According to a new report, the PGA Tour is about to loosen up on the number of people allowed on-site for tournaments, starting with next week’s event in Memphis — the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Golf Digest reported that an email went to players on Wednesday saying that title sponsors and tournaments will be allowed up to 50 guests per day at the events.
Fans will not be permitted at events at least through the end of this season and into the early portion of the 2020-21 season, as the Safeway Open — the first event on that slate — announced it will not have fans.
The 2019-20 season officially ends at the conclusion of the FedEx playoffs, the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
The schedule is obviously jumbled, since the U.S. Open and Masters are both scheduled to be played in what is technically next season, although those events are not run by the PGA Tour. There is no word on whether those events will have fans.
According to the report, sponsors, guests and wives or girlfriends will not be subject to COVID testing, but will be required to undergo a temperature check and fill out a questionnaire each day upon arrival, which is similar to what media members currently go through. They also will be able to roam the grounds freely.
The additional guests will be allowed on-site for tournament days, meaning Thursday through Sunday.
“These programs will be applied on a tournament-by-tournament basis, in accordance with state and local guidelines in place and at the discretion of the tournament,” said Tyler Dennis, tour’s chief of operations.
Currently, over 1,000 people are on various tournament sites between players, caddies, media, volunteers and officials. The new rules would add about 500 more bodies to that mix.
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