The PGA of American says the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will have approximately 8,000 fans per day at Atlanta Athletic Club.
The PGA of American announced on Monday that the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will have approximately 8,000 fans per day onsite June 22-27 at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia.
“We are excited by the continued upward trajectory and vast potential of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship,” said PGA President Jim Richerson. “We’re thrilled to return this Major Championship to the South for the first time in over 40 years and to introduce the best women players in the world to Atlanta Athletic Club’s historic Highlands Course. This is a special golf course with plenty of championship tradition and we’re expecting it to provide the backdrop for a memorable competition in June.”
Face coverings will be required for all spectators, staff and volunteers, including those who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Masks should be worn at all times – both indoors and outdoors.
Social distancing measures will also be in place and sanitizing stations will be available throughout the grounds.
Tickets for the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship are now available, with packages ranging from $20 for individual Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds to $89 for a Championship Week ticket, good Tuesday through Sunday. Ticket prices are slated to increase the week of the championship. There are also a limited number of volunteer opportunities open.
An on-course incident seemed like a long shot at TPC Scottsdale this year but this is the Waste Management Phoenix Open we’re talking about.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — You figured with a scaled-down fan presence, an on-course incident would be a long shot this year at TPC Scottsdale.
But this is Saturday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open we’re talking about here.
About 5,000 fans per day are being allowed on site, creating some long-awaited fan atmosphere at a PGA Tour event. But one fan, dressed like Borat, simply took things too far late in the third round.
It started when Jordan Spieth, fresh off a thrilling birdie bomb on the 16th green, was sizing up another long birdie putt on 17. He was kneeling down, with his back to the lake that wraps around the left side of the green when Borat start chirping up.
Spieth noticed and even turned in his kneeling position to acknowledge him, clapping a little bit while looking over. He also noticed something else.
Jordan Spieth applauds a fan as he prepares for his birdie putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic via USA TODAY Network)
“Yeah, the guy’s chair broke, and so it broke and he fell backwards and everyone went nuts. We were all laughing,” he said.
Spieth was facing a 29-foot, 5-inch putt for birdie, and he drained it and the fans erupted.
“When I made it, I was pointing at him,” Spieth said, looking across the water.
Jordan Spieth applauds a fan after he made a birdie putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic via USA TODAY Network)
The Borat look-alike, wearing a tan jacket and tan shorts, aviator-style sunglasses, presumably a wig but also going barefoot, kept up his antics. At one point, he appeared to be taking off his jacket. A nearby security guard was right there and soon a Scottsdale police officer arrived.
Security deal with a fan after Jordan Spieth made a birdie putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic via USA TODAY Network)
Spieth and his caddie, Michael Greller, continued to watch the antics of the fan, who turned and took a few steps, almost falling into a group of fans dressed like Masters caddies.
A fans trips over other fans while watching Jordan Spieth and his group on the 17th green during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic via USA TODAY Network)
Finally, Borat tried to go under a rope and security at that point had seen enough. They grabbed his arm and hauled him away.
“I didn’t realize he was getting arrested at the time because I hadn’t seen him since he fell out of the chair,” Spieth said. “I looked up and he was getting arrested, so when I pointed at him it got him going even more, which was not the plan. I thought he was going to just yell louder.
“Then they wanted him to jump in the water and then he was trying to and resisting. I don’t know what happened overall. I felt horrible that Billy (Horschel, Spieth’s playing partner) still had to putt when that was happening in his through-line. That wasn’t my intention.”
A fan is led away by police officers after Jordan Spieth made his birdie putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic via USA TODAY Network)
Horschel two-putted for par and then talked about what he saw after his round.
“I tell you what, it’s nice to have fans back out. The energy that we all feel from them and we all sort of feed off,” he said. “Jordan did an unbelievable job of that. It’s nice to have applause. Yeah, it’s a little rowdy here which we’re normally used to, and it was funny to see the guy break the chair. I don’t know why he got kicked out. I was focused on my putt.”
Spieth wasn’t exactly sure about the chair either, other than it broke in plain view of everyone on the green.
“I thought he was just standing out of the chair that he was sitting in when it broke,” Spieth said. “But he was dressed like Borat, so definitely came to have a good time.
