coronanvirus – Syndication Server

All COVID-19 tests come up negative at RBC Heritage

There were no positive coronavirus test results for PGA Tour players and personnel at the RBC Heritage as the Tour season restarts.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The PGA Tour remains clean.

For the second consecutive week, no player, caddie or essential personnel tested positive for the coronavirus. The Tour administered 369 on-site tests ahead of this week’s RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links and all were negative, the PGA Tour announced Wednesday.

The Tour also oversaw 98 tests last weekend of players and caddies who took the charter flights from Texas to South Carolina.

At last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge – the first PGA Tour tournament in 13 weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic – 487 tests were conducted and zero negative results came up.

While this is terrific news, players at the RBC Heritage insist it’s no time to get complacent and everyone must continue to adhere to the protocols the PGA Tour developed in consultation with infectious disease experts intended to create a safety “bubble” to limit the risk of the coronavirus.

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“They have strict protocols while we’re onsite, but offsite it’s kind of up to us to be smart,” Webb Simpson said. “I think we’re seeing, with numbers spiking in various states, that people took this very seriously the first couple months, and I think the spike is probably because people are relaxing.

“I think I’m speaking for all the players, that if I miss a week, it’s detrimental to my FedExCup number, it’s detrimental to my contracts. There’s a lot riding on just us being eligible to play. I get nervous when I get the test result on my phone. When I have a notification and I’m opening the document up, I’m nervous because I know, if I get positive, I can’t play for a couple weeks, and that’s a big deal at this point in the season.

“I’m trying to be as careful as I can be. Hopefully, (no positives) will keep up. Guys need to make sure they’re not doing anything dumb.”

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First order of business for PGA Tour players: COVID-19 test

PGA Tour players in earnest descended on Texas on Monday to begin prepping for the season’s restart with the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Among their first orders of business? Getting a COVID-19 test.

When the PGA Tour resumes on Thursday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, following three months of silence due to the coronavirus pandemic, it will be a new golf world with a new normal.

Testing – including thermal readings and questionnaires each day – is one of the pillars of a safety and health blueprint developed by the PGA Tour in consultation with infectious disease experts. The Tour has partnered with Sanford Health to conduct COVID-19 tests, with results available in a manner of hours.

Social distancing measures, host hotels and chartered planes for players also are among measures taken by the PGA Tour to create a “bubble” of protection for players, caddies, staff, media, volunteers and others that will attend events.

Seems the players are comfortable with the plan. While Tiger Woods is not playing this week, the 148-man field is the strongest in tournament history. For the first time, the tournament attracted the top 5 players in the official world rankings – No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 Brooks Koepka, No. 4 Justin Thomas and No. 5 Dustin Johnson.

The star power is further bolstered by Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele.

In all, 16 of the top 20 will be at Colonial, 70 of the top 100. There are 24 major winners in the field and 101 players who have won on the PGA Tour, the most winners in a field outside of the Players Championship during the FedEx Cup era.

“I totally am comfortable,” Thomas said last month. “The PGA Tour would never do anything that would jeopardize the health of the players, the health of the caddies or staff in any way. If for some reason the Tour doesn’t feel we’re ready, then we won’t play. But right now we’re ready to go.”

The playing field will be different, too. No spectators will be allowed and no grandstands have been erected, so errant shots on tight, tree-lined Colonial will not be stopped by a row of spectators or stands.

“I think everything is going to be weird, just because it’s going to be so different for us from what we’re used to,” Johnson said last month. “I haven’t really thought about what the weirdest thing will be, but it’s all just going to be different.

“Obviously we’ll get used to it pretty quickly.”

The purse is $7.5 million. Eleven tournaments with more than $90 million in purses have been canceled this season.

“There still is that little unknown, but the PGA Tour has put in every precaution and every protocol you can put in to limit as much risk as possible,” Billy Horschel said recently. “I know everyone wants to move forward at a much faster pace, but as long as we safely put one foot in front of the other and not rush things and build some momentum, I think we’ll be fine.”

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Golf shop re-openings continue to increase after COVID-19 forced closures

According to the National Golf Foundation, 81 percent of retailers are open but the in-store experience is different.

For golfers around the United States, playing is no longer a problem.

According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), 97 percent of the courses in America are now open, but in addition to playing, getting new gear has been a challenge during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s one thing to order a book or a power tool from an online retailer, but golfers like to hold clubs and hit them before buying them. They want to try on golf shoes and inspect new golf bags. After COVID-19 precautions forced nearly all nonessential businesses to close in March, local golf shops and large chain outlets shut their doors to customers.

