The LPGA planned to restart its 2020 season with the DOW Great Lakes Bay Invitational in July, but pushed back its restart once again.
In late April, the LPGA rescheduled its 2020 season restart from June to mid-July.
On Friday morning, the tour pushed its restart once again.
The Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, previously scheduled to restart the LPGA season July 15-18, is now canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event is expected to return to the LPGA schedule in 2021 at Midland Country Club in Midland, Michigan. The tour also announced Friday Dow agreed to a contract extension with the LPGA, ensuring that the Tour will return to the Great Lakes Bay region in the future.
MORE: Revised 2020 LPGA schedule
The next event on the revised LPGA schedule is the Marathon LPGA Classic July 23-26 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, followed by the ShopRite LPGA Classic July 31–Aug. 2 at Sea View Dolce Hotel in Galloway, New Jersey.
As of Friday morning, Michigan had 49,582 confirmed cases, seventh-most in the United States, and 4,787 deaths due to coronavirus.
“While we are disappointed that the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will not be held this year, I am excited that our friends at Dow have extended our relationship and will be hosting us in Midland for many years,” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said. “As I’ve said since this pandemic started, while we will do all we can to play safely in 2020, the most important thing is to ensure the long-term health of our Tour. We are very thankful to the team at Dow for their ongoing and extended support. The 2019 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational was an incredible addition to our schedule, and I’m excited to see what they bring to the table in 2021.”
The LPGA said it will make further adjustments to the 2020 schedule if necessary.
When the LPGA last announced it pushed back the tour’s return to play, Whan said being the first tour to return to play “has never been the goal,” bur rather safety of players, personnel and sponsors was the priority.
The PGA Tour is expected to return to play June 11-14 with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
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