PGA Tour Champions won’t crown an overall champion this season.
The coronavirus pandemic has cost metro Phoenix another national golf championship.
PGA Tour Champions announced on Thursday that a Charles Schwab Cup champion will not be crowned in 2020. The tour will combine the rest of the current season with the 2021 schedule to form one combined season.
As a result, the 2020 Schwab Cup tournament, still scheduled for the first week in November at Phoenix Country Club, will be converted to a 54-hole, regular-season event with an expanded field of 81 players.
Previously, the Valley lost the NCAA men’s and women’s golf national championships, which were to be played this month at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale.
Grayhawk is still scheduled to host the 2021 and 2022 championship, and it will be the first time Arizona State hosts an NCAA golf championship since the women did so in 1992.
Phoenix Country Club is still scheduled to host the 2021 Schwab Cup Championship.
PGA Tour Champions decided to combine seasons to “uphold the competitive integrity of the Charles Schwab Cup,” the tour said in a news release.
“While we won’t have a Charles Schwab Cup champion in 2020, we feel that the combined schedule for 2020-21 is the best solution for everyone associated with PGA TOUR Champions,” PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady said in the statement. “The wonderful support from Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and Phoenix Country Club has helped us address some of the schedule complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result we have created solutions that best serve our members and our tournament communities.
“I am confident that our 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship will deliver an exciting week of golf that will continue to provide hope and inspiration for golf fans and everyone in the greater Phoenix community.”
By reducing the 2020 event to 54 holes, the Schwab Cup Championship will be able to hold pro-ams on both Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, with tournament play taking place Nov. 6-8.