One of those not shocked by Tuesday’s news was Justin Thomas.

“I think Jay’s made it very clear from the start of what would happen or, you know, I think a lot of people are probably like, I can’t believe you did this or, Wow, you went through with it. But I mean this is what he said was going to happen all along,” Thomas said on Wednesday at TPC Craig Ranch, site of this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson. “It’s one of those things where he just doesn’t want the competing tour, the back and forth.”

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman responded Tuesday evening that the tour is “intent on perpetuating its illegal monopoly of what should be a free and open market” but promised that LIV Golf will continue “no matter what obstacles the PGA Tour puts in our way.” Knowing the battle is just getting started, Thomas said he hoped the tour’s statement would deter some of his fellow competitors from jumping circuits. He also understands there are some that are looking for a change and that “you’re allowed to have that decision, you’re a human being and that’s just a part of it.”

But, to those that are going to jump, Thomas does have one ask.

“You know, it’s like, ‘Look, if you want to go, go,’” Thomas said. “I mean there’s been plenty of guys that have been advocates of it and have just talked it up all the time and they have been guys behind the scenes that are saying, ‘I’m going, I’m doing this.’ And like my whole thing is, like just go then.

“Like stop going back and forth or like you say you’re going to do this, it’s like you can do — everybody’s entitled to do what they want, you know what I mean?” Thomas continued. “Like if I wanted to go play that tour I could go play that tour. But I’m loyal to the PGA Tour and I’ve said that and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for me to, I mean, break records, make history, do a lot of things on the PGA Tour I want to do.”

Thomas was not alone in his assessment Wednesday, with Will Zalatoris echoing similar thoughts.

“I’m on the Player Advisory Council so we’ve had a lot of talks behind closed doors about it. And I think it’s great,” Zalatoris explained. “I mean, look, if you want to do it, no one’s stopping you, but what we have here is pretty good too, considering every week we’re playing for a pretty great purse on pretty great golf courses and considering the benefits that we have off the golf course on top of that it’s pretty tough to beat.

“And purses are only going up here, but on top of that, like I said, no one’s stopping anyone from doing it, but I think everyone agrees that the decision that came out yesterday is the best for the tour.”

Monahan has promised that players who do play in the LIV Golf events risk punishment in the form of a ban or suspension from the PGA Tour. The first LIV Golf event begins June 9.

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The post Justin Thomas to PGA Tour’s LIV Golf hopefuls: ‘If you want to go, go’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

From 2022, the European Tour will become the DP World Tour with the Dubai-based ports operator and global supply chain/logistics provider named as the circuit’s new naming rights partner on Tuesday.

The transformative partnership will see the 2022 Race to Dubai include a minimum of 47 tournaments in 27 countries (an increase of seven events on this season) with each event carrying a minimum prize purse of $2 million. A total of 13 events will boast prize funds in excess of $2 million, including January’s already announced $8 million Rolex Series events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, plus the DP World Tour Championship which will become the circuit’s first “eight-figure” event in 2022 when the purse is bolstered from $9 to $10 million.

Announced on the sidelines of Dubai Expo 2020, officials hailed the deal – reportedly two years in the making – as the European Tour’s largest commercial partnership. It comes on the eve of the circuit’s 50th anniversary in 2022. The extent of DP World’s total financial commitment was not revealed but the tour’s members will play for a record U.S.$140 million in prize money next year. That figure exceeds $200 million once the four major championships and WGC events are added.

Players on the new #DPWorldTour ? pic.twitter.com/KPRN4leMLO

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 10, 2021

Outside of DP World’s now pivotal role, there was further intriguing news for UAE fans with a new event slotted onto the end of what is now a five-event, start of calendar year Middle East swing. It was thought the traditional Oman Open would follow Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Qatar but European Tour CEO Keith Pelley confirmed the UAE event, scheduled for Feb. 17-20, was one of five new events in the UAE, Japan, South Africa and Belgium. There will also be five Rolex Series events with the Genesis Scottish Open and the BMW PGA Championship joining the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

The strategic alliance also kicks in next year with the Scottish Open, as well as the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour, becoming co-sanctioned events. The full 2022 schedule is available here.

