The Sanford International is set to become the first professional golf tournament to welcome fans since the global pandemic led to the golf world shutting down for at least three months in March.
The PGA Tour Champions event, which is being contested at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from Sept. 11-13, will serve as a guinea pig for golf, with 10,000 daily tickets being sold.
“I think we’re ready for this and have a great game plan in place to have a great event and be safe about it,” said Hollis Cavner, whose company Pro Sports Links oversees the event. “People are living their lives again. They want to get out again.”
The PGA Tour in June eased into what was left of its season with no spectators allowed. Initially, the Memorial Tournament had been approved for limited spectators in July, but that plan was scratched shortly before the event and the Tour announced that the rest of the 2019-20 season, including the FedEx Cup playoffs, would be held without spectators. (That has been extended to include next week’s Safeway Open, the first event of the 2020-21 season, and the U.S. Open and Masters.)
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During his annual “state of the Tour” press conference on Wednesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said, “We’re going to reinstitute pro-ams, participants in pro-ams will be tested, and we’re encouraged by the fact that you’re continuing to see more options, which creates more potential for a quicker return of our fans.
“When we feel like it’s safe to return fans out here, that’s when fans will return. We owe that to them, to make sure that we feel like — and we’re supported locally in every market we play in, that that is supported by the local government authorities.”
Given that Sanford Health is the Tour’s official mobile COVID-19 testing partner, and is responsible for testing all the players in the bubble, it makes sense to reintroduce the fan experience at the tournament that the company also serves as title sponsor. Sanford Health mobile labs will be on site, and all pro-am participants will be tested. All spectators are encouraged to take their own temperature before heading to the tournament. Upon arrival, FDA approved non-contact wrist thermometers will be utilized at each parking lot prior to spectators getting on a shuttle bus. Temperature checks will also take place at the main entrance for those that arrive without taking a shuttle. Anyone with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher will be turned away and asked to seek medical attention.
Fans will be given free masks, if needed, as well as gloves, if requested. The golf course has been roped so fans won’t be able to get as close to the players as usual. Stationary hand sanitizer units will be placed at entrances to public bleachers, hospitality structures, and the clubhouse. Portolets and restroom trailers will each be equipped with sanitizer pumps and handwashing stations as well. For the safety of the players and gallery members alike, autographs will be prohibited.
“We’re on 250 acres. Spacing people on 250 acres is like 12 people inside a Super Wal-Mart,” Cavner said. “We’re the guinea pig for bringing people back to golf with live crowds, so we’ve gone overboard to make sure we don’t have any issues.”
Cavner said the tournament received approval from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who previously signed off on the Sturgis Bike Rally, which attracted nearly half a million bikers and is being blamed for a surge of coronavirus infections, and the South Dakota State Fair, which opened on Thursday.
Cavner said the response to attend the second-year tournament has been impressive.
“Our sales have been through the roof,” Cavner said. “The pro-am sold out quickly and ticket sales also hit our numbers and had to be cut off.”
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