Golf: PGA Tour announces mid-June return in Texas
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Brooks Koepka (above) was sceptical about the timing for professional golf’s return.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - The PGA Tour on Thursday (April 16) announced it would resume its season in mid-June with a tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, which would likely make men's golf among the first major American professional sports to restart competition since the coronavirus pandemic halted most events in March.
The tour said the event, the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club, would be played without spectators June 11-14, as would the next three tournaments scheduled in June and early July.
Tour leaders, however, conceded that their plans could change.
"The health and safety of all associated with the PGA Tour and our global community continues to be our No. 1 priority, and our hope is to play a role - responsibly - in the world's return to enjoying the things we love," said Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour.
He added: "as we've stressed on several occasions, we will resume competition only when - working closely with our tournaments, partners and communities - it is considered safe to do so under the guidance of the leading public health authorities."
Monahan indicated that the tour, which suspended play March 13, expected to continue an almost weekly schedule of events throughout the rest of the year.
Early this month, the LPGA Tour said it hoped to resume its tournament schedule on June 19.
The Fort Worth event was originally to be played from May 21-24. In the reconfigured PGA Tour schedule announced on Wednesday, it would be followed by the RBC Heritage, beginning June 18 on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
A tournament outside Hartford, Connecticut, the Travelers Championship, would be up next from June 25-28.
In July and early August, PGA Tour events would take place in Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Tennessee. It was not clear how many of the tournaments would be contested without spectators.
Brooks Koepka, the world's third-ranked golfer, was sceptical about the timing for professional golf's return.
"I hope we start in June, I just think it's a little unrealistic," Koepka said on Wednesday in a question-and-answer session conducted on Instagram.
"You think about all these guys that are going to be in airports flying everywhere. There are so many guys. Everything has to be cleaned. Is it really possible?"