A new era, a new season ?
#DPWorldTour

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 9, 2021

A significant aspect of Tuesday’s announcement were video messages from European Tour talisman Rory McIlroy, world No.1 Jon Rahm, reigning Open champion and 2021 Race to Dubai leader Collin Morikawa and DP World ambassador Ian Poulter. Tommy Fleetwood also spoke in person at the media conference in Dubai. How this very public display of support for the DP World Tour will play out for LIV Golf Investments, the Saudi Public Investment Fund-bankrolled investment company planning the aforementioned league, remains to be seem. Whether it will also see increased involvement in regular-season DP World Tour events from the aforementioned players is likewise a moot point although it seems McIlroy and Rahm’s previous rejection of the various Saudi-backed breakaway leagues remains a firm ‘thanks but no thanks.”

The counterargument from LIV Golf Investments will be the $200 investment they have made in 10 “special” Asian Tour events in 2022 – roughly the same amount as the combined 47-event DP World Tour prize-fund including the majors and WGCs. The are also reports of eye-watering purses and appearance-style fees for the mooted breakaway league that would dwarf the figures announced on Tuesday, not to mention innovative new formats.

Still, this was a red-letter day for the European Tour.

“Today’s announcement is undoubtedly a momentous one in the proud history of our Tour,” said Pelley.

Guy Kinnings, Deputy CEO, Ryder Cup Director and Chief Commercial Officer, European Tour group; Keith Pelley, Chief Executive, European Tour group; David Williams, Chairman, European Tour group; Yuvraj Narayan, DP World Group Chief Financial, Strategy and Business Officer; Abdulla Bin Damithan, CEO & Managing Director DP World UAE & Jafza; Daniel van Otterdijk, DP World Chief Communications Officer.

“The launch of the DP World Tour in 2022, coinciding with both of our 50th anniversaries, will herald a new era in global golf, and crucially it will benefit everybody involved – all our players, caddies, fans and partners – as well as making an important contribution to wider society.

“The entire ecosystem of our Tour will be strengthened because of this hugely significant deal, and that was essential to us and to DP World, who have been an incredible supporter of our Tour as well as golf more widely, from grassroots through to the elite professional game.

“The DP World Tour is, therefore, a natural evolution of our decade-long partnership, and the presence of ‘World’ in our new title better reflects our global reach.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan spoke via video link from Houston.

“Thanks to the support of long-standing partner DP World, today’s announcement significantly elevates the European Tour on a global basis,” Monahan said.

“We are excited for the continued growth and evolution of the European Tour, as well as the momentum this provides toward our Strategic Alliance. I’ve said before that our respective Tours are positioned to grow – together – over the next 10 years faster than we ever have at any point in our existence, and today’s announcement is another point of proof in those efforts.”

While light on specifics, Pelley also confirmed a “significant investment” in the second tier Challenge Tour including increased prize funds and improved infrastructure around events such as player lounges and physiotherapy access.

The Challenge Tour’s season-ending event will also be supported by Rolex for the first time with the top five players on the moneylist following the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final to be awarded the newly announced John Jacobs Bursary Award, essentially cash to assist with travel and expenses on the DP World Tour the following season. As with previous seasons, the top 20 players will earn graduation to the DP World Tour.

DP World’s investment will also see an “expansion of the Tour’s ‘Golf for Good’ CSR initiative. This includes a grassroots programme in the UAE and support of the UNICEF’s COVAX Programme and EDGA European Tour.

Introducing the DP World Tour…#DPWorldTour

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 9, 2021

DP World’s association with the European Tour spans more than a decade, first becoming a presenting partner of the European Tour’s Race to Dubai finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates in its inaugural year in 2009, before the Rolex Series event was renamed the DP World Tour Championship in 2012, the same year that DP World became the tournament’s title partner. DP World then became an Official Partner of the European Tour in 2015.

“Our long-standing partnership has provided an excellent platform to engage with customers, prospects, and stakeholders, and build our brand,” said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World.

“We have relished the opportunity to support the Tour in growing the game of golf and improving access to the sport at all levels. The key to this success has been and will continue to be the shared vision and values that underpin the partnership.

