Golf: one of the first sports to come out of the UK lockdown
There were “no fans and no caddies, but there were men in shorts”. After a nine-week drought, golf has returned to TV, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. Sunday’s charity match in Florida featured Dustin Johnson, Matthew Wolff, Rickie Fowler and our own Rory McIlroy. It wasn’t what you’d call a high-pressure game; but if the Northern Irish golfer didn’t exactly have “the weight of the sports world on his shoulders, at least he carried his own bag”. Everyone on site had had a test for Covid-19 or a temperature check; PPE was handed out to staff whenever a situation arose where social distancing couldn’t be enforced. And on 11 June the PGA Tour is scheduled to make its return at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. With hundreds of people on site, “including, to the players’ relief, their caddies”, that will present far more of a logistical “headache”.
It’s not just professionals who’ve been picking up their clubs, said Murad Ahmed in the FT. Since last Wednesday, golf courses in
England and Wales have been allowed to reopen. But there are strict guidelines: social distancing must still be observed. Reservations are being staggered, to ensure that at least ten minutes pass between each round. The rakes usually found in bunkers have been removed; instead, players are encouraged to brush over the sand with their clubs or feet. But the adjustments required are relatively minor: as a noncontact sport, golf faces far fewer challenges than the likes of football or rugby.
Some of the restrictions on golfers may sound “draconian”, said Vic Marks in The Guardian. But as soon as I resumed playing last week, they all “seemed to melt away”. It was “such a delight just to be there, breathing the fresh air, and fretting about nothing more important than avoiding the water on the valley holes”. At the end my friend and I touched putters – “from a two-metre distance, of course” – and headed home. It was “a glimmer that life might one day return to normal”.