MASTERS LATEST SPORTS CASUALTY
AUGUSTA NATIONAL HOPES TO PLAY EVENT ‘AT SOME LATER DATE’
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Augusta National on Friday postponed the Masters, another massive hit to the spring sports calendar from the new coronavirus that already is responsible for the loss of March Madness and the delay of Opening Day baseball.
So much for that annual rite of spring and the first week in April devoted to the brilliance of dogwoods and azaleas, Amen Corner and Tiger Woods chasing another green jacket.
‘‘Unfortunately, the ever-increasing risks associated with the widespread coronavirus have led us to a decision that undoubtedly will be disappointing to many, although I am confident is appropriate under these unique circumstances,’’ Masters chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement.
The Masters had been scheduled to be played April 9-12.
Ridley said he hoped the decision puts Augusta National in the best position to host the Masters and its two other amateur events ‘‘at some later date.’’ He didn’t indicate when the Masters could be played. The private club traditionally closes in May and doesn’t open for its members until October.
‘‘That’s not a fun message to get,’’ said J.T. Poston, who was among the PGA Tour winners who had qualified for their first Masters. ‘‘That’s a tournament that I’ve been looking forward to since I was a kid and still very much looking forward to it. I know I’ll get my chance at it. Just won’t know when that’ll be.’’
The decision came 12 hours after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan canceled four tournaments, starting with the final three rounds of The Players Championship and its $15 million purse.
Players already were bracing for the Masters to be postponed as they left the TPC Sawgrass course early Friday. The virus has a grip on the sporting world, and golf’s decision to cancel — after first wanting to try playing The Players Championship without fans — was inevitable.
‘‘Well, ‘postponed’ is a comforting word; ‘canceled’ is another,’’ said Xander Schauffele, who was a runner-up to Woods last year at the Masters. ‘‘As long as it says ‘postponed,’ I think the players will find hope in that word and just wait for go time.’’
Even so, these are odd times for golfers who usually only step away for a month at a time at the end of the year. Schauffele said it felt like the last day of school.
‘‘A lot of good golf . . . coming up, and we’ll be sitting at home waiting for someone to tell us when and where,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a very strange feeling.”
The Masters has finished in April every year since 1935 — the first tournament was in late March — except when it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II.
‘‘It’s hard to think this is on that scale, but the last time a lot of events were canceled [was] due to World War II,’’ player Matt Kuchar said. ‘‘This coronavirus has just changed our world.’’
No golf tournament gets better ratings than the Masters, the only major that is held on the same course every year. Ticket prices are among the cheapest for a major sporting event — $375 this year for a Thursdaythrough-Sunday badge — though the club gets much of its non-broadcast revenue from its merchandise shops. ✶