“We both have a global mindset, are committed to inclusivity, and invest in new technologies to stay competitive – attributes which today become the fundamental principles of the DP World Tour. As the leading provider of smart logistics solutions worldwide, we will use our people, assets, and connectivity to help grow the Tour further and change what’s possible in golf.”

You can watch Tuesday’s full media conference here:

A Special Announcement ? https://t.co/vAbr85tJr4

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 9, 2021

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By Daniel Rapaport and Dave Shedloski
Expansion on the European front and contraction of the World Golf Championships appear to signal an oncoming shift in the PGA Tour’s schedule dynamic.

The tour released its 2021-22 schedule of 48 events on Tuesday, and as expected, it includes the first of what could be several moves to integrate European Tour events into the lineup as the two tours further lean into the “strategic alliance” they announced in November 2020. The most significant development is the designation of three tournaments, including the Genesis Scottish Open, as co-sanctioned events that award points for both the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai.

Meanwhile, the World Golf Championships series, introduced in 1999, has been whittled to a pair of tournaments: the WGC-HSBC Champions in China (Oct. 28-31), and the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship (March 23-27).

There have been four WGCs on the schedule since 2009: the Champions, Championship, Match Play and Invitational. The Championship has frequently moved locations but has been known as the WGC-Mexico Championship in recent years. It was moved from Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City to The Concession Golf Club in Florida for 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions. There is a “Mexico Championship” on tap for late April, location to be determined, but it becomes a full-field event and does not carry a WGC distinction.

“This is a natural evolution of the men’s professional game as it becomes more global— evidenced by today’s announcement that involves three co-sanctioned events,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said via email. “That said, we’re fully invested in the two World Golf Championships events this season, and we will continue to work with our partners as the global game continues to evolve.”

The Invitational was hosted at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, from 1999-2018, except for the 2002 edition at Sahalee Country Club near Seattle, before moving to TPC Southwind in Memphis, where it has been known as the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. That event, to be called the FedEx St. Jude Championship, becomes the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs (Aug. 11-14), replacing the Northern Trust. The BMW Championship retains its spot as the second playoff event and moves in 2022 to Wilmington Country Club in Delaware. The Tour Championship at East Lake will wrap up the season on Aug. 28.

The future of the WGC series could be complicated by a Saudi-backed group’s recent investment in the Asian Tour, widely seen as the next step in an attempt to shake up the landscape of professional golf that includes a potential rival tour.

The WGCs are put on by the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, and the PGA Tour has taken a firm stance against cooperating with groups that seek to challenge its position at the pinnacle of professional golf. In a related move, the tour, according to a report last week, indicated that it will not grant players event releases for next year’s Saudi International after the European Tour ceased to sanction it on its schedule.

Hector Vivas
A PGA Tour event in Mexico remains on the schedule for next May, but it will not be a World Golf Championships event.

Also notable is the shift of the Puerto Rico Open, which has been played opposite a WGC since its inception in 2008. The event will be held March 3-6 opposite the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. Whether that suggests potential changes to the three invitationals on the schedule—the API, Genesis Invitational and Memorial Tournament—to a further elevated status is unknown. There is no opposite-field event lined up for either of the other two invitationals for 2021-22.

Monahan said that Puerto Rico was scheduled opposite Bay Hill “for logistical reasons,” namely convenience for players competing the previous week at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The CJ Cup (Oct. 14-17) will be played in Las Vegas for the second consecutive year, with the Summit Club taking over hosting duties from Shadow Creek. The event does plan to return to South Korea in the future as the first leg of the three-tournament Asian swing. The Zozo Championship, played at Sherwood Country Club in California last year, will return to Narashino Golf Club outside Tokyo, where Tiger Woods won the inaugural event in 2019. The WGC-HSBC Champions is set to be played the week after, although rapidly evolving COVID situations could impact the status of these international events.

