Commissioner Jay Monahan said Friday one thing is critical for the PGA Tour to resume play in mid-June.
Testing for the coronavirus.
“We need to have widespread, large-scale testing across our country. We are going to need to test players, caddies and other constituents before we return,” Monahan said on NBC Sports Networks “Lunch Time Live” hosted by Mike Tirico. “But we need to do so in a way that’s not going to take away from the critical need that we are currently facing. But we feel confident based on the advice we are getting from medical experts that we will be in that position.
“We’re thinking about what it’s going to take in advance of a player getting on property, to every single movement that a player or a caddie might have over the course of the week and thinking about what can we do to make that the safest environment possible.”
Monahan said Tirico was the last person he talked with before leaving TPC Sawgrass March 13 after The Players Championship was canceled and the PGA Tour was silenced due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Since then, Monahan and his team have been in daily contact with multiple golf organizations including the U.S. Golf Association, the PGA of America and the R&A, as well as the PGA Tour’s player advisory council, to work on a way forward.
On Thursday, the PGA Tour announced an ambitious schedule for the rest of 2020, with the Charles Schwab Challenge June 11-14 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, set as the hopeful restart. If the schedule plays out, 36 events – down from 49 – will be played in the 2019-2020 season.
“It’s wonderful to see the sport come together in challenging times,” Monahan said. “Everybody had to give a little to get to a point where we had the best possible product when we do return and I feel quite confident that across the board that’s what we have been able to accomplish. “We are spending a lot of time relying on experts in identifying the resources we need to come back in a safe and responsible way. This is as important as the schedule itself.”
The first four events on the new schedule will be played without spectators. Monahan and his team have been working with the host organizations in the four market places. The host organizations, Monahan said, have strong relationships at the mayor and governor levels and rely on their direction.
“In announcing the schedule we have been very thoughtful working with our host organizations to make certain they are comfortable with us resuming without fans on those dates given the facts as we know them today,” Monahan said. “As we go forward, we’re going to be very open-minded and really lean in and try and understand what’s happening on the ground in those market places.
“We’re hopeful we’re going to return and play those four events without spectators, but we’re also highly aware that that could change. But we really felt that it was important to be able to set a starting point so our players can get ready and our fans can feel inspired. But the No. 1 goal here is that when we return, we are doing it in the safest and most responsible manner possible.”
Revised 2019-20 PGA Tour schedule
• June 11-14: Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas*
• June 18-21: RBC Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina*
• June 25-28: Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut*
• July 2-5: Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit*
• July 9-12: John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois
• July 16-19: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
• July 23-26: 3M Open, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota
• July 30-August 2: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
• July 30-August 2: Barracuda Championship, Tahoe Mountain Club (Old Greenwood), Truckee, California
• August 6-9: PGA Championship, TPC Harding Park, San Francisco
• August 13-16: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
• August 20-23: The Northern Trust, TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts
• August 27-30: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields Country Club (North), Olympia Fields, Illinois
• Sept. 4-7: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta
Tournaments marked * are currently scheduled to be played without fans.
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