By Kent Gray
The Open Championship’s continuous run since the end of WWII in 1946 has been broken, the Olympic Games golf tournaments likewise delayed 12 months. The schedules of the game’s leading tours, meanwhile, remain very much a work in progress as the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic presents itself to the golf world. But where there is hope, there is a will to see the majority of the big events played in 2020, without spectators if need be.

“In recent weeks, the global golf community has come together to collectively put forward a calendar of events that will, we hope, serve to entertain and inspire golf fans around the world,” Augusta National G.C., the European Tour, LPGA, PGA of America, PGA Tour, The R&A and USGA said in a joint statement April 6. “We are grateful to our respective partners, sponsors and players, who have allowed us to make decisions – some of them, very tough decisions – in order to move the game and the industry forward.”

With that, we look at what the remainder of 2020 might look like for the game’s elite events and tours.

CANCELLED
149th Open Championship
July 2020
Royal St. George’s G.C., Sandwich, Kent, England

“We care deeply about this historic Championship and have made this decision with a heavy heart. We appreciate that this will be disappointing for a great many people around the world but we have to act responsibly during this pandemic and it is the right thing to do. I can assure everyone that we have explored every option for playing The Open this year but it is not going to be possible.” – R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers

The 149th Open will still be played at Royal St George’s but now from July 15-18 next year. The 150th edition will be played at St. Andrews from July 14-17, 2022.

RESCHEDULED
102nd PGA Championship
August 6-9 (originally May 14-17)
TPC Harding Park, San Francisco, California

“Sports, and particularly the game of golf, are important vehicles for healing and hope. 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.” – PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh

RESCHEDULED
120th U.S. Open
September 17-20 (originally June 18-21)
Winged Foot G.C., Mamaroneck, New York

“We are hopeful that postponing the championship will offer us the opportunity to mitigate health and safety issues while still providing us with the best opportunity to conduct the U.S. Open this year.” – USGA Chief Executive Mike Davis

AS SCHEDULED
43rd Ryder Cup
September 22-27
Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin

“We have begun to talk about whether you could create some virtual fan experience, and we’re going to try to be as creative as we can. It’s [still] to be determined, frankly, whether you could hold it without fans or not.” – PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh

RESCHEDULED
84th Masters Tournament
November 12-15 (originally April 9-12)
Augusta National G.C., Augusta, Georgia

“We want to emphasise that our future plans are incumbent upon favourable counsel and direction from health officials. Provided that occurs and we can conduct the 2020 Masters, we intend to invite those professionals and amateurs who would have qualified for our original April date and welcome all existing ticket holders to enjoy the excitement of Masters week.” – Augusta National G.C. Chairman Fred Ridley

PGA TOUR

The PGA Tour has moved its final regular-season event  – the Aug.13-16 Wyndham Championship (Sedgefield C.C., Greensboro, North Carolina) – and three FedExCup Playoffs a week later than originally scheduled.

FedEx Cup Playoffs
Aug. 20-23: The Northern Trust, TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts
Aug. 27-30: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields CC, Olympia Fields, Illinois
Sept. 4-7: TOUR Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia

It also hopes to reschedule tournaments into the weeks formerly occupied by the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the Men’s Olympic golf competition in June and July.

EUROPEAN TOUR

As we went to press, the European Tour had postponed nine (10 including the Olympics) and cancelled five regular-season events, not including the R&A-administered Open Championship. The next scheduled event, the British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood at Close House in Newcastle, looked doubtful in its original July 30-Aug. 2 slot but European Tour CEO Keith Pelley remained upbeat in a statement April 17:

“…my primary message to you, as a valued fan of the European Tour, is actually one of optimism because I am genuinely hopeful that from now on the information I send you in relation to our 2020 schedule will be positive.”

In an earlier memo to players, Pelley said the European Tour were looking at a number of rescheduling options including playing several events in the same location, two events in the same week or three in a fortnight, or “three or four tournaments back-to-back in the UK with a 14-day quarantine period” to allow non-Brits to be able to play. He did warn however, that whatever shape the revised 2020 schedule took, the tour would look “radically different” going forward.

“The reality is, the pandemic is going to have a profound impact on the tour financially, as well as many of our partners, both in sponsorship and broadcast areas.”

LPGA TOUR

The LPGA’s revised 2020 schedule is set to resume June 19 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. It has also rescheduled the first two majors of the year – the ANA Inspiration in California (to Sept. 10-13) and the U.S. Women’s Open in Texas (to Dec. 10-13).

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR

The LET were, curiously, conspicuous by their absence from the joint ‘Golf World Presents Revised Calendar of Events for 2020’ press release on April 6. Four events had been postponed as this edition went to press and there was no official word of a planned return to action. However, the inaugural $1 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International, originally scheduled for late March, has been rescheduled for Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City from Oct. 8-11. The €260,000 OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic remains earmarked for its original Nov. 4-6 timeslot at Emirates G.C.