The Scottish Open, a Rolex Series that gains a new title sponsor in Genesis, will feature a field split between PGA Tour and European Tour members. The event has been held at Renaissance Golf Club the week before the Open Championship each of the last three years, and the 2021 edition drew a particularly strong field. In addition, the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship in the U.S. become co-sponsored events. Held in Kentucky, the Barbasol Championship will be played opposite the Scottish Open (July 7-10). The Barracuda Championship, in California, is opposite the 150th playing of the Open Championship at St. Andrews the following week.

Furthermore, the PGA Tour is bolstering the Irish Open by contributing to a near doubling of its prize money to $6 million in 2022, though that event has yet to establish its dates or venue, nor will it be co-sanctioned.

“It’s an important first step,” said Keith Pelley, European Tour chief executive. “You’ll hear me say this over and over again—it’s a first step. There is much more to come from this alliance.”

Ben Jared
Given the PGA Tour’s strategic alliance with the European Tour, Monahan noted the potential for announcements in the near future regarding the continued evolution of the PGA Tour schedule.

“Today’s announcement shows not only the growth of the game, but also how professional golf is collaborating like never before,” Monahan said. “The Strategic Alliance between the PGA Tour and European Tour has been a material, positive step forward in those efforts. … We continue to work diligently with the stakeholders in global professional golf and look forward to more announcements on that front.”

The tour’s nine-year media agreement with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN kicks in at the beginning of 2022. The deal, valued at $680 million per year, marks a 40-plus percent increase from the prior deal. CBS and NBC will continue to broadcast weekend PGA Tour events, but ESPN will take over the direct-to-consumer streaming rights and broadcast PGA Tour Live through its ESPN+ offering.

Multiple sources tell Golf Digest that more changes could be coming in 2023, including a re-examining of the tour’s wraparound schedule that’s been in place since 2013-14.

“The PGA Tour is constantly assessing how to strengthen its schedule and professional golf in the United States and around the world,” Monahan said when asked about the potential for a return to a calendar-based schedule. “As we continue to work with key stakeholders and stewards of the game, we also look forward to announcements in the near future on how our product will continue to evolve and best serve our members and fans around the world.”

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By Brian Wacker
Rory McIlroy has long been one of golf’s most-respected players and often a voice of reason within the sport. Now his input could have even greater impact.

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour announced that McIlroy has been elected by his peers as chairman of the tour’s Player Advisory Council for 2021, beating out Russell Knox and Kevin Streelman.

McIlroy, 31, who counts four major championships among his 18 PGA Tour titles, will serve a one-year term in the role then succeed Jordan Spieth as a player director on the tour’s Policy Board for three years beginning in 2022. When McIlroy assumes the role of player director next year, it will mark the first time that an international player has served on the tour’s Policy Board since its inception in 1969.

The role of the 16-member PAC is to consult and advise the tour’s Policy Board and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan on matters concerning the tour.

Last November, the tour announced that the 2020 PAC would extend its term through to the end of this year because of the role it played during the COVID-19 pandemic. The other members of the PAC in addition to Knox, Streelman and McIlroy are Ryan Armour, Paul Casey, David Hearn, Harry Higgs, Billy Horschel, Zach Johnson, Anirban Lahiri, Peter Malnati, Ryan Palmer, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Harold Varner III and Johnson Wagner.

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By Joel Beall
A return to normalcy remains in the distance, yet it’s a distance that’s now visible thanks to the beginning phases of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Officials with the PGA Tour sees this horizon as well, understanding the ramifications it could bring to their business and the sport.

However, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, while encouraged by the developments of the medical community to combat the pandemic, is preaching patience when it comes to assimilating fans—at least in large numbers—back into the tour experience.

“It really is hard to predict at this point what that will be,” Monahan said Thursday morning, speaking at a virtual roundtable discussion. “I think you’ll just see a slow and steady increase in the number of fans that we have on-site, but again, we won’t be the sole arbiter in that. Any steps that we take we’ll be doing in concert with our partners in the local communities where we play.”

The effort to reintroduce galleries at tour events has already started, with the Bermuda Championship and Vivint Houston Open allowing a limited number of fans onto tournament sites. But spectators will be almost non-existent on the West Coast Swing, with most tournaments limiting attendance to VIPs. The Waste Management Phoenix Open is the outlier, as tournament officials are planning on 8,000 fans per day.

