Major malfunction as Open’s ruled out of bounds this year
THE Open Championship will not take place at all this year. Organisers have cancelled the event, which was due to take place at Royal St George’s from July 1619, following talks with the Government, health authorities and public services.
The Kent course will host the competition next year instead – from July 15-18 – with St Andrews still hosting the 150th Open, but a year later than scheduled in 2022.
Organisers are still hoping to stage the three other golf majors with new provisional dates announced.
The PGA Championship, which was initially due to be held in May, has been scheduled for August 6-9 while the US Open has been moved from June to September 1720, the week before the Ryder Cup, which is still scheduled for September 25-27.
The Masters, which was due to start today but was postponed last month, could now take place later in the year with November 12-15 identified as the intended dates by the Augusta National Golf Club.
On the Open cancellation decision, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said: “Our absolute priority is to protect the health and safety of the fans, players, officials, volunteers and staff involved in the Open. 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.
“There are many different considerations that go into organising a major sporting event of this scale. We rely on the support of the emergency services, local authorities and a range of other organisations to stage the Championship and it would be unreasonable to place any additional demands on them when they have far more urgent priorities to deal with.
“In recent weeks we have been working closely with those organisations as well as Royal St George’s, St Andrews Links Trust and the other golf bodies to resolve the remaining external factors and have done so as soon as we possibly could. We are grateful to all of them for their assistance and co-operation throughout this process.
“Most of all I would like to thank our fans around the world and all of our partners for their support and understanding. At a difficult time like this we have to recognise that sport must stand aside to let people focus on keeping themselves and their families healthy and safe.
“We are committed to supporting our community in the weeks and months ahead and will do everything in our power to help golf come through this crisis.”
The R&A says this year’s remaining professional and amateur championships are under review.
On the new dates for the Masters, US Open and USPGA, US PGA chief executive Seth Waugh said: “We will continue to follow the guidance of public health officials, but are hopeful that it will be safe and responsible to conduct the PGA Championship in August and the Ryder Cup as planned at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.”
The European Tour earlier confirmed the postponement of its events in Morocco and Stockholm in June.