Tag: 2020 Ryder Cup postponed

On what should have been Ryder Cup weekend, we played Whistling Straits

The 43rd Ryder Cup was scheduled for this weekend at Whistling Straits, but was postponed due to the pandemic. So Golfweek played it.

[jwplayer QSTJ1uLj-9JtFt04J]

We expected this to be a stage for pageantry and camaraderie. Instead, it was just open for public play.

The 43rd Ryder Cup, pitting the U.S. and Europe, was scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 25-27) along the Lake Michigan shores of Wisconsin at Whistling Straits.

It was, of course, postponed due to the COVID pandemic. The two sides will meet at the same location and play Sept. 24-26, 2021.

The PGA of America and European Tour had been considering a variety of options, including playing this year without fans or with limited spectators. But high-profile players voiced concern over playing a Ryder Cup without fans.

Instead, the mighty course was available to the masses this weekend. Golfweek’s Jay Blasi — a renowned architect who was the Design Project Architect for Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open — was part of a group of players who soaked up the sights and sounds.

So what would it have been like if the Ryder Cup were played at Whistling Straits this weekend?

It certainly wouldn’t have felt foreign to the English and Irish players on the European roster:

One aspect that makes Whistling Straits so spectacular is the way eight holes hug the lakeshore. But due to record-setting water levels, Lake Michigan waves have been wreaking havoc along the course. While it still looks spectacular, it’s made some holes a little rougher around the edges than in years past.

And then there’s the weather.

In the past, when major events have come through Sheboygan — Whistling Straits has played host to three PGA Championships and a U.S. Senior Open — all have done so prior to Labor Day, when the temperatures are high and winds often mild.

That’s not typically the case in September, however, and this year was no different. Although the mercury did push the thermometer up to 70 on Saturday for Golfweek’s Blasi and crew, the forecast moving forward doesn’t look as promising. High temperatures will dip to the 50s by the end of the week and lows could reach the 30s. Snow is a possibility for next year, even though our crew only dealt with some foggy and windy conditions.

Wind, fog, waves, and possibly even snow — next year’s Ryder Cup is certain to make memories at Whistling Straits.

[jwplayer Ze7h3hyC-9JtFt04J]

[lawrence-related id=778058685,778053311,778053295]

Schupak: Ryder Cup postponement was only choice

The Ryder Cup postponement couldn’t be held with fans in 2020 and so it had to be postponed to September 2021.

It’s about time.

The postponement of the Ryder Cup until September 2021 due to the global coronavirus pandemic had a sense of inevitability really since the day in March when the Players Championship was canceled after the first round and the Masters was postponed until November.

The Ryder Cup joins the British Open not to mention March Madness, the Boston and New York City Marathons, Wimbledon and the Summer Olympics among great sporting events not happening this year. An unfathomable scenario on New Year’s Day, but here we are.

You knew it was going to end this way when The Daily Telegraph’s Jamie Corrigan, citing unnamed sources, declared postponement to 2021 was imminent despite the cries of fake news.

[jwplayer 4SQVLpun-9JtFt04J]

You knew it was going to be postponed when players from both sides agreed that it wouldn’t be a Ryder Cup without the fans – the rare time that Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka and everyone down the line were all on the same page – and some threatened not to play.

You knew it even as the PGA Tour resumed play after a 91-day suspension and played on without fans. But the Ryder Cup?

Players react to Ryder Cup postponement: ‘It’s the right decision’

“If you can’t play the Ryder Cup with fans, it’s not the Ryder Cup,” Spain’s Jon Rahm said. “It’s something else.”

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker said it would’ve been “a yawner,” while former European Ryder Cup player and captain Tony Jacklin said, “It would be a disaster.”

We can do without the knuckleheads cheering a shot hit into the water or some of the four-letter words and unsportsmanlike gestures that have become all too commonplace in recent years (no matter which side of the pond the biennial match is contested), but the patriotic furor and the passion and pageantry of a Ryder Cup has turned it into a rock concert, where the first-tee intensity is second to none. The fans are the 13th man; they are part of what makes the Ryder Cup so great and one of the greatest scenes in all of sports. The game is better off waiting an extra year for a Ryder Cup done right than a watered-down version.