“Obviously there’s just a great deal of uncertainty as we go into 2021, and that’s directly connected to COVID,” Monahan said. “I think a lot of businesses right now, given the uncertainty, you’ve really got to be focused on executing the business, and really, to me, the challenge is the opportunity because our sport right now, there’s such momentum behind our sport.”

Monahan said the tour operates in six-to-eight week windows, which is why plans have not been released for the Florida part of the schedule come March. Still, Monahan said the aspiration is to continue the path the tour is on, which includes playing pro-ams and hosting corporate hospitality at tournaments.

“The way I look at it is that we’re on this path to getting back to normalcy, and each one of these steps is really positive,” Monahan said. “When I talk to our players, those steps are noticeable to them, and they’ve fully embraced it, all the while taking the responsibilities associated with the health and safety protocols very, very seriously.”

The vaccination, or lack thereof, could be a challenge facing the tour in 2021. Monahan said he will not be mandating players or those who attend tournaments get vaccinated for COVID-19. More important to him is how the phases of vaccination are executed across the country, as that will help the tour understand how to operate its health and safety protocols and how they may apply to having fans on tournament properties.

“I think vaccination is a choice, and we’re going to do—I think we would apply the same logic and the same amount of care to that subject as we have to every other subject, and that is to try and do our best to educate our members on vaccination and the pros and cons associated with it,” Monahan said. “But ultimately it’s an individual decision.”

RELATED: What’s the status of the men’s majors/Ryderr Cup heading into 2021?

Other news from the roundtable included the Memorial Tournament signing a 10-year title sponsorship with Workday, plans for a San Francisco tour event are likely on hold for the foreseeable future, and that the WGC-Mexico Championship, slated for Feb. 25-28 in Mexico City, is up in the air.

“Yeah, we’re continuing to work with our partners in Mexico City, Grupo Salinas and the Mexico City authorities, and we’re continuing to do everything we can to execute the WGC-Mexico event,” Monahan said. “But we still have more work to do on that front.”

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By Brian Wacker
ATLANTA — The PGA Tour has gone from a 2019-’20 season crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, to what it is calling a “super season” made up of 50 tournaments, including six majors, for its 2020-’21 campaign.

Its full slate for next season, announced on Wednesday at the Tour Championship by Commissioner Jay Monahan, includes 14 tournaments that were either postponed or cancelled in 2020 because of coronavirus.

Among them are the U.S. Open, which was rescheduled from June and will be held in two weeks at Winged Foot Golf Club, and the Masters, postponed from April to November. The schedule also includes the men’s Olympic competition, which was originally slated for this summer.

“If you’re a golf fan, this is a dream season with more significant events than ever before. What more can you ask for?” Monahan said in his annual state-of-the-tour gathering with the media, his first in-person press conference since the season was put on pause in March.

The 50 tournaments are the most in a season on tour since 1975, when it had 51.

The 2020-’21 season will begin next week at the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., followed by the U.S. Open, Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, Sanderson Farms Championship and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

From there, the CJ Cup and Zozo Championship, both originally scheduled to be played in Asia, will instead be held at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas and Sherwood Country Club outside Los Angeles, respectively.

Other notable changes include the Bermuda Championship, scheduled for Nov. 26-29 in the week after the Zozo, being elevated to full FedEx Cup point status after the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, originally slated for the same week, was officially cancelled earlier this week. Likewise, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship also will be played with full points available.

Meanwhile, as previously reported, the tour’s Florida swing has been reconfigured with the Honda Classic moving to the week after the Players Championship, March 18-21, while the Valspar Championship moves to the first week of May, after the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Five new venues will also be featured in the 2020-21 season: Shadow Creek and Sherwood; Memorial Park (Houston Open); TPC Craig Ranch (AT&T Byron Nelson) and Caves Valley Golf Club, outside Baltimore (BMW Championship).

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By John Feinstein
Although the PGA Tour has been able to pull off a restart to its 2020 schedule during the past six weeks, the rest of the year remains in flux.

