Golf and baseball ready to swing away
Constant testing and no high-fives: Plans for the summer are moving forward, but the road ahead is not without risk.
Too soon?
That’s the question lingering over the PGA Tour’s intent to move, cautiously as it will, toward a restart of the season next month in Texas.
As much of the country slowly opens up and eases shelter-at-home measures, to varying degrees of success and failure, the Tour sent a health and safety plan to players Tuesday that outlines protocols for resumption of play June 11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
Titled “Return to Golf,” the blueprint that is ever evolving – a lengthy plan developed in coordination with health experts in the field of infectious diseases, the Federal Coronavirus Task Force and other specialists and laboratory directors – outlines safety and health protocols for the Tour’s return.
From layered and constant testing to social distancing measures to one host hotel to fans not being allowed for at least the first four events, the PGA Tour is attempting to create a “bubble” of protection for players, caddies, staff members, media members, volunteers and others who will attend events.
It’s sort of a shelter-at-home standard on steroids.
Players intending to play at Colonial know some question the return date, that it might be premature considering much is still unknown about the highly contagious coronavirus. Risk remains, with criticism at the ready around any dogleg.
But the PGA Tour hasn’t rushed toward its hopeful return despite losing untold millions since the COVID-19 global pandemic halted play March 12. And many players take that with a
measure of confidence.
“All of us have to assume some amount of risk to get back to work,” said Kevin Kisner, a player director on the PGA Tour’s policy board. “If we sit around and wait on a vaccine that we don’t even know when or how effective it’s going to be, we could be out of work for a year or more.
“So we’re going to go about with the safest, healthiest way to get back to work and have a quality product for our fans, have a presentable product for TV and help the world with something to watch.”
The PGA Tour hasn’t left every stone unturned – no one can – but it’s turned a lot of pebbles. And the Tour is steadfast in pulling the plug if matters worsen at any time. Still, a sense of uneasiness will be a 15th club in the bag for players.
“Given the state of affairs right now,
you have to have a plan,” said two-time major champion Zach Johnson, who is on the players advisory council. “Given that each locality has different regulations and mandates, the PGA Tour is taking everything into consideration. I’m comfortable with it. The bottom line is we can’t mitigate the entire risk. No one can. If that’s the case, don’t go to the grocery store.
“This thing is not going away. You can’t mitigate the entire risk. At some point you have to open up this country. You have to start thinking about some semblance of normalcy. We are just golf. But the beauty of golf is we are outside, we can take social distancing to the extremes, and within our bubble we can create as much safety as we can. I don’t think it’s too soon.”
Neither does Harold Varner III, who is heading from North Carolina to Florida to ramp up his practice and play to get ready for the restart.
“I have to live,” Varner said. “I have to get my life back to normal as much as possible. I’ll do whatever they say, I’ll follow all the rules. We can’t live in fear.
“We have to start to get back up from off the floor.”
Traveling, the players said, presents risk. The PGA Tour will have a charter plane for 170 players and caddies – first come, first serve – and private aircraft will be used by some players. Still, many players, caddies and staff will be flying commercially. As well, the possibility of contracting the virus is real.
But the show has to start sometime. “It’s important that we make the effort to get started again,” Brian Harman said. “It’s important for the country that we all start easing back into work because, at some point or another, we have to get over this thing, as awful as it’s been and is. In some way, shape or form, we have to get things moving again.
“I’m very proud of the Tour for trying everything they can to get us back safely and to be one of the first sports to get back going again. I think the image will be if we can get this off without a hitch, it could sort of set the stage for everything to move forward to getting back to normal.
“I want to participate and I want to compete again, but if I feel there is an undue risk that I’m going to catch this thing and get stuck somewhere, then I’ll just go home and wait until it’s a little bit better.”