“I don’t think he’s having a great time right now. That was an unfortunate set of circumstances.”
As the fan was being hauled off, the remaining fans started chanting “Jordan pay his bail! Jordan pay his bail!”
The 2021 Genesis Invitational, scheduled for Feb. 18-21 at Riviera Country Club just outside Los Angeles, will be played without spectators in attendance, according to a release.
“The health and well-being of the community, our players and everyone at the Genesis Invitational remains our top priority,” tournament director Mike Antolini said. “Throughout our extensive planning, it became clear that due to the pandemic the best way to ensure the safety for all involved is to hold the tournament without spectators. We are certainly going to miss the roars of the crowds, but we look forward to welcoming everyone back to Riviera next year.”
Organizers of the Genesis announced that more games and activities would be added for those watching the broadcast on Golf Channel and CBS.
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Also, a virtual family village will be added with digital activities, challenges, education resources and more for kids ages 5-12.
Last year, Adam Scott won the event while Tiger Woods, back where it all started in 1992 when he made his PGA Tour debut at Riviera Country Club as a 16-year-old amateur, struggled to even make the weekend cut and proceeded to roll out performances of 5-over 76 on Saturday and 6-over 77 during Sunday’s final round. Woods finished dead last among those to make the cut.
Houston Open tournament officials have announced that they will allow a limited number of fans on the course.
The PGA Tour keeps creeping back toward some level of normalcy and next month, that will include fans – albeit a limited number of them. Houston Open tournament officials have announced that they will allow a limited number of fans on the course for all four rounds of the Nov. 5-8 event at Memorial Park Golf Course.
Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 21, tournament officials will put 2,000 daily tickets up for sale on the tournament’s web site, HoustonOpenGolf.com. The daily ticket cost is $79 for Thursday’s opening round and $109 a day for Friday through Sunday.
Food and beverage is covered cleverly through ticket purchases, too. Each ticket will include food and beverage from designated on-course venues (alcohol is not included). The tickets will be color coded to correspond with the grab-and-go food and beverage pickup locations.
Tickets will not be sold on-site, nor will there be a will-call area for tickets to be dropped off.
Safety precautions will still be in play at Memorial Park, with all fans, volunteers and essential personnel expected to wear masks at all times while on property, except when eating or drinking.
Some Tour stops already have allowed a very limited number of sponsor fans. A limited number of fans also will be in attendance at the Bermuda Championship the week before the Houston stop.
“We are very happy that we will have fans at Memorial Park for this year’s Houston Open. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the City of Houston, Dr. David Persse (Chief Medical Officer for the City of Houston), and PGA TOUR for working with us in developing a thorough Health and Safety Plan that has enabled this to occur,” said Giles Kibbe, President of the Astros Golf Foundation. “The health and safety for all on property at Memorial Park and the City of Houston is our highest priority as we welcome members of the community to the newly-renovated venue and to watch the best players in the world compete.”
The Houston Open originally was scheduled for Nov. 12-15, but was bumped up a week when the Masters was rescheduled for those dates. The event returns to Memorial Park Golf Course for the first time since 1963.
Because of its week-before-the-Masters date, the Houston Open will draw some of the world’s top players. So far, current World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler have committed.
Scarsdale residents Muhammad and Asma Naaem are watching the 2020 U.S. Open with family and friends on a scaffold behind the fourth green.
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SCARSDALE, N.Y. — When Phil Mickelson putted out on the fourth hole at Winged Foot on Thursday, a roar went up from the crowd.
Golfers are used to that. Just not so used to looking up into the trees to find those cheering.
Well, among the trees, anyway.
But this week’s U.S. Open is like no other. Fans are not allowed. At least not allowed on the grounds of the historic golf course.
But there’s nothing wrong with off-site cheering, including from a seven-foot-high, roughly 20-foot-long scaffold erected behind the fourth green.
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That’s where Mickelson threw his ball in appreciation after feeling the love from about 10 fans perched there in the backyard of Drs. Muhammad and Asma Naeem.
For the Naeems, the scaffold wasn’t something hastily thought of.
