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American professional sports leagues like the NBA, NHL and MLS have suspended their seasons. College basketball conference tournaments are being canceled by the hour.
The coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc on the sporting world, but the PGA Tour has stood its ground for now, keeping its schedule intact. On Thursday morning at the Players Championship, the first day of the Tour’s flagship event, commissioner Jay Monahan announced that starting Friday (March 13), fans will not be allowed at Tour events through the Valero Texas Open, which starts April 2.
That’s not good enough for some players, especially veteran Lucas Glover. The three-time winner on Tour took to Twitter early on Thursday morning to voice his displeasure with the Tour’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Rest of sports and media: why don’t they drug test on the @PGATOUR
Tour: okay, we better start doing that too.
Rest of sports and media: think we better stop and stay away from crowds.
Tour: hold our beers it’s @THEPLAYERSChamp week!!!
— Lucas Glover (@Lucas_Glover_) March 12, 2020
A few hours later, Zac Blair followed suit, tweeting: “NBA suspended, ATP suspended, MLS suspended …” C.T. Pan then responded just two hours from his tee time for the Players that he had already left and wasn’t playing.
We already left hours ago. Not going to play😣
— C.T. Pan (@ctpangolf) March 12, 2020
Pan didn’t stop there. He responded to the Tour’s statement with some sad emojis, and then deleted the following tweet
Here’s how other players have reacted:
Lee Westwood
To Westwood’s point, as of Thursday four European Tour events have either been postponed or canceled.
Considering the approach of other sports in the US to the #coronavirus , I’m surprised how little the @PGATOUR are doing. I know we don’t play in such a confined arena but surely our age range of fans are more susceptible. @EuropeanTour have postponed events in August already.
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) March 12, 2020
Zac Blair
Tell us how you really feel, Zac.
Them bringing up the “No Fans” at congressional, zozo, and Torrey from the past few years seems slightly different than this … but hey what do I know 😂
— Zac Blair (@z_blair) March 12, 2020
Eddie Pepperell
While he doesn’t specifically mention the coronavirus fallout, you can read between the lines.
There is going to be considerable hardship for many in the coming months, in a variety of ways. Sincerely, I wish you all the best. Gus and Pip will be looking out for you. pic.twitter.com/xMkwJHQdaR
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) March 12, 2020
Harold Varner III
Lucas Glover isn’t alone.
— Harold Varner III (@HV3_Golf) March 12, 2020
Pat Perez
Thanks to my esteemed colleague Adam Schupak for the assist.
Pat Perez when told that CT Pan withdrew for coronavirus concerns: “Does he have it? I’m parked next to him. Hope he didn’t touch my car.”
— Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) March 12, 2020
[opinary poll=”would-coronavirus-fears-prevent-you-from-wx4Cdk” customer=”golfweek”]
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