PGA Tour Plans To Announce Mid-June Return Date
Apr 15, 2020, 9:12 AM | Updated: 9:12 am
A general view of the 18th hole is seen after the cancellation of the The PLAYERS Championship and consecutive PGA Tour events through April 5th,2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic as seen at the TPC Stadium course on March 13, 2020 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The PGA Tour is expected to make an announcement regarding the return of the 2020 PGA Tour Season following a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first tournament back will be The Charles Schwab Challenge that will start on June 11 and run through June 14, according to Golf Digest.
BREAKING: The PGA Tour will announce this week that it plans to resume its season June 11-14 at Colonial, according to multiple sources. Here is what the schedule is expected to look like when it gets released: https://t.co/J9v1ey9eEU
— Brian Wacker (@brianwacker1) April 15, 2020
There will be no fans allowed at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas as the PGA Tour will still take many precautions and safety measures to help limit the spread of COVID-19. It is also expected that for multiple events following the Charles Schwab Challenge spectators will not be present.
On Tuesday, earlier this week, it has been reported that the PGA Tour and the Players Advisory Panel discussed the upcoming expected announcement while also coming to an agreement on how the events will be held.
PGA CEO Seth Waugh recently stated that “if the safest and/or the only way to [hold the PGA] is to do it without fans, we’re fully prepared to do that,” Waugh said. “We believe that having it as a television event is worth doing regardless of whether there’s fans there or not.”
Waugh continued to add that the world is “itching for some entertainment” and that the game of golf “already implements social distancing as it is played over acres of land.”
.@PGA CEO Seth Waugh currently has 3 plans for the @PGAChampionship scheduled August 6th-9th at @TPCHardingPark:
Plan A) Hold it as normal with fans
Plan B) Hold it as normal without fans
Plan C) Stage it at another site pic.twitter.com/uc6CeT5vPf— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) April 14, 2020
Last week, the Tour sent players a memo saying that it was targeting a return at Colonial. However, the Charles Schwab Challenge was originally scheduled for May 21-24. That date has since been pushed back in order to accommodate the Tour’s hope of having as many events as possible.
The Tour also has an open date following the Charles Schwab Challenge and there have been rumors that we may see our first Major Tournament late in June after rumblings started surfacing that the PGA will hold the PGA Championship during that time slot. The U.S. Open was originally scheduled to take place from June 18-21 but has been postponed until September.
Tom Hackett is a Utah and Real Salt Lake Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the It’s Utah’s World Podcast (Utah Football themed) and The Lion’s Den Podcast (Real Salt Lake themed). Follow him on Twitter: @TomCantHackett.
