The virtual PGA Championship

It’s an online tournament featuring a field of great former PGA champions … plus one. Welcome to the virtual PGA Championship.

The 2020 PGA Championship was supposed to be played this week at Harding Park in San Francisco.

But like all other major sporting events for the past two months, it has been shut down as the nation attempts to cope with the Corona Virus.

We can, however, stage a PGA Championship of our own in a location that’s guaranteed to be coronavirus-free: right here in cyberspace.

More from Pro Golf Now

• Golf Rumors: LIV set to sign Masters Champion in stunning deal
• Fantasy Golf: Grant Thornton Invitational DFS Player Selections
• Brutal return leaves Will Zalatoris looking towards 2024
• Stars You Know at World Champions Cup Starts Thursday at Concession
• Fantasy Golf: An Early Look at the 2024 Masters Tournament

Beyond that, we can bring back to life the tournament’s champions to compete in it.

Thursday through Sunday, Progolfnow.com will feature the 2020 Virtual PGA, a 68-player simulation. The winner walks away with the title of the greatest PGA champion of all time.

We have even invited a special guest: the greatest player never to have won the actual PGA Championship. That, of course, would be Arnold Palmer.

The 67 other entrants are men who have taken the championship since the tournament was first staged in 1916. That spans more than a century of the game’s history. Our field also blankets the planet, with entries representing the United States, Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and the South Pacific. In fact, every continent except South America and Antarctica has produced at least one PGA Tournament champion.

Each champion’s performance potential will be normalized to take into consideration the changing nature of the game across time. That normalization will allow players of disparate eras to compete on the basis of their relative skill – as measured against the peers of their own era – irrespective of changes in equipment, course design, training, weather, and a host of other factors.

That normalized player potential will be reduced to a number that represents the average standard deviation of the player’s actual PGA Championship performances during a 10-year peak period. Three rules govern the selection of each player’s “peak period.” It must include the season of at least one of the player’s PGA championships, it must consist of at least seven championships, and the years must be consecutive.

If a champion did not compete in at least seven championships during a 10-year period, the time frame can be extended until the minimum number of tournaments is reached. In a handful of cases where a player has not competed in the required number of tournaments to develop a credible average, that player has to be disqualified. There are four such players, among them the 2017 champion, Justin Thomas. The others are Jock Hutchinson (1920), Tom Creavy (1931), and Olin Dutra (1932).

In the case of Palmer, the consecutive seasons creating his lowest rating are used.

The PGA Championship has been played in two formats over time. Between its inception in 1916 and 1957, the tournament was contested at match play. Since 1958, it has been a medal play event. Our event is being conducted entirely at medal play at Harding Park.

As the performance potentials of the 67 players are presented in subsequent introductory articles this week, you will see those potentials referenced as a number. They range from -1.74 for the pre-tournament favorite, Byron Nelson, up to +1.80 for the 67th ranked competitor, Rich Beem.

Keep in mind that since these numbers rank the average standard deviation of the player’s actual PGA Championship performance – and since golf is a game where less is more – the more negative the number the better a player’s chances of doing well.

To get you started anticipating the arrival of some golf – even if only of the virtual variety – here is a list of the 68 competitors, including Palmer plus the 67 champions. The players are presented in the chronological order of their first PGA Championship victory. Palmer is listed in the years in which he finished second.

• Jim Barnes, 1916-1919
• Walter Hagen, 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927
• Gene Sarazen, 1922, 1923, 1933
• Leo Diegel, 1928, 1929
• Tommy Armour, 1930
• Paul Runyan, 1934, 1938
• Johnny Revolta, 1935
• Denny Shute, 1936, 1937
• Henry Picard, 1939
• Byron Nelson, 1940, 1945
• Vic Ghezzi, 1941
• Sam Snead, 1942, 1949, 1951
• Bob Hamilton, 1944
• Ben Hogan, 1945, 1948
• Jim Ferrier, 1947
• Chandler Harper, 1950
• Jim Turnesa, 1952
• Walter Burkemo, 1953
• Chick Harbert, 1954
• Doug Ford, 1955
• Jack Burke Jr., 1956
• Lionel Hebert, 1957
• Dow Finsterwald, 1958
• Bob Rosburg, 1959
• Jay Hebert, 1960
• Jerry Barber, 1961
• Gary Player, 1962, 1972
• Jack Nicklaus, 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980
• Bobby Nichols, 1964
• Arnold Palmer, runner-up, 1964, 1968, 1970
• Dave Marr, 1965
• Al  Geiberger, 1966
• Don January, 1967
• Julius Boros, 1968
• Ray Floyd, 1969, 1982
• Dave Stockton, 1970, 1976
• Lee Trevino, 1974, 1984
• Lanny Wadkins, 1977
• John Mahaffey, 1978
• David Graham, 1979
• Larry Nelson, 1981, 1987
• Hal Sutton, 1983
• Hubert Green, 1985
• Bob Tway, 1986
• Jeff Sluman, 1988
• Payne Stewart,  1989
• Wayne Grady, 1990
• John Daly, 1991
• Nick Price,  1992, 1994
• Paul  Azinger, 1993
• Steve Elkington, 1995
• Mark Brooks, 1996
• Davis Love, 1997
• Vijay Singh, 1998, 2004
• Tiger Woods, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007
• David Toms, 2001
• Rich Beem, 2002
• Shaun Micheel, 2003
• Phil Mickelson, 2005
• Padraig Harrington, 2008
• Y.E. Yang, 2009
• Martin Kaymer, 2010
• Keegan Bradley, 2011
• Rory  McIlroy, 2012, 2014
• Jason Dufner, 2013
• Jason Day, 2015
• Jimmy Walker, 2016
• Brooks Koepka, 2018, 2019

Check-in later today for the favorites who are looking to take home the title of greatest PGA Championship Champion of all-time.