"Pro golfers among foreign athletes now cleared for travel into U.S."
/GolfChannel.com’s Brentley Romine reports on a Department of Homeland Security order announced late Friday paving the way for international athletes to travel to the United States amidst travel bans from their home countries.
“Professional sporting events provide much needed economic benefits, but equally important, they provide community pride and national unity,” Wolf wrote. “In today’s environment, Americans need their sports. It’s time to reopen the economy and it’s time we get our professional athletes back to work.”
The sports leagues mentioned in the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement included the PGA Tour and LPGA, which each have a significant number of members who reside outside of the U.S. The exception also includes the various leagues’ essential staff, leadership and dependents, as well as athletes’ family members.
While the order certainly clears one major hurdle for upcoming scheduled golf tournaments, the next layer involves players and their willingness to actually travel.
So far, Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari and Lee Westwood have all made clear they are not eager to jump on a plane and quarantine for 14 days on either side of the Atlantic.
Players will need to be in the United States by Monday or Tuesday 25th or 26th if they intend to quarantine for 14-days and also play a Charles Schwab practice round at Colonial.
Meanwhile as many elements remain unclear, Rex Hoggard reports that player travel between events will be on a 737 with 114 seats available. Guess all those bigger planes are too busy aging in the desert to be used.