Covering golf, at every level and on every tour, in 2020 was unlike anything our writers have experienced. Through the end of the year, our staff is looking back on what will forever stand out from the season of COVID – a season during which every aspect of the game we love was impacted by a global pandemic.
They remain haunting reminders of a year we’d like to forget.
Empty economy parking lots at airports.
It’s an image that first shook me as I headed to Ohio in July for a PGA Tour doubleheader at Muirfield Village, my first flight in five months. Already a tad on the uneasy side given COVID-19, nearly four months of quarantine and the potential risks undertaken on the ground and in the sky, seeing the massive, vacant economy parking lots at Jacksonville (Florida) International Airport was another unsettling, sobering sign the world was off kilter.
From Ohio to San Francisco to Las Vegas to Los Angeles to Chicago to Atlanta, the barren lots have yet to shed their vacuity and grim impact. Nor has the acreage of fan-less viewing sites at tournaments. Birdies and eagles are still met with silence. Conversations between player and caddie can still be heard from 30 yards away.
More than six months after the Tour returned in June following a 13-week break due to the global pandemic, the new world order remains as the traveling circus moves about North America – one consisting of masks, protective bubbles, COVID-19 tests, temperature checks, social distancing, Zoom calls, sparse media centers, elbow bumps and air hugs, sanitizing wipes, abundant hand washing, takeout orders and Uber Eats.
It has become a world of adaption, and the PGA Tour was up to the challenge. From the get-go after the COVID-19 shutdown – which began on Friday the 13th of March – the Tour adapted quickly and quite impressively. A disturbing scare in Hilton Head at the RBC Heritage the second week back, where spring break was raging along with the coronavirus to form an appalling twosome, was among the reasons PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan flew north from Florida to the Travelers Championship in Connecticut the following week to read the riot act to players and caddies. Monahan’s words did not fall on deaf ears as the players and caddies fully bought in and safety measures to combat the infectious predator were taken seriously and have been actively followed.
With the bubble intact and all working as one, the golf went on – and was stellar that last half of the year, which helped at times to overshadow the unease due to COVID-19. Collin Morikawa winning twice, including his first major at the PGA Championship with the drive heard round the golf world. Bryson DeChambeau growing, smashing and putting his way to become the talk of golf while winning twice, including his first major at the U.S. Open where he battered his colleagues and venerable Winged Foot.
Jon Rahm winning at Jack’s place in Dublin, Ohio, and in a FedEx Cup playoff event south of Chicago. Among other victors were stars Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland.
And there was world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who won the FedEx Cup and his 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th Tour titles, the most recent coming with a green jacket. He also tied for second in the PGA Championship, lost in a playoff to Rahm in the BMW Championship, tied for second in Houston and tied for sixth in the U.S. Open.
There were other silver linings to find among the dark clouds that mark 2020.
Front-row seats at the Masters, where one literally could get within 10 feet of Tiger Woods teeing off on the 12th at the heart of Amen Corner. Needing just five minutes to get to Augusta National when the same drive would have taken 20-30 minutes in 2019. Seeing a squirrel for the first time at the Masters and discovering stairs on the left side of the 16th that lead to the sixth tee.
Driving in San Francisco, LA, Chicago and Atlanta was an applauded breeze. The safest places I encountered were the airports and planes and rental cars, all of them as clean as I’ve ever seen. Playing slots in Las Vegas wearing a mask and hitting my first royal flush without needing a wild card made the next day’s work at TPC Summerlin that much more enjoyable.
And testing negative four times and staying healthy – knock on a 3-wood.
Have you ever wondered what Corona Virus testing in sport looks like…bet you don’t want to know what it feels like! pic.twitter.com/GUCxdn7oiI
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) June 17, 2020
Turns out 2020 wasn’t all bad – it just seemed that way at times. Still, the calendar flipping to 2021 can’t come soon enough and with it, hope that the new year will be drastically different. One where I can see and hear earsplitting galleries, especially at the Masters and Ryder Cup. Head over the pond to the Open Championship. Experience traffic jams en route to the golf course, do walk-and-talks with players inside the ropes again. See high-fives and handshakes. Continue to marvel at the stellar golf in front of me.
Crowded scrums and packed media centers would be welcomed. Players signing autographs and posing for selfies again would be nice. Bellying up to a bar – indoors – and crushing a meal – indoors – would be nicely greeted.
And yes, seeing rows and rows and rows of cars in the economy parking lots at airports would be a cheered view leading to a smile.
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