PGA Tour 2020 season – Syndication Server

Days from a PGA Tour restart, here’s what we are excited to see

A restart of a PGA Tour season is near. We asked our Golfweek crew: What are you excited to see as we embark on PGA Tour Season 2019-20 2.0?

It’s almost here — the restart of a PGA Tour season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The field for next week’s Charles Schwab Invitational is almost official, and the sports world will be watching as events sans galleries fill the airwaves.

So with the reboot looming, we asked our Golfweek staffers: What are you excited to see as we embark on PGA Tour Season 2019-20, 2.0?

STEVE DIMEGLIO

When the first tee ball sets sail next week in the Charles Schwab Challenge at esteemed Colonial Country Club, three months will have passed since someone hit a meaningful shot on the PGA Tour.

Feels more like 180 days. A year even.

Since the Players Championship was grounded on Friday the 13th in March, it has felt like groundhog day, and we’ve done our best Bill Murray trying to get through living the same day over and over again. At least we were afforded an abundance of time to ponder what we’ve missed and what we used to take for granted.

A haircut, for instance. Happy hour. A high-five. A high fade.

Regular rebroadcasts of professional golf tournaments gone by helped fill the colossal chasm, but it was like getting 35 cents on the dollar because you knew what was coming. As time came to a standstill, it didn’t take long to discover what I’ve missed since the PGA Tour and the rest of professional golf was silenced.

Everything.

I’ve missed seeing what Brooks Koepka does with a driver in hand, hearing what Jordan Spieth will say after hitting a shot. Missed watching Sergio Garcia hit an iron, Brandt Snedeker putt, Bubba Watson warm up. I’ve missed Tiger.

Steve DiMeglio, Senior Golf Writer for Golfweek and USA TODAY Sports

I can’t wait to see a bunker blast, a flier, the perfect roll of a well-struck putt. Hearing the sounds made when metal hits ball, Dottie Pepper call a shot, the beautiful silence of a flop shot.

Missed rain delays, waiting for Phil Mickelson to get out of the scoring tent, walking a golf course inside the ropes, a packed leaderboard with Rory McIlroy on top, the rush of writing on deadline, a two-shot swing, the trophy presentation, the post-round interview, a playoff. Birdies, bogeys and others.

I’ve even missed the times when the wireless went down.

As much as anything, I’ve yearned for the unknown, those times wondering what each shot, each hole, each round will bring. How the 72nd hole will play out, how the best players in the world will handle the pressure as the Sunday light begins to fade away.

So fellas, play well and please play away.

BETH ANN NICHOLS

As someone who has covered plenty of college and amateur events over the years, I’m used to watching golf in relative silence, aside from the occasional clap or “Good shot!” from mom and dad. But that’s mostly live – on the golf course.

It will be interesting to see how that translates over four days on television. I didn’t miss fans for one second during The Match II, but that’s in large part because the conversation was so good, both from the announcers and the players.

Will the television producers make an effort to give us more chatter between PGA Tour players and caddies at Colonial? Will the broadcast team back off at appropriate times to allow for it? Sure hope so.

Will players show emotion? Have fun with it and tip their caps to the fans watching from home?

We’ll have a better chance to see and appreciate the course with no grandstands and fans packed around greens. There could be some positives to this more intimate show.

But will we tire of it quickly?

DAVID DUSEK

This year, 2020, was supposed to be epic for golf. We were adding the Olympics and the Ryder Cup to the season’s four majors, with Tiger Woods kicking off the year by defending his green jacket.

The coronavirus changed all that. It put the game into perspective and halted sports around the world. Now, with the PGA Tour set to return, what I am excited to see the most is greatness.

As a senior writer, David Dusek covers golf equipment, PGA Tour analytics and technology for Golfweek Magazine and Golfweek.com.

TaylorMade Driving Relief teased use with a four-person, winner-take-all, closest-to-the-pin contest. Thankfully, Rory stepped up and delivered some greatness at Seminole. The following weekend, The Match II gave us another taste, with Tiger Woods looking strong. Now, with McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson committed to playing at Colonial, and more in the weeks ahead, I want to see more greatness. I want to see the top-five players in the world shake off the rust, hit great shots and produce the tension and theater that golf can provide better than any other sport.

It’s selfish, I know, but I’m sick of re-run greatness. I want to see it live again.

TIM SCHMITT

What am I most excited about? The quick answer is the energy Sunday brings, especially when the leaderboard is closely stacked.

The popular answer is to see if Tiger’s back can hold out.

But the truthful answer is I want to see if Rory can become the Rory we’ve been waiting to see.

He’s got four majors. He’s the World No. 1. He’s been PGA Tour Player of the Year three times, including last season. What else could you want, you ask?

