Businesses OK with Cup decision
HAVEN - Even before the decision was final, Rob Hurrie had planned on the Ryder Cup not happening in September.
“I just couldn't see how the tournament itself was going to happen,” said Hurrie, owner of the Black Pig restaurant in downtown Sheboygan.
Hurrie said he's glad the tournament will be postponed rather than played with diminished or no attendance by fans since what really feeds the event — and its impact on the local and regional economy — is the magnitude of the crowd.
Hurrie said the coronavirus pandemic has already had a major impact on the restaurant and hospitality industry, and he had already factored in that the event probably wouldn't happen as he reopened his business after the statewide restaurant shutown.
“I would rather take the hit and wait for it to be done in the proper way in 2021,” he said.
The PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe on Wednesday morning postponed the 43rd Ryder Cup. The event was scheduled for Sept. 22-27 at Whistling Straits, but will now be held at the course Sept. 21-26, 2021.
Last summer, 2020 Ryder Cup General Chairman David Kohler told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the tournament could bring $135 million to the region's economy. Kohler also is president and CEO of Kohler Co., which owns Whistling Straits.
Kohler Co. released a statement immediately following the decision to postpone the tournament saying it is in support of the choice to reschedule, as the health and well-being of everyone involved is a top priority.
Tom Nye, master winemaker and general manager of The Blind Horse, said he hopes coronavirus will have subsided in time for the tournament next year and that plans will be just as ambitious because the bookings they had for the Ryder Cup were unprecedented.
“We were just elated that the decision was to delay the Ryder Cup for a year,” he said.
Nye said his restaurant had never seen the amount of reservations and corporate spending for any other golf tournament, so he welcomes the delay for the sake of the local economy.
The Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce released a statement saying it is saddened by the decision, but also supports it and understands why it needed to be made.
Developments across Sheboygan County were already underway or completed in preparation for the event, including new hotels and a U.S. customs facility at the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport.
Online tickets for the tournament had sold out in less than 50 minutes.
The Ryder Cup is expected to have a regional economic impact, including in neighboring Manitowoc County, where hotels and restaurants were also prepared to host those traveling for the tournament.
Manitowoc Area Visitor & Convention Bureau Executive Director Jason Ring said in an email Wednesday that “postponement is a let-down for this year,” but he is optimistic about next year.
Cam Schulz, front desk supervisor for the Holiday Inn Express SheboyganKohler, said the hotel has a contract with a company that booked the entire hotel for the duration of the tournament, so rather than dealing with cancellations and rescheduling, they can simply move that contract to 2021.
But Schulz said the hotel was fielding “frantic calls” Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from people hoping to book rooms for the new dates.
Libby Jacobs from the Sheboygan County Division of Public Health said conversations with the communications contact for the Ryder Cup began about a month ago.
Jacobs told the Ryder Cup that the county's recommendation was to not hold the event, as they have been advising against holding any mass gatherings because of COVID-19. As of Tuesday, there had been 252 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sheboygan County and 32,556 in the state.
“It was a really welcomed conversation on both ends,” she said.
Preparations on and around
the course have not yet started.
“Unlike other major sporting events that are played in existing stadiums, we had to make a decision now about building facilities to host the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits,” PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said in a news release Wednesday morning.
“It became clear that as of today, our medical experts and the public authorities in Wisconsin could not give us certainty that conducting an event responsibly with thousands of spectators in September would be possible,” Waugh said.
Given that uncertainty, Waugh said, rescheduling was the right call.
In April, Waugh told WFAN Sports Radio they were considering holding the tournament without fans, but he noted it was hard to imagine the event without them because “the fans are the Ryder Cup.”
When there was talk of playing without fans, world No. 1 golfer Rory McIlroy said he would rather the event be postponed, according to ESPN. McIlroy added that the next Ryder Cup will be in Italy, which also was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, so delaying now “gives them an extra year to prepare for the event in 2023.”
This is the third time since its inception in 1927 that the Ryder Cup has been either postponed or canceled. After the 1937 tournament, the typically biennial event was put on hold for a decade because of World War II. The 2001 tournament was postponed a year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Other top golf events have been postponed this year because of the coronavirus, including the PGA Championship (to August), U.S. Open (September) and Masters (November). The British Open, scheduled for July, was canceled.