Golfweek Live Q&A: Hosting the Charles Schwab Challenge in the age of COVID-19

On Instagram Live, Tim Schmitt joined JuliaKate E. Culpepper to discuss precautions the PGA Tour is taking with its return amid COVID-19.

Celebrate the PGA Tour’s long-awaited return, but don’t forget to wash your hands frequently and stay six feet apart.

The Tour returns for the first time in nearly three months with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, beginning Thursday.

But with the good news of live golf’s return comes a few precautions in the age of coronavirus. Golfweek managing editor Tim Schmitt is on the ground in Fort Worth for this week’s event and spoke to our JuliaKate E. Culpepper about the precautions being taken on site for the limited personnel on Golfweek’s Instagram Live.

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Upon arriving at Colonial, Schmitt said he had his temperature taken, was handed a mask and noted the hand sanitizing stations around the course.

Saying it was a bizarre atmosphere from pre-coronavirus Tour events is an understatement.

“I’ve covered all major team sports and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. … You show up here at Colonial Country Club today and there’s like nobody here. It’s really a bizarre vibe,” Schmitt said. “There’s a handful of folks here and around the clubhouse. I can tell you here in the media center there’s maybe 30 people total. It’s just a completely different vibe from anything like I’ve ever been to.”

For more commentary on what players said Tuesday during availability, when Tiger Woods might make his next appearance and how the weather will play a role at Colonial, watch the latest edition of Golfweek Live Q&A.

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