Coronavirus: British Open cancelled, Masters rescheduled, Ryder Cup unmoved
- Ryder Cup unaffected as PGA confirm September 22-27 dates but tournament calendar undergoes huge change in run-up
- ‘Complex solution’ sees nine PGA events dropped and Masters moved to November if medical advice allows
The British Open is cancelled. The Masters has been postponed until two weeks before Thanksgiving. The PGA Championship has been temporarily moved back to August, to be followed by golf’s US Open in September.
And, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, no one can say for sure if those three stateside major championships will even take place this year.
With all this uncertainty, golf – like everything else in the sports world – has become a scramble.
“We hope the anticipation of staging the Masters Tournament in the fall brings a moment of joy to the Augusta community and all those who love the sport,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement Monday announcing the rescheduled dates of November 12-15. “We want to emphasise that our future plans are incumbent upon favourable counsel and direction from health officials.”
The Masters originally was expected to take place this week. That was scrapped because of the health crisis, even with conjecture the legendary tournament might take place without spectators, or “patrons” as they’re called at Augusta.
For the first time since 1945, the British Open has been cancelled. That was scheduled for July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s in England. That venue will play host to the tournament July 15-18 in 2021, meaning the 150th Open will take place at St. Andrews in Scotland the following year.
“I can assure everyone that we have explored every option for playing The Open this year, but it’s not going to be possible,” R&A chief Martin Slumbers said.
In more schedule shuffling, the PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco was moved from May until August 6-19, and the US Open at Winged Foot in New York was bumped back from June until September 17-20.
The PGA reconfirmed the Ryder Cup remains as originally scheduled, September 22-27, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.
“With our country going through extremely difficult times, it will be an honour for all of us at the PGA of America to hopefully help turn a page in August with the PGA Championship and September with the Ryder Cup,” said Seth Waugh, chief executive of PGA America.
The PGA Tour has worked with its host organisations and title sponsors to move the regular season finale – the Wyndham Championship – and all three FedExCup playoffs events one week later, starting the week of August 10 and concluding with a Monday, September 7, Labour Day finish for the Tour Championship.
Nine PGA Tour events have been cancelled, with the soonest still on the schedule at this point being the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, May 21-24.
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“We appreciate the open and collaborative approach taken by each of our tournaments, title sponsors and media partners to get us to this solution,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said. “It’s a complex situation, and we want to balance the commitments to our various partners with playing opportunities for our members – while providing compelling competition to our fans – but all of that must be done while navigating the unprecedented global crisis that is impacting every single one of us.”
