Columbus could be in the mix to host a second PGA Tour event the week before the Memorial Tournament scheduled for July 16-19, two sources confirmed to the USA Today Network on Friday.
The Columbus-based tournament would serve as a temporary fill-in for the John Deere Classic, which was scheduled to be held July 9-12 in Silvis, Illinois, but canceled on Thursday because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. It was to be the first tour event to include spectators.
“There are multiple options, more than a handful,” a PGA Tour player told Golfweek.
Another personal with extensive knowledge of the situation texted The Dispatch that Columbus appears to top the list of options.
Other leading alternative sites include Detroit and Akron, according to Golfweek, with Lexington, Kentucky, and Carmel, Indiana, also possibilities.
Columbus and Detroit make sense as a way to keep PGA Tour players stationed in one location for two consecutive weeks of tournaments. Detroit Golf Club is scheduled to host the Rocket Mortgage on July 2-5 without fans.
The Memorial, postponed from June 4-7 to the spot once occupied by the canceled British Open, hopes to have spectators at its event but has not been given clearance to do so.
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Akron’s Firestone County Club currently hosts the Senior Players Championship in August; Lexington was set to host the Barbasol Championship, a PGA Tour event held opposite the British Open, until it was canceled in April because of COVID-19; and Carmel is home to Crooked Stick, which held a national junior event this week.
Would Muirfield Village Golf Club host tour events back-to-back?
Memorial Tournament director Dan Sullivan dismissed Internet reports — including speculation that Muirfield Village would host an invitational event one week before the Memorial — as unfounded rumors, adding that he was focused on getting the Memorial ready to go.
The last time the same course hosted pro events in consecutive weeks was in 2014 when Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina was site of the U.S. Open followed the next week by the U.S. Women’s Open.
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Other than Muirfield Village, Ohio State’s Scarlet Course and Scioto Country Club each have experience holding professional tournaments. Scarlet already has the Nationwide Children’s Championship, a Korn Ferry Tour event held Aug. 20-23, while Scioto hosted the Senior U.S. Open in 2016.
As of Friday morning, Scarlet had not been contacted by tour officials as a potential one-year replacement, Scarlet head pro Brian Kelly said. The pro shop at Scioto also was unaware of any contact from the tour.