Last week’s Memorial Tournament was supposed to be the first event to allow fans to return. This week’s 3M Open outside Minneapolis, at one point, was going to be allowed to take the step of staging pro-ams and having some corporate hospitality. The spike in the COVID-19 pandemic forced the tour to call off the fans and the pro-ams. And earlier last week, the remaining events on the tour schedule through Labor Day weekend’s Tour Championship also announced they will be held without either.

There is also the issue of the three events that had been scheduled to be played in Asia in October: the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges in South Korea, the Zozo Championship in Japan and the WGC-HSBC Champions in China. According to sources at the tour, it is virtually certain that none of those events will be played in Asia, although the first two are likely to be moved to sites in the United States.

Given the restrictions in international travel, few players were going to risk travelling to or from Asia in October. “It isn’t just about getting there, it’s the possibility of being quarantined and being stuck there for a period of time,” one source said. “With the way the pandemic has been trending here, the chances that we could make the events happen even if players were willing to go isn’t great right now.”

The tour’s initial plan, according to sources, was to play the CJ Cup and the Zozo in Las Vegas because those events come immediately after the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open already scheduled for TPC Summerlin. That could create a three-week bubble in the same city—perhaps at the same golf course. But with Las Vegas being one of the areas hard hit by the recent COVID-19 spike, moving both of the Asia events to other cities is now an increased possibility.

The event in China almost certainly won’t be played for a number of reasons. China has announced it is cancelling all sporting events for the rest of the year except for trials leading to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. And HSBC wouldn’t want to play the event anywhere without its defending champion, Rory McIlroy. It was highly unlikely that McIlroy would chance taking a trip to China two weeks before the rescheduled Masters in November. Even if the HSBC were to be moved to the United States, it’s unclear whether McIlroy or other big names would enter that close to the Masters, which now comes near the end of what will be an active summer and fall for most players.

Zozo’s defending champion is Tiger Woods. The tournament is scheduled for three weeks out from the Masters and, if it is played in the U.S., the chances of Woods playing are much greater. “They might just call Tiger and say, ‘Tell us where you want to play,’ and go there,” one player said. “As long as he enters, they’ll be happy.”

With the Asia events still three months away, sources say the tour is holding off on any final decisions on where to play until it has secured courses and consulted with the players. The latter hasn’t happened yet. “I’ve been on a lot of conference calls about all sort of issues the last couple of months, but Asia hasn’t come up yet,” said Charley Hoffman, chairman of the Players Advisory Council [PAC]. “I’m sure they want to get their ducks in a row before they bring it up to us.”

Kyodo News
Tiger Woods celebrates after winning the 2019 Zozo Championship.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was no more transparent with the media when asked about the Asian tournaments this week than the tour has apparently been with the players.

“We have three great partners in Asia in Zozo, CJ and HSBC, and we’re well aware of some of the challenges that we have in every market that we’re playing, and we’re working through those challenges with our partners,” Monahan said during a Wednesday press conference at the Memorial. “At this point I don’t have anything to offer other than that, but as soon as we’ve been able to determine what our answers are going to be, you guys will be the first to know.”

More pressing than Asia is the tour’s decision to continue to not allow fans, play pro-ams or have corporate hospitality at any tournaments. Sponsors put up millions to get TV exposure first and foremost, but also to entertain corporate clients. One sponsor, John Deere, pulled out for this year, but the tour had Workday willing to jump in on short notice. Workday will apparently be rewarded next year with a fall event, according to reports, most likely to be played in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Monahan was asked about the fall and when fans might be allowed back to tournaments, and was cautious in his response.

“We’re spending a lot of time in each of the subsequent tournaments, or each of the tournaments in the fall, working on a number of different ways to stage the event, which includes full capacity, partial capacity and obviously the way that we’re operating now, which is no spectators,” Monahan said. “And that will be largely dependent on what we hear from the communities where we play.”

Warren Little
Bryson DeChambeau walks with his pro-am group in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club

Other sponsors are accepting their fate of fanless events in the near term for several reasons: They know that the tour’s carefulness is understandable, the tour has picked up the entire tab for purses since play started again, and the tour is apparently in a position to cover full purses at least until the end of the calendar year, if need be. Normally the tour pays for half of each week’s purse.

