't really get much of a satisfactory answer.

By far the MOST INTERESTING thing that happened all day.  Both players hit their balls into the front bunker and the two balls were so close, Adam Hadwin (squatting) had to mark his ball.  Denny McCarthy (standing left) played his shot and then when Hadwin went back to place his ball, even though his ball was in the same location, the lie had actually improved.  He called the rules official (standing right) who allowed him to play his ball with the improved lie.  

Justin Thomas putting, but I like what Harris English is wearing on top. It looks like a vest, but the front vest part is actually part of the shirt/top.  The vest part doesn't extend to the back.

Charl Schwartzel is only player to wear a Panama style hat.  

Big fan of Lantos Griffin's shoes.

Dylan Frittelli shows off three major themes all at once. Short sleeve over long sleeve.  Mint green and a vest.

Harold Varner III, the only African-American player to make the cut.

Big and tall Jon Rahm, who wore monochrome both days I saw him.

Matthew Wolff with very cool rainbow colored shoes.

Bryson DeChambreau pictured here not for his fashion, but for his unique putting form.

The 2020 PGA Champion Collin Morikawa.  Right after this photo, he sunk his birdie putt, his first of the final round.

Dustin Johnson in action.

My final screen after Dustin's 3-putt.   Up there it says 8th of 21.  Turns out the computer system ranks all the laser operators based on how quickly they enter the information.  As a "Final" I confirmed the location of the ball on average 2 seconds after the cameras located it.

I saw this commentator numerous times, turns out it's Judy Rankin.

Another commentator, Trevor Immelman

After I was done at hole 3, I wandered back along the course.  Here's a look at hole 15 with Lake Merced on the left.

As I was packing up my stuff at the 3rd hole, Steph Curry walked by.  This photo is taken from SFGate, but he was at the course.  He's not in the NBA bubble because the Warriors weren't invited.  He got to spectate because, according to SFGate, he was designated a special correspondent/reporter.

After the 3rd hole, I sat down next to a tree by the 8th green and watched the final four groups play through.  Brooks Koepka!

Dustin Johnson made par from this grass bunker.

The final group walking up the 9th fairway as I was crossing the fairway.  Goodbye to the players and a fun three days at the PGA.