Sports
The PGA Championship and 4 Tour Events Are the Latest Victims in the Sports World
Luke Norris began his sportswriting career in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2020. The former Section Editor of the NFL and Motorsports sections, he now spends his time here in the role of Senior Writer-Programmer. His well-rounded sports knowledge allows him to cover the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, MLB, boxing, WWE, and NASCAR for Sportscasting. Luke is an avid golfer who finds inspiration in the way sports can bring people together and provide a distraction from the real world. He hopes to provide a little entertainment or an escape from the real world with every article he writes, even if only for a few minutes. In addition to his work here at Sportscasting, Luke's work has appeared on The Sportster, Inquisitr, GiveMeSport, FanSided, Yahoo! Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated.
Get to know Luke Norris betterPublished17 Mar 2020
As it stands now, there won’t be any golf until at least mid-May as the PGA Championship has been postponed. In addition, four more PGA Tour events have been canceled.
The PGA Championship has been postponed
The 2020 PGA Championship, the second major championship on the golf calendar, was scheduled to take place at Harding Park in San Francisco from May 14-17. San Francisco has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the decision comes as no surprise. PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
“Throughout our evaluation process, we have been committed to following the guidance of public health authorities and given the coronavirus shelter-in-place order in effect in San Francisco, postponement is the best decision for all involved.
“This is a reflection of a thoughtful process. We are and have been working in concert with Commissioner Jay Monahan and our partners and friends at the PGA TOUR to find an alternative date that works for all. We are all very hopeful for a great outcome.
“We are also in dialogue with Mayor Breed and her team at the City of San Francisco and look forward to hopefully bringing the 2020 PGA Championship to TPC Harding Park at a date this summer when it is once again safe and responsible to do so.”
PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh
It’s important to note that the PGA Championship has not been canceled, but rather postponed, maintaining the glimmer of hope that golf fans will be able to enjoy major championship action at some point in 2020.
The PGA Tour has completely canceled four more events
On March 12, the PGA Tour announced the cancellations of three events, running through the Valero Texas Open, which was scheduled to end on April 5. Just five days later, it was announced that four more events have been taken off the golf calendar and will not be rescheduled.
The RBC Heritage (April 16-19), the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 23-26), the Wells Fargo Championship (April 30-May 3), and the AT&T Byron Nelson (May 7-10) are the events that have been canceled. The PGA Tour Champions, the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, the Mackenzie Tour in Canada, and the PGA Tour Series in China will also not be holding events until at least mid-May.
The PGA Tour, which is separate from the PGA of America, released its own statement on Tuesday.
“As we receive more clarity in the coming weeks, the TOUR will be working with our tournament organizations and title sponsors, in collaboration with golf’s governing bodies, to build a PGA TOUR schedule for 2020 that ensures the health and safety for all associated with our sport and a meaningful conclusion to the season. We will provide further updates when those plans come into focus.“We will continue to work with the tournaments and partners affected by the schedule changes to make a positive impact in their respective communities and allow those events to come back at full strength in 2021. To give our fans respite from this ongoing situation, the PGA TOUR is working with its partners to make available archives of past PGA TOUR competitions and additional programming for fans. More details will be made available soon.”
Statement from the PGA Tour
The next event on the schedule following the PGA Championship would be the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas from May 21-24.
Is the U.S. Open still on?
While the USGA has canceled a few events, qualifying for the U.S. Open will be redesigned as the coronavirus story unfolds and there is currently no plan to cancel the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, which is set to take place from June 18-21.
The Masters, which was postponed last week, has not yet been rescheduled.
