REVERSING COURSE
From no fans to no players
The Players Championship went from having no fans to having no players.
In a surprise announcement Thursday night, the PGA Tour canceled the rest of The Players Championship and decided to shut down its other tournaments for the next three weeks.
Only 10 hours earlier, as the opening round was underway and fans continued to stream into the TPC Sawgrass, Commissioner Jay Monahan announced no fans would be allowed at tour events for the next month because of the fears over the new coronavirus outbreak.
It was a bold decision in light of other leagues either suspending play or canceling entire tournaments.
And then the tour changed course. “We did everything possible to create a safe environment for our players in order to continue the event throughout the weekend,” the tour said in a statement. “But at this point — and as the situation continues to rapidly change — the right thing to do for our players and our fans is to pause.”
Monahan scheduled a new conference for Friday morning for additional details.
The Players Championship is the flagship event of the PGA Tour that offers a $15 million purse, the richest in golf. There was no immediate word whether it would be rescheduled.
Also shut down were the Valspar Championship next week in the Tampa Bay area, the Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas, and the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. The Match Play is for the top 64 players available in the world ranking, and there was some concern not all could travel to Texas for the World Golf Championships event.
The next scheduled event would be the Masters, set for April 9-12.
Augusta National’s only comment regarding the coronavirus was on March 4, when the club said it was in contact with government and health officials and at that point all its events remained on the calendar.
In golf, the LPGA Tour postponed its next three tournaments — two with title sponsors based in South Korea, another in Japan — with plans to reschedule later in the year. The final event was the LPGA’s first major of the year.
LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said on the Golf Channel telecast Thursday he was “fairly confident” the LPGA could play next week in Phoenix, and maybe even San Diego the following week without fans.
“But can I live with it if I’m wrong? If I’m wrong, I’ll regret that the rest of my life,” Whan said. “This is a decision I may not like, but I don’t think I’ll ever regret. I just wasn’t willing to live with being wrong.”
Rory McIlroy said it was a “scary time” and that the tour made a step in the right direction by eliminating fans. But he said it would only take one player or caddie to test positive for the virus.
“We need to shut it down then,” he said without hesitation. “I think for us to keep playing on tour, we all — the tour players and people that are involved — need to get tested.”
He said he would get tested next week. So the last golf with fans turned out to be a calm Thursday on a dynamic Stadium Course on the TPC Sawgrass, where Hideki Matsuyama tied the course record with a 63. McIlroy and Brooks Koepka each had three birdies in the final hour to salvage their rough starts with 70s.
“At least they got to enjoy themselves for one day,” McIlroy said. “Now it’s going to look a little different.”