Putting brakes on PGA Tour
Cancel button hit on next three weeks
When Canadian Corey Conners woke up on Friday morning, he thought he was in seventh place at The Players Championship with three rounds to go.
Unfortunately, while he slept the PGA Tour’s flagship event was cancelled.
“Slept through it all,” the native of Listowel, Ont., told Postmedia on Friday morning. “Obviously bad news, but I am sure the tour made the correct decision.”
It was the overwhelming sentiment from golfers that at the end of the day — the literal end of the day — the PGA Tour made the right call.
After being told Thursday afternoon that the tournament would continue without fans, players received a text message shortly before 10 p. m. informing them that the tournament was cancelled.
“It’s the right decision,” world No. 1 Rory Mcilroy said Friday. “I mean, of course it’s the right decision. ... If in a few weeks’ time this dies down and everything is OK, it’s still the right decision.”
Commissioner Jay Monahan met with reporters at TPC Sawgrass Friday to discuss the cancellation of The Players Championship and the next three weeks of the PGA Tour schedule. Monahan walked through the decisions to have the tournament begin at all, then to change course and ban spectators in the afternoon, before finally scrapping the event at night.
“We’re obviously incredibly disappointed to suspend the PGA Tour’s season for our players and our fans,” Monahan said. “I’ve said all along, the health and safety of everyone associated with this organization is our No. 1 priority. We tried to be as thoughtful and measured as possible during this dynamic and challenging time.”
Credit goes to the tour for eventually landing on the right decision. The tour risked looking particularly out of touch and tone deaf had they continued treating the completion of a golf tournament like a life or death situation with a real one developing outside the gates.
A weary Monahan explained the timeline of events. “I’m a fighter,” he said. “I wanted to fight for our players and our fans and for this tour to show how golf can unify and inspire. But as the situation continued to escalate and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, and not if, we would need to call it a day.”
The commissioner spoke with Florida Governor Ron Desantis and U. S. President Donald Trump on Thursday and decided to go ahead with the tournament. On Friday, with travel bans announced and nearby Disney World and Universal Studios announcing imminent plans to close their doors, the writing was on the wall.
“There were some players that were concerned,” Monahan said. “That’s something that we took into consideration and took very seriously. But there are a number of factors.”
Many of the i nternational players in the field were concerned with travel home to Asia and Europe. Austrian Bernd Wiesberger was set to take the last plane home on Friday before a European travel ban began in America.
“Europe has been hit, Asia has been hit, and hopefully over here in the States it can buffer it up better than we’ve done in Europe, but inevitably it’s going to be here as well,” Wiesberger said.
After Thursday’s opening rounds at The Players Championship, golf seemed secondary. By Friday morning, it was an afterthought.
“You have air traffic being suspended to and from Europe and the U. S., families that can’t see each other,” Jon Rahm said. “Probably many players here right now that can’t go back to Europe ... I think there’s bigger problems on our hands. People are getting affected, people are having problems.”
In an unprecedented 24 hours virtually every professional and college sport league shut down. For a time it seemed that golf with its outdoor playing field might be the single exception. But with North American cases on the rise and governments and health officials stressing the importance of social distancing to protect the most vulnerable, the PGA Tour couldn’t continue. Even without spectators at TPC Sawgrass there would be 144 players, 144 caddies, coaches, trainers, families, tour officials and 900 accredited media members. Not to mention tournament volunteers, many of whom are of retirement age.
With one day of play completed at the Players Championship, half of the US$ 15- million purse will be split evenly between the 144 players, which works out to just over $ 52,000 each. American golfer Billy Horschel is donating his share to a local charity and urged his fellow players to do the same.
Shortly after Monahan spoke on Friday, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announced April’s Masters tournament will be postponed.
BIGGER PROBLEMS ON OUR HANDS. PEOPLE ARE GETTING AFFECTED.