Tour back on course with big home run
SIX EVENTS EXPECT GO-AHEAD
THE European Tour is confident golfers will be granted special dispensation from new quarantine rules to allow six behind-closed-door events to be staged in England and Wales from July.
The British Masters at Close House on July 22 will be followed by five new events that will bring Ryder Cup venues Celtic Manor and the Belfry back on to the rota.
Players will be tested before tournaments and face daily temperature checks at a cost of more than £2million for all events this summer. Golfers coming from overseas will have to undergo an additional test before arriving in the UK.
But the events each offering a million euros (£898,000) in prize money, and at which the players will be encouraged to wear microphones, will only go ahead if the Government grants exemptions to the planned twoweek quarantine for arrivals from outside the UK. Talks to exempt
Formula One staff before the British Grand Prix and the West Indies cricket team have yet to reach a deal. But European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: “Lifting the quarantine is going to be critical for us to have a successful tournament.
“We wouldn’t be announcing these events without having had significant dialogue with the Government.”
The PGA Tour is scheduled to restart on June 11 with all non-US based players required to undergo a two-week quarantine before playing.
All five UK venues have hotels on site. There will be 144-man fields and a limit of 500 people at the events.
Four further tournaments have been rescheduled for October, including the Scottish Open and BMW PGA at Wentworth. Rory McIlroy insisted this week that the Ryder Cup should be delayed until 2021 so fan can attend but Pelley refused to discuss the issue.