Muhammad, a golfer and huge golf fan, knew the U.S. Open was coming to Winged Foot three years ago when he took a stroll in his neighborhood. That’s where he spotted a realty sign on a house bordering the fourth green.
Phil Mickelson throws his ball to a group of friends gathered on a scaffolding in the backyard of Saadia Naeen’s Scarsdale, New York, home during first round action in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. (Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)
He had no plans to move. Until then.
Hurrying the two blocks home, he excitedly told his wife and kids about the house, suggesting a move.
“My family said, ‘You’re crazy,’ ” he recalled. “They were just totally against it.”
Then they took a look for themselves.
Their response? Well, eldest child Saadia, who played four years of girls golf in high school and two years with the men in college before the formation of a women’s team, started issuing scaffold invitations long ago.
Saadia Naeen and her friends cheer for Phil Mickelson after his putt on the 4th green during first round action in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. Photo by Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News
“I got my invite in 2017,” Elliot Witdorchic said.
Saadia, who has a spreadsheet with times the family’s golf-fan guests are slated to arrive and leave through Sunday, figures about 30 people will climb the scaffold before the championship trophy is awarded.
“We’re not at a loss for people,” she noted, but also lamented that more would be there were it not for the pandemic. That has kept some out-of-staters home, including her college freshman and sophomore year golf captain, who lives in Colorado.
Saadia temporarily left the mid-afternoon crowd that included high school and college friends, friends’ parents and two golf pros from the The St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings, where her family are members, to retrieve the Mickelson ball. It had sailed over the scaffold and into the yard.
The scaffold is self-policed, but a sign near the ladders leading up to it make it clear that, while fun is allowed, golf etiquette is required. Spectators are told to keep quiet during putts, that they must wear masks, and to be mindful of the time they’re up there and space they’re taking up.
Lastly, it notes, “We all want to see Tiger.”
Iona College head men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino watches from a gallery in his back yard on the 3rd green during the first round of the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. Photo by Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports
Her dad, an internist, was at work in Yonkers by the time Mickelson threw his ball. But he’d had a good morning, in part because he got to see Tiger.
He lives and breathes Tiger Woods and had gotten a “Thank you” from Tiger after displaying a large sign reading, “WHEN WE STAND WE STAND W/ TIGER.”
While jumping the fence that separates his yard from the fourth green might be tempting, Dr. Naeem has played the hole the legitimate way as a guest.
And, as he explained, he knows all about the fourth green, which proved troublesome for golfer after golfer on Thursday, particularly those with putts of 10-plus feet.
“I know where the break is,” he said, then grinned when responding, “Of course,” when asked whether he would have more success holing out than the pros he’d watched.
He noted he has no patients scheduled the next few days, so he’ll be a steady presence on the scaffold, no doubt with his Tiger sign.
On Thursday, that was one of multiple signs. Jack Minton, was, in a sense, the odd man out. He’s a skier, not golfer, but he clearly enjoyed his role as white-board sign creator.
Jack Minton writes up a message for Phil Mickelson as he approached the 4th green during first round action in the US Open at Winged Foot Golf Club Sept. 17, 2020. Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News
Earlier in the day, when a group of Canadian players came through, he scrawled, “We love Canada, eh” on the board. “All three caddies took a picture,” he noted.
Then, they and the golfers laughed when told to, “Have a nice and polite round.”
After he held up the board reading, “Ian Poulter Fan Club,” the Brit quipped, “I didn’t know I had a fan club.”
“We (told him), ‘Recently formed,’ ” Minton recalled with a laugh.
“You and those signs are like Rembrandt,” joked buddy Jared Fineberg, another former Wesleyan golfer.
Greg Bisconti, who was on the scaffold with fellow St. Andrew’s pro Ambry Bishop-Santillo, noted his club had lined up 30 “pretty excited” volunteers to work the course this weekend. That was until it became closed to the public and, in turn, volunteers were limited to Winged Foot members.
Bisconti, who has played Winged Foot multiple times, including many times years ago with his dad, is a three-time qualifier for the PGA Championship who was the low club pro in 2009. He wasn’t unhappy with his bird’s-eye view Thursday, which afforded him good sight lines of not only the fourth fairway and hole but also of the fifth tee box and fifth fairway.
