Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
This isn’t your pre-pandemic round
Many adjustments required just to get skins event on TV
Golf fans get their first opportunity Sunday at live golf with PGA Tour players since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the sport, but it’s not going to look like anything viewers are used to seeing.
Star power will be there with world No. 1 Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson taking on Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff in the Taylor Made Driving Relief Skins Game at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. But that’s where the familiar ends.
Social distancing rules will bring a safe but strange look to the proceedings, starting with no caddies. Players will be carrying their own bags, something the pros haven’t done in ages. That’s except for Wolff, who schlepped his own bag as a college golfer a year ago.
No caddies also means no help in yardages, so players will be using distance-measuring devices — a clear no-no in normal circumstances. There will be no spectators, no bunker rakes and a rules official will be the only one touching the flagsticks.
For viewers, the coverage will take on a different feel with Mike Tirico, Paul Azinger and Rich Lerner calling the action virtually.
How this all goes off is anybody’s guess, especially a skins game that makes its bread and butter with on-course banter and camaraderie. So forget about any high-fives or celebrating between teammates after good shots. Or postmatch handshakes.
Lessons learned today will be noted for the next big event next weekend, when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are joined by NFL greats Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for another made-for-TV event which will undoubtedly draw many more viewers.
Both are teases to the actual start of PGA Tour full-field events, which begin June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, and continue weekly until early December, as long as the virus remains in check.
Tour officials last week outlined safety plans for the season in a 37page memo to players. If all goes as hoped, the first four events will be played without spectators before finally opening the gates. That includes the Shriners Hospital Open at TPC Summerlin on Oct. 5 through 11.
Key takeaways from the memo:
■ All players, caddies and essential personnel will be tested at each event.
■ Any player who tests positive will be withdrawn from the event and forced to self-isolate for 10 days.
■ Players, caddies and staff will be housed in a designated hotel to create a controlled environment. All will be required to remain at the hotel for meals.
■ The Tour will charter a flight from tournament location to the next event each Monday to the first 170 players and caddies who sign up.
■ Those who take different transportation or skipped the previous event will be tested before being allowed at the course. Pro-ams and other events associated with the tournament will not be held.
How these rules will impact the Las Vegas event are in question. It’s still five months away, and 19 tournaments are ahead of it on the schedule. How the safety precautions measure up and how the virus reacts over that time period will dictate what happens in Las Vegas.
Chip shots
■ Leah Im, a freshman in the PGA Golf Management University Program at UNLV, was one of 10 students nationally awarded an $8,000 scholarship from PGA Works and PGA Reach. The awards are aimed at honoring students from diverse backgrounds pursuing PGA membership.
■ After losing nearly five months of tournaments to the coronavirus shutdown, the Champions Tour is combining the 2020 and 2021 seasons into a single season and points race. The tour is expected to return July 31 with The Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
■ The LPGA Tour has canceled the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, its first planned event since the shutdown. The Tour will now return July 23 at the Marathon Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.