The International Federation of PGA Tours have announced that the 2005 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship will be contested at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, California, from October 6-9.
“We are pleased to be able to bring the American Express Championship to historic Harding Park,” said US PGA Tour Commissioner, Tim Finchem, on behalf of the International Federation of PGA Tours.
“World Golf Championships have been held at some of the great courses around the globe and Harding Park is a terrific addition to this list. San Francisco has a long and storied history of hosting some of golf’s most prestigious championships and holding the American Express Championship at Harding Park will continue that tradition.”
The American Express Championship is one of four World Golf Championships, a series of global events that bring the world’s best golfers together in competition in various formats at a variety of international venues.
“As a global company whose brand has long been associated with excellence and achievement, American Express sees a natural fit between our company and the World Golf Championships - a unique platform that showcases those same qualities by bringing together the best players from around the world to compete in some of the world's most demanding golf environments,” said Jonathan Linen, Vice Chairman of American Express.
Harding Park Golf Course was designed by Willie Watson and opened in 1925. Surrounded on three sides by Lake Merced, the rolling design was the longtime host of the San Francisco City Golf Championship and site of the US PGA Tour’s Lucky International from 1961-66 and 1968.
The 2005 American Express Championship will mark the second time that the event has been contested in the United States. The inaugural championship was played in 1999 at Valderrama in Spain, and returned there in 2000. The 2001 American Express Championship was scheduled to be played at Bellerive CC in St. Louis, Missouri, but was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks of September 11. The following year, the championship was contested at Ireland’s Mount Juliet Conrad, where it will return later this year. In 2003, Atlanta’s Capital City Club was the host site.
Tiger Woods, is the two-time defending champion, and has won three of the first four American Express Championships, including the inaugural event in 1999.
Woods has been the dominant player in the World Golf Championships series having won at least one event in each of the six years since the series’ debut in 1999. He has won nine of the 16 World Golf Championships, and in addition to his three American Express Championships victories, he has won the NEC Invitational three times, the Accenture Match Play Championship twice and teamed up with David Duval to win the World Cup for the United States in 2000.