I’m looking for a Rory who strikes genuine fear into opponents. I’m looking for a Rory who uses his amazing power — he’s been either first or second in driving distance in each of the last four years on the PGA Tour (including the abbreviated 2020 season) — to dominate fields over an extended period of time.

I’m looking for a Rory who gets out of the gate early, dons a green jacket, completes the career slam and establishes himself as the best player ever from his side of the pond.

McIlroy is the perfect ambassador — he’s easy to root for, he’s considerate, he spends time with adoring fans and he’s as charitable as they come.

But what the golf world needs more than ever is Rory to step into rarified air, reserved for names like Palmer, Nicklaus and Tiger. His body, attitude and game appear poised to make the step. Here’s hoping a condensed 2020 schedule gives him the perfect window to take it.

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PGA Tour restart: Seven takeaways from plan to bring golf back

In a phone call Wednesday, the PGA Tour’s Tyler Dennis and Andy Dennis explained how golfers will get tested and compete safely in June.

On Tuesday evening, Golfweek obtained a copy of a presentation outlining how the PGA Tour planned to restart professional golf in the United States. On Wednesday morning, that presentation was shared with a select group of media members on a teleconference.

The Tour’s restart plan addresses all aspects of an event, from agents and Tour players’ families not being allowed on-site to the modification of practice facilities to hand sanitizer being available throughout the grounds. Players can take chartered flights from one event to the next and would be encouraged to stay at hotels that are partnering with the PGA Tour.

On the conference call, PGA Tour officials also outlined several other details and gave further clarification about how they hope to bring the game back in the era of COVID-19. Here are seven key takeaways from that call.

1. Optics are important

The PGA Tour recognizes that being one of the first major sports to restart will bring an increased number of eyes and scrutiny in how tournaments are run. Players, caddies and officials have received a resource guide that explains how things will be different. Along with testing, social distancing will be crucial and expected, even between a player and his caddie. For example, players will be expected to take their ball out of the hole, and caddies are expected to clean rakes and flagsticks after they touch them. No one is going to high-five or shake hands during or after the round.

“It will come down to, on the field of play, relying on players and caddies to have that social distancing requirement in the forefront of their minds,” said Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief tournament and competitions officer. “We will have constant reminders. We’re confident that they understand the significant responsibility they carry in making our return very successful.”

2. Local labs can quicken testing

Upon arrival, golfers, caddies and many tournament officials will have to complete a questionnaire, thermal test and RT PCR Nasal Swab or Saliva test. In most cases, results from the swab test take 24 to 48 hours, but the Tour plans to use local labs that have the capacity to quicken the process of getting results. The hope is that results can be determined within a matter of hours, but the PGA Tour has made it clear it will not take over local resources that are urgently needed in order to test golfers. The PGA Tour anticipates needing to test about 400 people at each event.

3. Positive tests will not be disclosed

If a player tests positive for COVID-19, he will not be allowed to compete and will be forced to self-isolate for at least 10 days. The PGA Tour does not release the medical information of the players, so if a player tests positive, the Tour will not make a formal announcement about it. Players, however, are free to confirm or announce they have tested positive.

4. Fewer people will be in common areas

To maintain social distancing, the number of players allowed in the locker room, dining areas and scoring areas will be greatly reduced. As a guideline, the Tour is implementing a square footage allowance of 36 square feet per player in common areas. That equates to 27 people in a 1,000 square-foot space.

5. Help for overseas players is coming

Approximately 25 PGA Tour players are currently outside the United States, and during Wednesday’s call, the Tour explained that it is working with the federal government to help get those players who want to compete back in the country.

“We are optimistic that we will be able to facilitate their return prior to our return to competition,” said Andy Levinson, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of tournament administration.

6. Players should stay inside the bubble off the course, too

While the PGA Tour is not mandating that players take the chartered flights between event locations or stay in the Tour’s designated hotels, it wants players to have a “Safer at Home” mentality when they leave the course. Using ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft is forbidden and golfers are being told to avoid crowds. If a player feels safer and more comfortable at a different hotel or on a different plane, that’s fine, but the Tour is trying to create havens that go above and beyond to ensure player safety.

7. Fans may not be back for a while

We already knew that spectators will not be allowed at the Charles Schawb Challenge, the RBC Heritage, Travelers Championship or the Rocket Mortgage Classic. However, the Tour made it clear that there is no line in the sand or certain date when fans will be back.

“We are not wedded to any specific date,” Pazder said. “Obviously it is going to be dependent on local, state and federal regulations that will largely dictate when we are able to resume having some number of fans. I would absolutely anticipate that whenever that occurs, it would initially be on a limited basis to ease ourselves back into having spectators on site.”

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