Column: Sandy Jones.

It was eventually decided the Ryder Cup could not go ahead without crowds – and I think it makes a lot of sense to postpone the Whistling Straits tournament until next year.

It has been announced there will be no fans at any of the PGA Tour events until next year, but I don’t think it matters whether or not they’ve got fans at a normal tournament.

Players are still playing, and people are still watching mainly on TV, so I don’t think it makes any difference.

The Ryder Cup is different because the fans are so involved in the matches.

When you think of the opening ceremony, the first tee, and the crowd they get there, that is unique to the Ryder Cup and that’s why you need the fans.

If you don’t have them it changes all that altogether.

I think most people have accepted that, the players and captains certainly believe it is.

In the long run, I don’t think it will damage or put people off the Ryder Cup.

Everyone will just be really looking forward to September next year.

It changes the dates for when matches will be played in the years going forward.

The Ryder Cup will now be played at Adare Manor in 2027, which will be exactly 100 years after the first match in 1927.

In between times, they have one in Italy, and one at Bethpage in New York.

By the time it gets to Ireland we will hopefully be free from coronavirus, and I think it will be a massive match for spectators.

A lot of Americans will want to come over because it’s Ireland.

I think it’s going to be a bonus for the Ryder Cup. When the tournament was last abandoned

– in 2001 due to the September 11 attacks

– I thought the match actually benefited from the change.

We had the match at Brookline in 1999 when it all went wrong. The crowd was out of control there, and it spilled over into everybody, including the players.

Although that was the match where it came to the peak, there had started to be an edge in the two or three previous to that.

It had to change and it was a big turnaround for the Ryder Cup, when everybody realised it had gone off the rails.

The players themselves took that attitude and realised that, and it has been a much better match since. It has been played in the proper spirit that Sam Ryder would have wanted it to be – “friendly competition” between the best players was how he described it.

The whole world is going through this virus just now, but I think missing out this year and then returning will bring everyone back with a new feeling about it all again.

It’s a sporting event that is so important to so many people – and not just golfers.

It’s amazing how many people in the street who like their sport, but are not golf people, get really engaged with it.

I think it will give the Ryder Cup another surge in popularity.

PLAYING TO THE GALLERY: Spectators and players alike get so involved in the Ryder Cup, which makes it different from every other event