Professional golf in the United States has been the one sport slowly advancing toward normalcy within the coronavirus pandemic, but the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, could not find a home in an abbreviated golf season and was formally canceled on Thursday.
Conversations about moving the tournament off its original weekend of June 5-7 at University Ridge Golf Course began during the Players Championship, which was canceled on March 12.
As talks progressed over the last month, the PGA Tour provided alternate dates for the tournament in June, July and August but logistical issues prevented the tournament from finding a date that worked for all parties involved in a reschedule.
American Family Insurance’s corporate initiatives for the rest of 2020, along with golf course availability, sponsor requirements, volunteer availability and operational partners all had to align for a new date to be picked.
“When you take a look at all those factors combined, ultimately there was not one date that ultimately landed because one date ultimately had a conflict of one of those varying factors,” tournament director Nate Pokrass said on a video conference call Thursday afternoon. “When you piece that all together, unfortunately just the options to reschedule weren’t available. As we look for a safe and healthy environment and still have that philanthropic impact, this cancellation allows us to go down that path.”
Ticket or pro-am purchases can be refunded, deferred to 2021 or turned into a donation to tournament charities.
In a video message, tournament host and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker said, “It was not an easy decision by any means. We know how much this event means to the community, the fans, the volunteers and the sponsors. We all look forward to it. Even the golfers, we look froward to it.
“But given the mandates and the orders to stay at home, the social distancing, we all know what they are, we just felt like it was in the best interest of everybody – and the safety of everybody – to cancel this year’s event.”
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and in collaboration with the @ChampionsTour, we are canceling all 2020 #AmFamChamp activities scheduled for May 30-June 7. Full statement: https://t.co/PrI898Llj6
Please watch this message from our host, @SteveStricker. pic.twitter.com/kCgm0BWRDo
— #AmFamChamp (@amfamchamp) April 16, 2020
The tournament announced $2.8 million would be donated to charities, with $1 million to the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, $800,000 to the local charities from the 2019 event and $1 million to the COVID-19 relief effort in Wisconsin.
Stricker also announced the dates of the 2021 tournament, which will be June 10-13.
Since its inception in 2016, the tournament has gained prestige among players and has won the tour’s President’s Award in back-to-back years for “demonstrating outstanding achievement” for charitable giving, sales, attendance and economic impact.
In 2019, an event won by Madison native Jerry Kelly, 70,000-plus fans filled the golf course. The tournament said its estimated economic impact was about $15 million.
The BoDeans and Little Big Town were slated to play the annual tournament-opening concert June 5. They will be the acts for the 2021 tournament instead.
Earlier on Thursday, the PGA Tour announced its intention to begin its schedule on June 11-14 without fans in attendance at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. It also released its fall schedule while noting it would address future PGA Tour Champions dates in the coming weeks.
With the cancellation of the AmFam Championship, there are no PGA Tour Champions Tour events on the schedule until the second week of July.
“The tour has been a great partner in this process and they’ve looked at and explored a lot of different options with us and somewhat of our timing (of the cancellation) was done in partnership with the PGA (Tour),” American Family community and social impact officer Jim Buchheim said in the video call. “It did allow them to get through some of their (scheduling) announcements (Thursday) morning. That’s why we’re timed the way that we are today. I think we have a good partnership there and that’s continued throughout this challenging process.”
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