One day after the Evian Championship was canceled for 2020, the Ladies European Tour announced that the Creekhouse Ladies Open in Sweden wasn’t happening this year either.
The dominoes have fallen at a steady pace since March, when COVID-19 brought sports to a screeching halt.
The LET was poised for a banner year after the LPGA-LET Joint Venture helped bring seven new events to the schedule for 2020, including 15 in Europe. Prize money was set to be up $4.96 million this year.
The optimism that filled the air last February in Australia popped like a balloon.
“It’s the kind of script you couldn’t really write,” said England’s Felicity Johnson.
The LET announced 24 events in January. Three events were completed before COVID-19 hit. According to the tour, 14 remain on the schedule for 2020.
The loss of Evian, a major championship, earlier this week dropped a $4.1 million purse off the schedule. The next two LET events – the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and AIG Women’s British Open – are co-sanctioned with the LPGA and combine for $6 million in prize money.
On a tour where most purses hover around 200,000 to 300,000 euros, this three-tournament European swing is crucial.
LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said he felt “pretty good” about the events in Scotland going on as scheduled despite losing Evian. In April, the R&A canceled the men’s British Open that was scheduled for July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s in England.
As of now, however, there’s still hope for the WBO.
“We are working with our title sponsor AIG to explore options for staging the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon from 20-23 August 2020 as a closed event without spectators, if that is possible,” said a spokeswoman for the R&A. “This approach would enable The R&A, AIG and our partners to continue our support of professional women golfers whose playing opportunities have been severely impacted by this pandemic.”
It should help, of course, that VisitScotland, the tourism arm of the Scottish government, is a partner of both events. There’s currently a two-week quarantine in place for visitors coming into the United Kingdom, but it’s possible that athletes could receive an exemption.
The European Tour’s “UK Swing” is set to begin July 22 with the Betfred British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood in England. In addition, Formula One’s British Grand Prix is slated for early August.
Coming on the heels of last fall’s enormously successful Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, there should be a growing appetite for top-rate women’s golf in Scotland.
“Preparations for the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, Aug. 13-16, are still progressing,” said an IMG spokesperson. “We remain hopeful that the tournament will go ahead as a made-for-TV-event.
“We are working closely with Aberdeen Standard Investments and our partners at VisitScotland and Scottish Government, together with the LET and LPGA to ensure that all appropriate measures are in place to run the tournament. The health and safety and safeguarding of our players and event staff is our highest priority. We have engaged specialist medical and health and safety advisors and are liaising with all relevant authorities as well as following WHO and Government guidelines. We will continue to monitor the situation in the coming weeks.”
The LPGA is scheduled to restart with the Marathon Classic in July – with fans. The July 23-26 dates, however, might still be pushed back.
England’s Liz Young decided to skip the early-year events in Australia and Africa, thinking she’d get started in Abu Dhabi.
“That was a big mistake,” said Young. “I haven’t had a paycheck since Kenya (December 2019).
“I’ve got a family. We’ve got a mortgage. Those bills keep coming but you make cutbacks, and we’ve just got to hope that sooner rather than later we can be back out on the fairways and earning the money that we deserve.”
In the meantime, there’s the new Rose Ladies Series, which consists of seven one-day events in England backed by British star Justin Rose and his wife Kate.
Young helped create the idea, and Johnson plans to compete in at least five of the seven. Two of the sites are too far for a one-day drive from Birmingham, she said, and hotels have yet to open in England.
“I haven’t had a card in my hand since the end of February,” said Johnson.
Thankfully the Rose Ladies Series gives her a chance to compete under a bit of pressure before the tour’s restart.
A decision on the two events in Scotland is expected to be made later this month.
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