The squirrels appeared to be having fun darting around, playing their own game of chicken.
“This is awesome,” Bisconti said, gazing down.
He plans to return Friday afternoon but said Saturday and Sunday he’d have to miss for work.
But, then, he chuckled, saying, “For me, this is work.”
Phil Mickelson chips onto the 4th green during first round action in the US Open at Winged Foot Golf Club Sept. 17, 2020. Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News
Several feet over on the scaffold, a discussion of golf favorites was quietly going on.
Non-golfer Kaitlyn Doyle, who went to high school with Saadia, was talking about how Bryson DeChambeau had just crushed the ball.
But the most impressive golfer to Fineberg was Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.
“His hair is just luscious and he’s a ball striker. He knocks down (short) shots. I want his approach game. I want his hair game. I’m a little closer on one front than the other,” laughed Fineberg, whose fine mane of hair apparently outshines his golf game.
One can only imagine what sign awaits Fleetwood on Friday.
The PGA Tour announcement that the Memorial Tournament will not have fans or a pro-am leaves questions about the LPGA’s event in Toledo.
It’s media day at the LPGA Marathon Classic, which means that the local press have gathered at the tournament site for interviews and information about procedures for next month’s event (and usually a round of golf).
But with the PGA Tour announcing on Monday that the Memorial Tournament will not have fans or a pro-am due to the “rapidly changing dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic,” one has to question whether the LPGA will have an event at Highland Meadows at all this year.
Longtime tournament director Judd Silverman has made it clear that having fans at the event as well as pro-ams is vital for the event’s success. There are typically two pro-ams on Monday at Highland Meadows followed by two off-site pro-ams on Tuesday and then the normal Wednesday pro-am back at the tournament course
This year Silverman hopes to bring in $600,000 for 25 northwest Ohio children’s charities.
As of now, there’s no official word on how the PGA Tour’s decision will impact the LPGA. The LPGA is slated to restart its season July 31 at the Inverness Club in Toledo – without fans – with the new LPGA Drive On Championship and then continue the next week down the road at Highland Meadows, Aug. 6-9, with spectators. The Marathon typically averages between 2,500 and 5,000 fans a day. The Memorial, slated for July 16-19, had planned to cap the gallery at 8,000.
“The Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and the PGA TOUR have made the right decision in not allowing spectators to attend this year,” said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in a PGA Tour release. “I know it was a difficult decision to make, but the organizers of the Memorial Tournament have put the health and safety of players and fans first.”
The LPGA plans to update players on the schedule and upcoming protocols in a July 8 phone call. Of particular interest is whether or not the Aberdeen Investment Standards Ladies Scottish Open and AIG Women’s British Open in Troon, Scotland, will be played next month.
If both events are canceled due to travel restrictions, it seems possible that the Marathon could be pushed back to an even later date (Aug. 20-23) ahead of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. But even then it might be too early to open the doors to spectators.
No fans will be allowed at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in two weeks after all, the PGA Tour has announced.
The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, was to be the first event in the PGA Tour’s restart to include fans, albeit in limited numbers. That plan changed on Monday when the Tour announced that the event would instead go off without fans – like the previous four events played over the past month – and also without a pro-am.
Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio had approved the Memorial Tournament’s plan to allow fans on-site in mid-June. Tournament officials announced several elements of their COVID-19 activation protocols designed to allow for a 20 percent maximum capacity on property, which included fans and private venues, as well as essential staff needed to operate the Tournament.
Tournament director Dan Sullivan and his staff had established safety protocols for a maximum of 8,000 fans per day that included temperature readings at the gates, the wearing of masks and viewing areas set up on each hole that restricted the number of spectators able to watch.
According to USA Today reporting, Ohio has 57,150 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,911 deaths. Over the past seven days, 6,841 new cases have been reported, up 24.4 percent from the previous week.
“The Memorial Tournament team, led by Dan Sullivan, worked exhaustively on a plan that the Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, as well as other local, county and state leaders were comfortable with, confident in, and applauded,” tournament host Jack Nicklaus said. “We had a good plan in place, and I could not be more proud of everyone who contributed to it. In the end, we have the responsibility to recognize the health and safety of the players and all who attend the Memorial Tournament. We, in partnership with Nationwide and the PGA Tour, will now focus on presenting the best-possible Memorial Tournament we can for the players and for the many fans watching at home and around the world on Golf Channel and CBS.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also applauded the original plan in a Monday press release and acknowledged the work it took to compile.