“You have to understand, they went 10 weeks without paying out purses, so they’re a little more flush than usual,” one source said. “Plus, they have an emergency fund that they can use, and their new TV deal [starting in 2022] will give them a 70 percent boost overall. You add that all up, and they’re in pretty good shape, even if this lasts a while longer.”

Equally important to the local tournament organizations, the tour has also pitched in to make sure the charities that normally receive money from the events are still getting their normal donations, or close to those numbers.

There’s no plan, at least for the moment, to alter purses for players. “If you get into next year and things haven’t changed, then they’d have to look at cutting purses,” said one source. “For now, though, the players are loving life. Full purses, no pro-ams, no corporate appearances, no autographs and almost no media. What could be more perfect for them?”

The players know that this isn’t a format that can survive long-term, however. “We understand the importance of pro-ams and corporate hospitality for the sponsors,” Hoffman said. “And we certainly understand the importance of the sponsors. When we can play pro-ams, we’ll be ready to play them. But I don’t blame the tour for being cautious.”

For now, the new norm will be the norm. Players and their corporate sponsors go to Asia every fall because there is lots of product to sell there. For this year, though, those trips won’t be happening.

Never in the history of sports has the old Brooklyn Dodgers rallying cry, “Wait ’til next year,” had more meaning.

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By Brian Wacker
Following a second PGA Tour player testing positive for COVID-19 at a tournament, the tour is updating its safety and health protocols, per an email obtained by Golf Digest.

On Tuesday, Cameron Champ tested positive for coronavirus. He was the second player to test positive in five days on tour, following Nick Watney’s positive result in Hilton Head prior to the second round at RBC Heritage. Graeme McDowell also withdrew from the Travelers, as his caddie—who did not travel to Connecticut—tested positive for coronavirus.

In an email to players on Wednesday morning, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has outlined changes to the circuit’s safety measures.

“While we have been thorough in developing and implementing our comprehensive health and safety plan for our Return to Golf, we need to use these developments as a wake-up call as well,” Monahan said in the email. “As a Tour, we continue to learn from an operational standpoint and are making several adjustments.”

Those adjustments include the following:

• Going forward, those who travel via the tour-procured charter will be subject to the arrival testing procedures (nasal swab), in addition to the pre-charter test.

• Player instructors will be added to the on-site testing protocol (i.e. “the bubble”).

• Beginning next week, the tour-sponsored fitness trailer will be on-site in an effort to further control the environment where players interact (i.e. you would be discouraged from going to off-site gyms., etc.); additionally, all occupants of the fitness trailer will be required to wear a face-covering for the entirety of their time in the trailer.

• The tour’s stipend policy has been updated to specify that a player will not be eligible if he has tested positive for COVID-19 after not following the safety protocols outlined in our Participant Resource Guide.

Monahan also emphasized that the onus falls on those involved, saying, “We need you to do your part,” the email said. “To further reinforce what was communicated in the letter you received last night from PAC Chairman Charley Hoffman and your Player Directors, you MUST adhere to our safety protocols to minimise the risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19.

“As a reminder, practice social distancing; do not access the clubhouse or other indoor facilities on site until you have received your negative test results; no fist bumps or high fives; wear a mask if/when social distancing is not possible; keep your interaction with others—both at the course and otherwise—to a minimum.”

Failure to comply, Monahan continued, will result in disciplinary action.

The post PGA Tour making adjustments to protocols following second positive player test for COVID-19 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — On Friday morning, sleepless and haggard PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said there were two main factors that led to him reversing course and cancelling the Players Championship late the previous night.

The first involved players coming off the course after the opening round with questions about everything from logistics to safety issues related to the growing COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, European players were asking about how they would be able to get home or how they would be able to get their families to the United States.

“Our players are always vocal, and we were proactive in trying to share with them our thinking over the course of the day and as they came off the golf course and late into the evening,” Monahan said. “There were some players that were concerned. That’s something that we took into consideration and took very seriously.”