Thankfully, according to the NGF, buying new gear should be getting easier for the majority of Americans because approximately 81 percent of the off-course golf retails stores have re-opened. That is a sharp increase from two weeks ago when the NGF estimated that 61 percent of the stores were open.

According to an NGF study, 83 percent of the local retailers and independent stores are open, while 78 percent of chain stores like PGA Tour Superstore, Golf Galaxy and Worldwide Golf Shops are now open.

While those stores may be open, the experience of going into any retail store right now is far from what it would have been a year ago.

Dick Sullivan, the president and CEO of PGA Tour Superstores, told the NGF that his company studied what large retailers like Home Depot were doing. He and his team also examined how grocery stores managed customers. Then PGA Tour Superstores tried to apply what it learned (and more) to its locations.

“People are wanting to touch clubs and demo clubs, whether on the putting greens or in the practice bays,” Sullivan said. “We’re not a sporting goods store where people come in, pick up a product and walk out. We’re going to be fitting people and people get to experiment with products, so we had to do a little bit more.”

Local golf shops, like Chris Cote’s Golf Shop in Portland, Connecticut, have adapted, too. Like PGA Tour Superstores, Cote’s local shop encourages everyone to maintain social distancing practices, the number of customers allowed in the store has been limited and hand sanitizing stations have been created. The clubs and balls are being sanitized after customers touch them, too. At many retail stores, repairs can be dropped off and returned to customers outside the store to help maintain social distancing too.

This new retail experience will not feel natural for a long time, but the increase in store openings is another encouraging sign that golf is bouncing back.

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Coronavirus: Pro golfers cleared to return to the U.S. by government edict

Foreign golfers on the PGA Tour and LPGA will be allowed to enter into the U.S. to compete. Now it is up to them to decide if they want to.

The United States eased the pathway for international golfers to return to the PGA Tour and LPGA.

The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf on Friday signed an order that permits certain foreign professional athletes who compete in sporting events, along with their essential staff and dependents, to enter the U.S. The international athletes will be exempt from entry restrictions that were established for non-U.S. residents as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Professional sporting events provide much needed economic benefits, but equally important, they provide community pride and national unity,” Wolf said. “In today’s environment, Americans need their sports. It’s time to reopen the economy and it’s time we get our professional athletes back to work.”

The Department of Homeland Security’s announcement included both the PGA Tour and LPGA among the eight sports league whose athletes were eligible for the exemption.

The countries and regions affected by the exemption include the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, China and Iran. Francesco Molinari (Italy), Adam Scott (Australia) and Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood and Eddie Pepperell were among the foreign players who publicly stated that they would skip tournaments or delay their return because of the restrictions and concerns for their health. The PGA Tour recently estimated that 25 players were living outside of the U.S. While the exemption makes efforts to return easier, they still face a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

The PGA Tour is scheduled to return to action at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Ft. Worth, Texas on June 11 and the LPGA on July 23 at the Marathon Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.

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Hyun Kyung Park claims first Korean LPGA title at KLPGA Championship

No spectators were on the grounds as Hyun Kyung Park claimed the KLPGA Championship at Lakewood Country Club in Yangju, South Korea.

Hyun Kyung Park slipped past Seon Woo Bae in the final round of the KLPGA Championship on Sunday to win the first event on a major women’s pro golf tour in months.

The KLPGA Tour event – which also happened to be a KLPGA major – went off without spectators this week at Lakewood Country Club in Yangyu, which is roughly 15 miles north of Seoul. It was the first KLPGA event played in South Korea in 2020.

The KLPGA started its season in December but had not held an event in 2020. The LPGA has been on pause since February 16, when Inbee Park won the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.

Hyun Kyung Park won at 17 under for 72 holes. She and the rest of the field trailed Bae for much of the week. Bae had pulled away with opening rounds of 67-65, but came back to the field on Saturday with an even-par 72. That dropped her to a tie for second with Park. Both trailed Hee Jeong Lim entering the final round after Lim’s third-round 64.

Park played the first seven holes in 3 under in the final round, but dropped a shot with a bogey at No. 9, her only one of the day. Three consecutive birdies from Nos. 11-13 helped seal it. Her closing 67 was one better than Bae’s 68.

The victory represents Park’s first KLPGA title in 29 career starts on the tour. Park won the equivalent of $178,400 in prize money, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Park is ranked No. 92 in the Rolex Women’s Rankings (which have been frozen in place since March 31). Three top-10 players in that ranking also teed it up at Lakewood this week.

Reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6 finished T-15, eight shots off the pace. Sei Young Kim, No. 6 in the Rolex Rankings, finished T-46 and No. 3-ranked Sung Hyun Park missed the 36-hole cut. This was the first time Park, a former No. 1, has teed it up in 2020.