Golf passes initial test with no positive results
FORT WORTH, TEXAS » The PGA Tour is not simply picking up where it left off.
Very little about the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial resembles the opening round of The Players Championship on March 12, the last professional golf played before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf and most everything else.
Players return to a new set of rules, starting with mandatory tests for the coronavirus when they first arrive and having their temperatures taken before they can get to the parking lot.
The tour said all 487 tests of players, caddies and essential personnel were negative.
On the course, players are to make every effort to practice social distancing and “show best practices for playing golf to our fans watching the telecast.”
Good thing Wednesday’s activity wasn’t shown on TV.
Players and caddies exchanged clubs (players are supposed to handle the clubs themselves). Caddies were not wiping down the flagsticks or bunker rakes after use. Social distancing felt more like a guideline.
It was just like normal in a return that is supposed to be anything but that.
“It’s going to be very easy to fall back into old habits because it’s just what we’ve done,” Rory McIlroy said Wednesday. “I’d say for the viewing public just to give the players and caddies a little bit of leeway if they see something on TV that isn’t quite right. We’re having to figure it out as we go along, as well.”
Of equal concern is what they do off the course, even with a designated hotel. Some are staying in houses. Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jason Dufner have their own chef.
The most obvious difference is no spectators on the course, making Colonial look like it does for the members except for ropes lining the fairway to give carts and mowers some guidance on where to drive.
Another difference is likely to be the number of people watching from home.
Golf is only the second major sport to return in the U.S., and a field featuring McIlroy, Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka is appealing.
“I think this week is very important because golf will be the center of the sports world, which it usually a few weeks a year is,” McIlroy said.