Ponte Vedra Bubble Burst: Players Championship Goes On With Spectators As Rest Of Sports World Shuts Down

As a series of incredible pandemic-driven events played out, the PGA Tour held their ground.

Take your pick of clues that it was time to rethink spectators at The Players Championship, if not an all-out cancellation.

There was a Presidential address to the nation announced in the early evening and given at 9 p.m. ET. Landmark restrictions were announced by President Donald Trump.

The NCAA and NHL eliminating spectators from tournament games, the Seattle area teams are also eliminating games.

The NBA was rumored to be meeting to take drastic measures (later in the evening there was a season suspension and game cancellation after a player, who mocked the virus earlier in the week, tested positive for the coronavirus.)

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive for the virus in Australia, where, mercifully they could at least be tested.

The virus can linger in the air for up to three hours, according to preliminary study findings.

St. John’s County, home of the Players, had its first positive CODV-19 case announced Wednesday afternoon.

Oh, and the World Health Organization declared a pandemic earlier in the day. Among other signs.

The world of sports has been forced to lead the way in quarantining and slowing the spread of COVD-19, no matter how expensive and painful the move may be at a busy time of year for championships.

The PGA Tour, whose Players Championship is heavily attended by seniors as fans or volunteers and who are more susceptible to the virus, had nothing to say. Zilch.

Finally, this statement arrived at 12:15 a.m. ET and less than 8 hours before the first tee time:

The PGA TOUR is aware of rapidly changing developments regarding COVID-19.  With the information currently available, THE PLAYERS Championship will continue as scheduled, although we will absolutely continue to review recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization and local health administrations. This is obviously a very fluid situation that requires constant review, communication and transparency, and we are dedicated to all three aspects. The PGA TOUR will provide an additional update by 12 p.m. ET on Thursday.

In the meantime, players in the field have been notified to be prepared to play round 1, as scheduled.  

Fans who no longer wish to attend THE PLAYERS Championship may request a refund or exchange; details on how to do so will be announced shortly.  Please visit PGATOUR.COM/THEPLAYERSfor more information.

Since Monday’s painful and unnecessary appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Commissioner Jay Monahan and his team have clung to the notion that vast outdoor acreage will be the PGA Tour’s primary defense against a virus with so many unknowns. And there was Monahan’s emphatic statement about converting a “Task Force” to a “Business Unit”, as if that was a discernible course of action with any real meaning to fans or players.

His full answer:

I would tell you that it started out as a task force. It's now essentially a business unit, where we have two leaders, Tom Hospel, our medical director, and Alison Keller, our chief administrative officer, who have organized a large team to fully understand the coronavirus and its implications on all facets of our business. I think it goes without saying that the health, safety, well being of our players, our fans, our tournaments, everybody that's involved in our ecosystem is of utmost importance.

So for us, we are relying heavily, as other leagues and sports and entertainment venues are, relying heavily on the World Health Organization, the CDC, but primarily given the fact that we're playing 175 tournaments over six tours, this really is about a market-to-market exercise and truly understanding what local public health officials, local government officials, what's happening on the ground through our tournament directors in every single market where we play.

That answer spoke to a level of disconnect from reality, particularly for a Commissioner who was so welcomed because he seemed much more grounded than his sometimes aloof predecessor. Now, with everything that happened Wednesday, his statement has aged even less gracefully given the actions of the World Health Organization and other sports leagues.

Tour executives spent Wednesday entertaining “partners” from around the country and hosting them for the annual Wednesday night party, while some senior staff were reportedly lecturing player agents on the push to make people associate the color gold with The Players. Important stuff.

And the only sign anyone in Ponte Vedra realized they might regret having an on-site concert Wednesday? It came with the deletion of a Tweet showing The Chainsmokers playing to fans packed in like sardines at the 17th hole.

Since this is The Players and owned by the the players, the event is more than entitled to carry on with the PGA Tour’s finest taking whatever risks they choose. But hundreds of television personnel, tournament workers and volunteers will now be subjected to spectators, despite increasing signs that large public gatherings are a bad idea.

However, the PGA Tour’s reckless indifference to public safety should come as no surprise.

Six were injured on Saturday of last year’s Tour Championship when the PGA Tour refused to move tee times up despite just a 30 player field and a 1 pm planned start. There was an 80% chance of storms at the time and a 90% chance for Saturday predicted Monday of that week.

Just as with the coronavirus, signs of impending trouble apparently do not penetrate the Ponte Vedra bubble. When dissent is so strongly discouraged and executives must pass conformity examinations before getting hired, a culture of fear is bound to develop. That a decision on Thursday’s opening round was not even made until after midnight is one thing, but to only offer refunds and not take more aggressive action, could end up looking like willful neglect.

When too many executives are focused on maximizing revenues, minimizing inconvenience and juggling jargon to get a promotion, you get moments of profound incompetence. The 2020 Players Championship, no matter how it plays out or who it plays in front of, has burst the bubble. We can only hope that the innocent folks in this do not leave north Florida with a virus all because the non-profit PGA Tour put profit ahead of common sense.