The Memorial Tournament may learn its 2020 fate later this week, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
But tournament director Dan Sullivan on vehemently disputed a reporter’s tweet that the PGA Tour will push the event to mid-June – with no spectators allowed at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Sullivan did stress, however, that the Memorial is “doing everything in its power to make sure it is postponed and not canceled” because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday morning, Joel Beall of Golf Digest posted on Twitter that the PGA Tour “will begin mid June, with no fans, at (the) Memorial.” By late Monday afternoon, however, Beall said the tour’s thinking had evolved, so a story he co-wrote and was posted on the magazine’s website included no details regarding the Memorial.
Within an hour of the tweet, the tour released a revised schedule of major championships that matched the report sent out by numerous outlets.
Regarding the resumption of play on the PGA Tour, however, Sullivan shot down part of that initial report.
“(The reporter) has it wrong … he is inaccurate on his information relating to the Memorial Tournament,” Sullivan said.
The PGA Tour also called the initial report inaccurate, adding that news about the fate of the Memorial and many other tournaments is being held up by many moving parts.
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It does appear almost certain the Memorial will be bumped from its current date of June 4-7. Depending on further fallout from COVID-19, which already has prompted the tour to cancel tournaments through the original PGA Championship dates of May 14-17, it is possible the Memorial could remain in June.
A source said it’s also possible the tour was considering moving the Memorial into the slot vacated by the British Open, scheduled for July 16-19.
The British Open was canceled for the first time since 1945. Royal St. George’s, on England’s southeastern coast, will host the tournament in 2021, with St. Andrew’s set to host the 150th Open in 2022.