The second major factor in the decision was the news that the Disney theme parks and Universal Studios in nearby Orlando were shutting down. Monahan said he weighed that information, along with continued dialogue with local and government health officials, in making the decision to ultimately pull the plug on the event and all PGA Tour tournaments through the Valero Texas Open.

“That was the final thing that we had heard that said, you know what, even though we feel like we have a safe environment and we’ve done all the right things, we can’t proceed, and it’s not right to proceed,” he said. “Those two things together were really the things that drove the decision.”

Still, it didn’t come easily or quickly. The Players is the tour’s flagship event, and while other sports leagues continued to shut down, golf moved forward at TPC Sawgrass, where spectators were allowed to attend the first round on Thursday before it was announced that there would be no fans for the remaining three rounds.

Then late Thursday night, players were informed via text message that the tournament would not continue and shortly afterwards the tour released a statement announcing the news.

“This is our Super Bowl,” Monahan said on Friday. “This is the biggest event of the year for us, and we’re here and we’re playing it. You know, unlike a lot of other decisions that are being made, they’re being made in the weeks to come. And we just felt like, you know what, given all those factors, it was time to move on.”

When the PGA Tour will resume its season is unknown. There is no definitive timetable for playing again, and on Friday morning Augusta National also announced that it was postponing this year’s Masters.

“I would say give us a little bit of time,” Monahan said. “We’ve made the decision, we’re stepping back, we’re not playing. We’ve communicated that with all of our tournaments in the markets coming up. And I think we need to do a couple things right now.

“As we step back and we think about when we’re going to play, we need to do all the things that led us to this decision. We need to continue to understand what’s happening on the ground in the markets where we would be returning to play, continue to work with our partners in those markets, continue to understand what’s happening with the CDC and the World Health Organization, and then ultimately that will guide our decision. We’re going to make sure that we protect the safety and well-being of all of our constituents as we make that decision.”

On Friday, Monahan said he wasn’t aware of any player, caddie or staff member that had contracted coronavirus. He also said the tour would proceed as if it would resume business at the RBC Heritage, which begins April 16, but declined to elaborate what the specific process would be in determining when the season would resume.

“I’m a fighter,” Monahan said. “I wanted to fight for our players and our fans and for the Tour to show how golf can unify and inspire. But as the situation continued to escalate and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, and not if, we would need to call it a day.”

The post Why the PGA Tour changed its thinking and cancelled its tournaments appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — While other professional sports leagues and the NCAA have quickly moved to cancel events due to the coronavirus, the show went on at the Players Championship. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan made the announcement on Thursday afternoon at TPC Sawgrass, the only stipulation being that the tour’s flagship event will be closed to fans for the final three rounds.

C.T. Pan, who was set to tee off on Thursday at 2:06 p.m., didn’t take any chances, opting to withdraw from the event just hours before his tee time. Fellow tour pro Zac Blair sent out a tweet during Monahan’s press conference that read “NBA suspended, ATP suspended, MLS suspended…,” the implication being that the PGA Tour was not taking the coronavirus as seriously as other sports.

Pan is taking it very seriously, at least judging by his response to Blair on Twitter:

Exactly

— Zac Blair (@z_blair) March 12, 2020

Pan then followed up with this statement:

Please see my statement for WD from @THEPLAYERSChamp pic.twitter.com/GZIomUDh91

— C.T. Pan (@ctpangolf) March 12, 2020

This means Pan made the decision to leave this morning, well before his tee time and well before the tour announced the Players Championship would continue without fans. While he didn’t specify a reason for his withdrawal, a later, now-deleted tweet indicated it was out of safety concerns. “I’m probably the only one who is not playing,” wrote Pan, adding, “same number as the hand sanitizers in the clubhouse, locker and dining.”

Pan also sent this tweet after Monahan’s statement was released:

??? https://t.co/1XKtYzpeYT

— C.T. Pan (@ctpangolf) March 12, 2020

He’s not the only player to withdraw, though he does appear to be the only one to do so over the coronavirus. Louis Oosthuizen pulled the plug on the eighth tee, citing a shoulder injury. Because Pan withdrew before teeing off, Brendan Steele, the first alternate, is now in the field.

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