Roundup: Majors Jockeying For Fall Positions, PGA Tour Aiming For Mid-May Restart, Irish Open Postponed
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Given the fluidity of the situation and the overall unlikelihood of a significant event being played for some time, I find the hope of at least seeing some tournaments later this year a decent diversion.
Ron Green covered all of this in his Global Golf Post look at the best case scenario planning, including the challenge of the majors trying to be played on television against the NFL and college football games that could resume.
Television factors into the equation as well, with the behemoth that is the NFL seemingly still ready to re-emerge in September. CBS, which televises the Masters, and Fox Spots, which airs the U.S. Open, would have serious scheduling issues.
GolfDigest.com's Joel Beall and Brian Wacker have tried to decipher sources and tea leaves to figure out a possible major schedule that starts with a late July PGA, a September Open Championship, an October U.S. Open and an early November Masters. The latter two would have to reduce their field size given the length of days and time it takes to move a field around.
This schedule, admittedly a best-case-scenario situation, would appear to be working around the PGA Tour’s playoff events. However, it’s hard to imagine many outside of Ponte Vedra Beach would prefer to see the playoff events contested over majors, particularly if the Grand Slam events have to reduce…playing opportunities by playing when the days are shorter. Graeme McDowell has already echoed the sentiment that majors take priority over all else. Common sense says the playoffs should come after the majors.
Green in his GGP column also featured this quote from Kevin Kisner regarding the PGA Tour’s thinking on a mid-May restart.
“The No. 1 thing we need to do is get back to work. They may try to expand some fields so guys can catch up with playing opportunities but it all depends on when we go back.”
The intention to return in mid-May at Colonial was echoed in this Daniel Rappaport story about the PGA Tour’s loan program for players based on their FedExCup status.
Meanwhile, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open has been postponed, meaning the earliest restart in Europe would come in June.
The European Tour’s statement:
Postponement of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open
The European Tour today confirmed the postponement of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open due to the continuing threat posed by the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The tournament was scheduled to be the European Tour’s second Rolex Series event of 2020, taking place at Mount Juliet Estate from May 28-31, with Major Champion Graeme McDowell as host.
Keith Pelley, European Tour Chief Executive, said: “The decision to postpone the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open follows consultation with all stakeholders and was made with public health and well-being as our absolute priority. Our thoughts are with everyone right now and we are all united in trying to fight the spread of the pandemic.
“With this in mind, we will continue to evaluate all aspects of our 2020 European Tour schedule, and discussions on the rescheduling of postponed events will remain ongoing until we have clarity on the global situation.”
And the Tokyo Olympics have been rescheduled for next July 23 to August 8th, meaning we get to do schedule “compaction” all over again next year. Oddly, that tedious topic seems refreshingly quaint these days.
