PGA Tour players in earnest descended on Texas on Monday to begin prepping for the season’s restart with the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Among their first orders of business? Getting a COVID-19 test.
When the PGA Tour resumes on Thursday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, following three months of silence due to the coronavirus pandemic, it will be a new golf world with a new normal.
Testing – including thermal readings and questionnaires each day – is one of the pillars of a safety and health blueprint developed by the PGA Tour in consultation with infectious disease experts. The Tour has partnered with Sanford Health to conduct COVID-19 tests, with results available in a manner of hours.
Social distancing measures, host hotels and chartered planes for players also are among measures taken by the PGA Tour to create a “bubble” of protection for players, caddies, staff, media, volunteers and others that will attend events.
Seems the players are comfortable with the plan. While Tiger Woods is not playing this week, the 148-man field is the strongest in tournament history. For the first time, the tournament attracted the top 5 players in the official world rankings – No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 Brooks Koepka, No. 4 Justin Thomas and No. 5 Dustin Johnson.
The star power is further bolstered by Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele.
In all, 16 of the top 20 will be at Colonial, 70 of the top 100. There are 24 major winners in the field and 101 players who have won on the PGA Tour, the most winners in a field outside of the Players Championship during the FedEx Cup era.
“I totally am comfortable,” Thomas said last month. “The PGA Tour would never do anything that would jeopardize the health of the players, the health of the caddies or staff in any way. If for some reason the Tour doesn’t feel we’re ready, then we won’t play. But right now we’re ready to go.”
The playing field will be different, too. No spectators will be allowed and no grandstands have been erected, so errant shots on tight, tree-lined Colonial will not be stopped by a row of spectators or stands.
“I think everything is going to be weird, just because it’s going to be so different for us from what we’re used to,” Johnson said last month. “I haven’t really thought about what the weirdest thing will be, but it’s all just going to be different.
“Obviously we’ll get used to it pretty quickly.”
The purse is $7.5 million. Eleven tournaments with more than $90 million in purses have been canceled this season.
“There still is that little unknown, but the PGA Tour has put in every precaution and every protocol you can put in to limit as much risk as possible,” Billy Horschel said recently. “I know everyone wants to move forward at a much faster pace, but as long as we safely put one foot in front of the other and not rush things and build some momentum, I think we’ll be fine.”
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