Can revised golf season work under restrictions?
FOLLOWING the re-opening of Ireland’s golf courses for play on Monday, the Golfing Union of Ireland has published a revised schedule for what remains of the 2020 golfing season with a few big events cancelled, not postponed.
Arguably the biggest event to have been axed is the Irish Amateur Championship which was due to be played at Galway Golf Club in August.
As an open event, this could not go ahead because of the uncertainty surrounding international travel and virus control challenges, so it comes as no surprise really.
The four provincial championships at Lahinch (South), Rosses Point (West), Baltray (East) and Royal Portrush (North) have also fallen victim to cancellation, as have all the interprovincial championships, Men’s, Seniors and Under-age.
Every effort was made to re-schedule these events and the GUI would like to place on record the efforts made by the host clubs to accommodate them but sadly, a solution could not be found, therefore cancellation was the only option.
A limited series of Bridgestone Order of Merit events have been rescheduled, with the Munster Stroke Play, Mullingar Scratch
Trophy and Connacht Stroke Play all being rescheduled for August and September, following which the AIG Irish Amateur Close Championship will close out the season at Rosapenna in October.
Caddies will be strictly prohibited in all events, and the format and terms of competition may be altered from time to time prior to the commencement of each event, while championship entrants will be contacted directly regarding the status of each championship they have entered, and in the event they have entered a championship that is now cancelled, they will receive a refund as soon as possible.
All entries for Championships which have either been rescheduled or for which the dates are being retained will continue to stand and entrants who do not wish to participate may withdraw up to the closing date for entries and receive a full refund.
All closing dates have been revised, to two weeks prior to the start of the championship, to ensure continual review of public health measures and draws will continue to be published seven days beforehand.
The safety and wellbeing of participants, volunteers, spectators and staff will be of the utmost priority at all times and events will only proceed following rigorous risk management and consultation with the latest public health advice from the relevant state authorities and the World Health Organisation.
As for the All-Ireland and provincial inter-club Cups & Shields, the Union is also currently finalising plans for these, which will be circulated directly to club sometime this week, but at the time of writing on Monday, were not yet available.
As someone who reports on these events year after year, I am eagerly awaiting the circulation of this document as I can’t wait to see how they can possibly cram so many events into a limited time period and there is also the logistics.
Let us take just one example, the Jimmy Bruen Shield, which is usually hosted in the West Munster area at two separate venues on the same weekend.
There are ten to twelve teams involved at each venue with say, twenty people per team, including the ten players, the subs and club officials.
Firstly, there is the transport, is everyone expected to travel in their own car and if so, then parking becomes a serious problem at venues with up to 240 cars to be catered for.
What about locker rooms and showers? Will they be sanitised after each person has a shower?
Then, there is the catering, and it’s enough of a problem to cater for that many people under normal conditions, but how are clubs supposed to feed almost two hundred people whilst maintaining social distancing?
You cannot expect players to travel long distances without being fed, after or between rounds, so tell me how it works?
Yes, you can possibly go to a nearby hotel or whatever, but with a usual turnaround of about 40 minutes between morning and evening matches, this wont always be possible and some venues like Ring of Kerry, Dooks and Tralee to mention just three of this year’s hosts, won’t have a hotel nearby, so this is certainly not an option between rounds.
Like I said a few weeks back when this whole thing began to affect our game, the GUI and ILGU might do well to follow the example of the Scottish Golfing Union and cancel the whole fixture lust altogether and allow people to relax, and learn to enjoy the game again at their own pace.
What is to happen with the Federation events?
Like all other golfing events the Kerry Federation Calendar has been hit by the closure of courses and introduction of safety measures while the country remains in part lockdown, so what is to become of the 2020 fixture list?
The Kerry Captains Day on April 25 did not go ahead as courses were closed and the Kerry Shield on June 6 will not go ahead as competitive golf is prohibited until phase two on June 8 and anyway travel is restricted until July 20th which also rules out the J B O’Shea Memorial on June 14.
Will the Federation Captain’s Prize go ahead on August 29? that remains to be seen, while the Senior & Intermediate Shields and the Dr Billy O’Sullivan and Nines of Kerry Shields have also been disrupted.
It will be a decision I would imagine, for all of the clubs within the Federation, but perhaps it would be best to cancel all Federation events also and run a full programme again in 20201 with Ceann Sibéal at the helm.
Some of you are at this stage are possibly thinking that I am some kind of prophet of doom who doesn’t want to see any golfing events go ahead but that is not the case, I simply think that cherry-picking and running chosen events is not the way to go when you could run all events next year with officers able to enjoying a full year in charge.