By Joel Beall
The PGA Championship will be played at TPC Harding Park in 2020. But it will be played without fans.

The news, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle last week, was confirmed by the PGA of America on Monday. According to the PGA, the decision was made in coordination with the state of California and the city and county of San Francisco.

“We are both inspired and honoured to ‘play on,’” said PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh in a statement. “In doing so, we will spotlight not only the beauty of TPC Harding Park, but the fortitude of San Francisco and its remarkable people. We’d like to thank the state of California and the city and county of San Francisco for being terrific partners in helping us get to this place. While the local community cannot be with us physically on-site, we will certainly carry their spirit of resilience and unity with us as we stage our major championship, on their behalf, for all the world to see and enjoy.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has seesawed on the prospect of crowds at sporting events, expressing pessimism towards the idea in April but reversing course in late May. However, after initially containing the virus in spring, California has seen a dramatic uptick in positive COVID-19 cases since the state’s reopening phases. On Saturday alone, the state reported more than 4,300 new cases. Overall, only New York has more total reported cases than California.

In its statement, the PGA of America said those who purchased tickets directly from the PGA will be contacted for refunds.

The 2020 PGA Championship is scheduled to begin Aug. 6. Brooks Koepka is looking to win the Wanamaker Trophy for a third consecutive year.

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“Everyone wants fans to be there, but the question is does sport need the Ryder Cup and should the Ryder Cup take one for the team?” Harrington, a three-time major champion, told The Times.

“Would it be for the greater good of sport? It wouldn’t be in the Ryder Cup’s best interests, but it could be in the best interests of enough people who want to see a big sporting occasion on TV.”

The Ryder Cup is scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Unlike the four major championships—three of which have been moved to later dates, while the Open Championship has been cancelled for this year—the Cup has remained in its originally scheduled date despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The comments represent something of a departure from Harrington’s stance just a few weeks ago, when he told BBC Radio that there was virtually no chance of a Cup without fans.

“There’s no doubt that [the crowd] makes the tournament so much better,” Harrington said at that time. “I think the common consensus now is the Ryder Cup will not be played unless the fans are there.”

In his more recent interview with The Times, Harrington also seemed to roll back his initial suggestion for allowing each captain to pick all 12 players for his team, given the truncated nature of this golf season and its effect on the qualification process. He told The Times there is “no scenario” in which that happens.

What, then, could explain his reversals? Perhaps it’s the plight of the European Tour, which co-hosts the Ryder Cup along with the PGA of America and relies on the biennial event for a great deal of revenue. The Tour has not announced a formal plan for re-starting its schedule, and CEO Keith Pelley has warmed to players that the coronavirus pandemic will have a “profound impact on the tour financially.” A delay in the Ryder Cup schedule, and the potential revenue it brings in, could make matters even worse.

Last week, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh acknowledged the possibility of staging the event without fans.

“We have begun to talk about whether you could create some virtual fan experience, and we’re going to try to be as creative as we can,” Waugh told WFAN. “It’s [still] to be determined, frankly, whether you could hold it without fans or not.”

Should the Ryder Cup go forward without fans, it would do so despite multiple star players (and likely Ryder Cup participants) speaking out against the idea.

“A Ryder Cup without fans, it’s not a Ryder Cup,” said World No. 1 Rory McIlroy last week in an Instagram Live session with TaylorMade. “For me, I’d much rather they delay it until 2021 than play it at Whistling Straits without fans.

“That’s from a European, going to America, knowing that I’m going to get abuse. Obviously it would be better for Europeans to play without fans because we wouldn’t deal with some of the stuff that you have to put up with, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be a great spectacle. There would be no atmosphere. So if it came to whether they had to choose between not playing the Ryder Cup or playing it without fans, I would say just delay it a year.”

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By Joel Beall
The Ryder Cup is exploring a spectator-less event, according to PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh.

Talking on Sunday to New York’s WFAN, Waugh said while “it’s hard to imagine one without fans” and that “the fans are the Ryder Cup, to a certain degree” he acknowledged his organisation is discussing that prospect for the biennial match, set to visit Wisconsin in late September.

“We have begun to talk about whether you could create some virtual fan experience, and we’re going to try to be as creative as we can,” Waugh told WFAN. “It’s [still] to be determined, frankly, whether you could hold it without fans or not.”

Last Thursday the PGA Tour announced that fans would be barred from the first four events when its season restarts in June. And Waugh made similar comments regarding the PGA Championship, saying the event could be held without fans or maybe moved from San Francisco to another site.

Still, those events, Waugh argued, are not quite the same when it comes to crowds.

“All of them are better with fans,” he said, “and I’m not suggesting it doesn’t change the experience, but in the Ryder Cup it’s particularly important. We’ll be very careful about that. It’s a very unique thing.”

The Ryder Cup is of critical financial importance to both the PGA of America and European Tour, and postponing the event until 2021 could have major implications on both institutions. Moreover, the Euro Tour remains without a return date, its tournaments cancelled and postponed through July. Last Friday Commissioner Keith Pelley warned things could be radically different when the tour does come back.

The 2020 Ryder Cup is scheduled to begin Sept. 25 at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis. The Europeans are the defending champs.

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