“But given the broader challenges communities are facing due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we need to stay focused on the No. 1 priority for our Return to Golf — the health and safety of all involved,” he said. “While this was a difficult decision, it was one made collectively, and we are appreciative of the process undertaken to this point that will allow us to welcome on-site fans when the time is right.”
Many players were arriving in Dublin, Ohio, on Monday for a two-week swing that starts with this week’s new Workday Charity Open, a new event that was always going to be played without fans.
If the Memorial had gone on with fans in attendance as planned, it would have been the only event to allow fans through at least mid-August.
Neighbors to Colonial Country Club have built temporary seating to watch the PGA Tour event, making them the first fans of sports’ return.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Sean Henggeler and his buddies were wheeling around in a souped-up golf cart on Saturday morning, preparing for the third round of the Charles Schwab Challenge like they do every spring.
Even with steamy conditions — temperatures in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex are expected to approach 100 degrees for Sunday’s final round — there was all the frivolity and enthusiasm of a major college football tailgate as the trio sped back and forth in anticipation.
Henggeler, Michael Buster and Brett Sandstrom are breaking ground this week, and they know it — they’re among the first “live” fans of a major sporting event since the pandemic took hold.
In compliance with COVID-19 protocols, the PGA Tour isn’t allowing fans on the hallowed grounds of Colonial Country Club.
But just outside and above it? That’s a different matter.
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When Henggeler’s father, Pat, heard they wouldn’t be able to attend the tournament, he put the family to work, knowing their property sits behind a parking lot that’s adjacent to the No. 15 green and No. 16 tee.
“With corona and everything, we couldn’t go, so we said we wanted to bring the fans over here and still let them watch golf,” Sean Henggeler said. “(My parents) just decided to do it.”
The grandstands, which rise high above the family’s backyard fence, took two days to construct and cost “a few thousand dollars,” according to the family.
“We had people out here climbing around all day, putting this thing together,” Sean Henggeler said.
The final result is a Wrigley rooftop-like experience, complete with a live announcer, full bar, TV screens to capture all the action, port-a-potties, and even a charity collection for the nearby Colonial of Kids CASA organization, which typically fundraises during the event with a lemonade stand near the club’s entrance.
A handful of other platforms have popped up outside the course, although the Henggelers’ might be the most elaborate.
Buster, a longtime family friend, was ecstatic when he caught wind of the plan.
“I told them I’m going to be over the whole week. I will not be leaving here,” he said. “It’s electric. It’s a party. Especially when the guy’s on the mic introducing the players, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Wait, what? Guy on the mic? At a professional golf tournament?
That’s right, the Henggelers even pulled a karaoke-style microphone setup onto the grandstand, complete with a speaker that booms over the adjacent parking lot and onto the course.
The players, who might typically be annoyed by such distractions, seem to be getting a kick out of it. The silence has been palpable at Colonial and Tour players are welcoming a chance to interact with the small group as they turn down the course’s backstretch.
“I thought it was amazing what they did, saying I was coming in at 300 or whatever pounds — that was funny,” DeChambeau told the media after his 65 on Friday. “I really enjoyed that. It’s fun to have people rooting for you every once in a while out there. We don’t get that very much right now.”
Friday’s action brought about 100 people to the temporary seating, all of whom tried to obey the rules of social distancing. It’s worth any hassle, if it means resuming a tradition that many thought would be interrupted by the pandemic.
“Colonial’s the biggest thing we do, other than the rodeo. We’ve been doing this for many, many years, but usually, we’re out there,” Sandstrom said. “And we want to be out there so bad. But when this went up it was like, ‘OK, we’re still good. We still can get out here and do this.’ It’s special.”
Expectations for Sunday are a little lighter as Henggeler said many like to watch the final round from home. But because of the overwhelming response, would the family consider building a similar structure every year?
“No, we won’t do this in the future, in upcoming years,” Henggeler said. “We don’t want to compete with their tickets.”
