Coronavirus pandemic

World amateur golf event in Singapore latest virus casualty

Tiger Woods helped the American team win the Eisenhower Trophy in 1994 as an amateur before going on to become one of the most successful professional golfers.
Tiger Woods helped the American team win the Eisenhower Trophy in 1994 as an amateur before going on to become one of the most successful professional golfers. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

The cancellation of the World Amateur Team Championships (WATC), which were to be held in Singapore for the first time, is disappointing but understandable given the coronavirus pandemic, said Singapore Golf Association (SGA) general manager Jerome Ng.

The International Golf Federation (IGF) announced the cancellation of the biennial amateur golf competition yesterday.

The event was moved from Hong Kong to Singapore in February.

The women's tournament was scheduled to take place from Oct 14-17 while the men were supposed to be in action from Oct 21-24. The tournaments - named the Espirito Santo Trophy and the Eisenhower Trophy respectively - were to have been held at Tanah Merah Country Club and Sentosa Golf Club.

Ng told The Straits Times yesterday: "Disappointing as it is, (the decision) is understandable. I think everyone's going to be on the more conservative side and as of now, we have no clear indication of what the travel restrictions are going to be like for the rest of the year.

"Besides golf, the main situation is really (about) containing the virus."

Ng added that the SGA remains hopeful of the possibility that Singapore could still host the event after the next edition, in France in 2022.

That could prove to be tricky, however, as the IGF said in February that it "will be inviting the Hong Kong Golf Association to submit a proposal for staging the 2024 edition".

IGF executive director Anthony Scanlon said in a statement yesterday: "This unprecedented decision was due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty that this has caused to ensuring that the 2020 WATC could be staged successfully. But most importantly, it was made to safeguard the health and safety of all athletes, officials and volunteers at the 2020 WATC, to which there was no certainty that this risk could be mitigated to an acceptable level."

He noted that moving the event to 2021 "would have created considerable scheduling and logistical issues that were insurmountable".

"Plus we still could not say with absolute certainty that we could hold it without risk next year," he added. "Therefore, it is preferred that the IGF look forward to focusing on and delivering a wonderful 2022 event in France."

Dating back to 1958, the championships include up to 72 teams competing in 72 holes of strokeplay competition. Each team fields two or three players with the two lowest scores counting per round.

Previous winners of the Espirito Santo Trophy include last year's LPGA Korean Tour leading money winner Choi Hye-jin (2016). The Eisenhower Trophy's alumni boasts American 15-time Major winner Tiger Woods (1994).

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 07, 2020, with the headline World amateur golf event in Singapore latest virus casualty. Subscribe