[vertical-gallery id=778053321]

As Stricker put it, “It would be more like an exhibition. And that’s not what that event is about.”

The powers-that-be did the necessary due diligence, but they knew it to, and despite dragging out the official announcement, the writing was on the wall.

“We did everything we could to make it a Dewey beats Truman headline. We really wanted to do this,” PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said.

They gave it the old college try, but did anyone really think this was going to get played?

Money was the only reason to go forward this year. The Ryder Cup is a financial juggernaut for the PGA and European Tour, and postponing it for a year has forced both entities to make some tough decisions in their profit-and-loss models.

But staging the Ryder Cup this fall couldn’t be justified as positive tests for COVID-19 spiked, as mandatory quarantine periods were extended, as qualification criteria were rejiggered and lacked meaning, and as the PGA Tour called an audible and announced it wouldn’t allow limited fan attendance at next week’s Memorial Tournament. Too much uncertainty. What promises do we have that we won’t just be in the same position a year from now?

“None, frankly,” Waugh conceded. “I’d bet on science is what I’d say, personally. The ability to figure out treatments/vaccines or protocols for safety given that we have 15 months to do that, but there frankly is no guarantee.”

That just further confirms that it was the right decision to postpone. But it was also the only decision that could have been made.

[lawrence-related id=778053295,778053229]

It’s official: Ryder Cup postponed to 2021

The worst-kept secret in golf was made official: the Ryder Cup will be postponed a year and the Presidents Cup pushed to 2022.

The worst-kept secret in golf was made official on Wednesday. The Ryder Cup has been postponed one year and will return to being played in odd-numbered years going forward.

The 43rd biennial bout between the U.S. and Europe was scheduled for Sept. 25-27 along the Lake Michigan shores of Wisconsin at Whistling Straits. The two sides will meet at the same location and play Sept. 24-26, 2021.

“Unlike other major sporting events that are played in existing stadiums, we had to make a decision now about building facilities to host the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits,” said PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh. “It became clear that as of today, our medical experts and the public authorities in Wisconsin could not give us certainty that conducting an event responsibly with thousands of spectators in September would be possible. Given that uncertainty, we knew rescheduling was the right call.”

The PGA of America and European Tour had been considering a variety of options, including playing this year without fans or with limited spectators. But high-profile players voiced concern over playing a Ryder Cup without fans.

“I’m not shocked,” said Jon Rahm a member of the victorious 2018 European Ryder Cup team. “I know a lot of people probably wanted to watch the Ryder Cup, but Ryder Cup is not the Ryder Cup without spectators. Right now it doesn’t seem like there’s a legitimate way to make it safe for everybody, so I think it’s the smart choice. At the end of the day, Ryder Cup is one of the most viewed events, sporting events in the world, so it’s something that brings a lot of attention for the game of golf. It’s something that grows the game of golf throughout the world. I think it’s important that it’s done and it’s performed and we play the way the Ryder Cup is supposed to be.”

The Ryder Cup postponement necessitated that the PGA Tour move the 2021 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte to Sept. 23-25, 2022. The venue remains the same.

“These two premier international team events are lifted by the spirit of the fans,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “With the uncertainty of the current climate, we fully support the Ryder Cup’s decision to delay a year in order to ensure fans could be a part of the incredible atmosphere in Wisconsin, and the delay of this year’s Presidents Cup was the right decision in order to allow for that option.”

Also on the postponement list is the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup, which was scheduled for 2022 in Italy at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome. That match will now be held in 2023 at the same venue, and future Ryder Cups (2025 at Bethpage Black in New York; 2027 at Adare Manor in Ireland, and so forth) are returning to odd-numbered years as it had long been until the 2001 competition was postponed due to the 9/11 attack.

For Ryder Cup qualifying, both the United States and European teams will revisit their respective selection processes in the near future. Tickets purchased for the 2020 Ryder Cup via rydercup.com will be automatically valid for the corresponding day(s) in 2021.

Both Ryder Cup captain expressed their disappointment, but agreed it was the right decision to be made.

