LPGA’s traditional 1st major set for September

Amid a slew of postponements and cancellations in golf, the LPGA Tour announced a September date for what traditionally is its first major championship of the year.

The ANA Inspiration, previously scheduled for April 2-5 in Rancho Mirage, California, now will be played Sept. 10-13. That date previously was for the Cambia Portland Classic, which will move back by one week.

It’s the first postponed golf tournament to announce a new date.

The schedule change was announced Friday along with the postponement of three more LPGA Tour events because of the new coronavirus. They were to be played the final three weeks of April — in Hawaii, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Meanwhile, the Official World Golf Ranking and the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking are freezing the rankings since golf is shut down from the coronavirus, with no tournaments on main tours until May at the earliest.

That’s particularly significant for the Olympics because qualifying for the 60player fields is determined by world ranking. Countries are allowed two players, with a maximum of four if they are among the top 15.

The main men’s tours — PGA Tour, European Tour and PGA Tour Champions — have no tournaments on the schedule through May 17.

The next scheduled LPGA Tour event is May 14-17 at the new Pelican Women’s Championship in Belleair, Florida. For the PGA Tour, it would be the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial on May 21-24.

MLS extends moratorium on training:

Major League Soccer extended the moratorium on team training activities through March 27 and is asking players to stay in their club’s local market during this time.

MLS says team training facilities may be accessed only for physical therapy purposes at the direction of the team’s medical staff and must adhere to safety protocols.

For now, the league is asking players to stay near their clubs and for international players to not leave the country.

Derby prep race postponed: One of the major prep races for the Kentucky Derby is being postponed.

Oaklawn Park said the Arkansas Derby will be pushed back from April 11 to May 2.

That’s the day the 146th Kentucky Derby was scheduled to be run, but it has been postponed until Sept. 5.

Oaklawn officials said they could have continued live racing with purse money intact through April 18, but decided to reduce purses across the board and keep racing until May.

As a result, the Arkansas Derby purse has been reduced to $750,000 from $1 million.