“At the end of the day, we want to stage a Ryder Cup that will rival all other Ryder Cups in my home state of Wisconsin, and now we have the opportunity to showcase the event as it was meant to be seen,” U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker said.

Padraig Harrington, Captain of the European Ryder Cup Team, said: “Rescheduling the Ryder Cup was never going to be an easy decision given the many factors to take into consideration. But I believe it is the right assessment given the unprecedented circumstances we are facing at this time.

“When you think of the Ryder Cup you think of the distinctive atmosphere generated by the spectators, such as around the first tee at Le Golf National two years ago. If that cannot be responsibly recreated at Whistling Straits in September, then it is correct that we all wait until it can be. I know, right now, that September 2021 feels like a long time away. But it will come around quickly and I guarantee that the European players and I will be ready when it does.”

[lawrence-related id=778050737,778047028,778046378,778046226]

Report: Ryder Cup to be postponed until 2021

COVID-19 grabs another casualty as the Ryder Cup won’t be played in 2020, but rather pushed back until 2021.

The 2020 Ryder Cup has been silenced.

Because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the PGA of America and European Tour are expected to jointly announce at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday that the Ryder Cup will not take place this year, according to ESPN.

The 43rd biennial bout between the U.S. and Europe was scheduled for Sept. 25-27 along the Lake Michigan shores of Wisconsin at Whistling Straits. The two will meet instead Sept. 2021 at the same location. According to ESPN citing an anonymous source, the dates in 2021 will be Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, which was supposed to be the dates for the 2021 Presidents Cup.

The PGA of America and European Tour had been considering a variety of options, including playing this year without fans or with limited spectators. But high-profile players voiced concern over playing a Ryder Cup without fans.

“Not a Ryder Cup,” world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said in a TaylorMade podcast when asked what a Ryder Cup would be without fans. McIlroy has played in the Ryder Cup five times. “That’s from a European, going to America, knowing that I’m going to get abuse. Obviously it would be better for Europeans to play without fans because we wouldn’t deal with some of the stuff that you have to put up with, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be a great spectacle. There would be no atmosphere.

“So if it came to whether they had to choose between not playing the Ryder Cup of playing it without fans, I would say just delay it a year.”

Added four-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who has played in the past two editions: “The fans make that event. The fans make that special. If we’re not playing in front of fans, it’s just like us playing a game in Florida. There’s no fist pumping there. There’s no excitement. The fans create the excitement for the Ryder Cup.”

Koepka added that some players may have boycotted if the event was held in September without fans.

Travel restrictions also may have impacted the qualify of the teams if this year’s matches were to have been played as scheduled.

Ripple effect

The Ryder Cup postponement necessitated the PGA Tour to move the 2021 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte to 2022 at the same venue.

Also on the postponement list is the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup, which was scheduled for 2022 in Italy at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome. That match will now be held in 2023 at the same venue.

The COVID pandemic will again alter the qualifying system. Because COVID shut down the qualifying system for three months, U.S. captain Steve Stricker was given two extra discretionary selections – from four to six, which is half the team.

Qualifying for the U.S. also had been extended through the BMW Championship August 27-30, the second of three FedExCup Playoffs events. That would have meant only one major championship – the Aug. 6-9 PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco – would have been included in this year’s segment of qualifying. The U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York was postponed to the week before the original Ryder Cup date, and the Masters in Georgia was postponed to November.

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 30: European fans celebrate during singles matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National on September 30, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
European fans celebrate during singles matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Europe revised its qualifying process, as well, with captain Padraig Harrington having his discretionary picks dropped from four to three. Europe would be comprised of three captain’s picks, four players from the Europe Points List, and five from the World Points List. The European Tour, however, hasn’t played since the Qatar Masters the first week of March and is set to resume in July, thus players could only accumulated points on the World list. Top players including Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood have not played since March.

Europe is in possession of the 17-inches tall, 4-pound gold trophy as a result of pasting the Americans, 17½-10½, at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018. Europe has won nine of the most recent 12 contests, with the U.S. victorious only in 2016, 2008 and 1999.