The R&A and USGA have addressed how the current break in competition will be reflected in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
When professional golf went on hiatus last month due to the coronavirus, rankings officials paused in place the Official World Golf Ranking and the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking. The R&A and USGA have now addressed how the current break in competition will be reflected in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The two bodies have announced a pause in the ageing process for events on players’ records.
According to a statement from the governing bodies, the decision to pause the event ageing process “was made to ensure players who are unable to play are not unduly disadvantaged. During the ageing pause, a player’s average will not change unless their record has.”
A player’s position in the WAGR is based on events in a rolling 104-week window. The WAGR underwent an algorithm change at the start of the year designed to make the ranking a better indication of a player’s current form. Under the new method, only points from events within the most recent 52 weeks of a player’s record count at full value. From there, event points are reduced proportionately, approximately two percent, per week before their removal after 104 weeks.
The WAGR rankings will continue to be published each week to reflect any other changes. The rankings – and the competitive golf landscape in general – will continue to be monitored with the intent to restart the event ageing process from the point it was paused when golf returns.
Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, a freshman at the University of South Carolina, remains the top-ranked female amateur while Japan’s Takumi Kanaya, who was playing in the Masters this time last year as the reigning Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, tops the men’s ranking.
With most professional golf, and competitive golf on all levels, on hiatus, we’re all wondering when we might see the sport return.
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The sports world as we know it has changed completely, with major leagues – golf included – grinding to a halt in an effort to help slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. A month ago, cancellation notices for major golf tournaments began rolling in, leaving professional golf quiet for the next several weeks.
At some point, professional golf – and competitive golf on every other level, from state associations to junior to college and amateur – will return.
Below is a running list of the current status of the major tours, and various other organizations, with updates on when each might resume play.
PGA Tour
The last completed tournament on the PGA Tour’s wrap-around 2019-20 schedule was the Arnold Palmer Invitational, played in Orlando, Florida on March 5-8. The last actual round, however, was the first round of the Players Championship, which went off March 12 before the remainder of the tournament was canceled the next day. The Tour has now been dark five weeks. Next week’s Masters has been postponed with the next four events – through the (already postponed) PGA Championship – outright canceled.
With events still jostling around on the schedule, our Eamon Lynch presented a picture of how the rest of the season might unfold. As Lynch reports, “While any refreshed schedule would obviously be subject to change — and complete cancellation, given the rapidly expanding coronavirus crisis — the timeframe targeted to resume the PGA Tour season is mid-June.”
Korn Ferry Tour
The developmental tour has been dark since March 1, the final round of the El Bosque Mexico Championship. The next eight weeks of events have come off the calendar with only two being postponed as opposed to canceled: the Visit Knoxville Open and Savannah Golf Championship. The earliest play could resume would be May 21, which would be the first round of the Evans Scholars Invitational.
Champions Tour
The Champions Tour is in a very similar position, having been dark since March 8. Two of the tour’s seven disrupted events – the Regions Tradition slotted for May 7-10 and the Principal Charity Classic scheduled for May 29-31 – have been rescheduled for September. The Champions Tour could return as early as June 5, which would be the American Family Insurance Championship. The next event after that? The U.S. Senior Open Championship.
LPGA
An April 3 announcement from the LPGA moved a season re-start back to at least mid-June. The tour continues to be heavily impacted by the coronavirus, especially considering that it lost three Asia Swing events in February and early March before most tours felt the impact in their domestic events. A revised schedule shows the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship as a possible returning point June 19-21 with the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major, slotted for the next week.
Symetra Tour
As it stands now, the developmental tour could return in a similar time-frame to the LPGA. Play is on hold through the end of May, with the Island Resort Championship on June 19-21 being the first possible return date.
European Tour
The European Tour schedule is on hiatus at least through the end of May. The Trophee Hassan II, which would be played June 4-7 in Rabat, Morocco, is the next standing event on the calendar. Like the PGA Tour, the last completed tournament on the European circuit was the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on March 5-8.
The scoreboard at the 2019 NCAA Women’s Championship. (Photo by Julie Williams)
NCAA
When it comes to sanctioned NCAA college events, the 2019-20 season was officially kaput on March 12 when the NCAA announced it was canceling all spring sports. Many conferences had already made such declarations.
While we’re on hold until September and the start of the 2020-21 college golf season, some collegians may see some action at the Arnold Palmer Cup at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland, scheduled for July 3-5. When the teams were revealed for the annual event, the GCAA also announced that “in these unprecedented times we do not know if the matches will be held as scheduled, postponed, or canceled.”
AJGA
As the largest junior golf organization in the country, the American Junior Golf Association is a leader in the up-and-coming sector of golf. The AJGA runs events year-round, but is on hiatus until at least Memorial Day weekend. The organization announced March 16 that it would suspend all events until that date, and then would run seven events per week “to maximize playing opportunities” through the end of the year.
USGA
A decision will likely be made soon regarding the U.S. Open, which is still scheduled for June 18-21 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York (the U.S. Women’s Open has already been moved from June to December). The U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open would be the next events after that, scheduled for late June and early July, respectively.
The big question here surrounds the USGA’s amateur events. The organization has canceled the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, and moved the Curtis Cup, scheduled for June, to 2021. Registration has been delayed for four major amateur events: U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior. Those four events account for most of the USGA’s July and August lineup.
In an age of 330-plus yard drives, plenty of courses are left wanting of a few hundred more yards when it comes to U.S. Open consideration.
The Forecaddie loves a short walk, but even your intrepid Man Out Front knows some courses – regardless of pedigree or architectural chops – just can’t handle a modern U.S. Open.
The U.S. Golf Association needs room for parking, hospitality tents, grandstands. … the list goes on and on when you expect to handle a couple hundred thousand fans during the week. Not to mention the 7,000-plus yards needed to handle the best players in the world. Those 500-yard par 4s chew up a lot of space.
The USGA and R&A released in February their combined Distance Insights Report, which didn’t lay out specific plans on how the ruling bodies plan to curtail the distances golf balls fly, especially at the elite level. But the report certainly reads as a call to action. However, the next steps in the process are on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Golf courses have grown longer and longer over the past 125 years since the first U.S. Open in 1895, played across a wee 5,510 yards for two loops around the nine holes at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. The winner, Horace Rawlins, surely would be slack-jawed by modern distance, with Erin Hills measuring 7,845 for the first round in 2017.
And in an age of 330-plus yard drives, plenty of masterful designs are left wanting of a few hundred more yards when it comes to U.S. Open consideration.
Myopia Hunt Club near Boston, for instance, hosted four early U.S. Opens, with its last in 1908. Without even considering other mitigating factors, the current 6,539-yard layout by Herbert Leeds (with a renovation by Gil Hanse) is simply too short to host a modern Open, let alone many other premier USGA championships. Myopia may be a dream course for architecture geeks and ranks No. 34 in Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses, but don’t bet on seeing it on any potential lists for upcoming venues.
St. Louis Country Club, a C.B. Macdonald gem ranked No. 52 on Golfweek’s Best classic list, hosted the 1947 U.S. Open but is a definite “no” today based solely on its 6,625 yards.
Inverness (No. 47 Classic) challenged Walter Hagen in 1920 and 1931, Arnold Palmer in 1957 and Jack Nicklaus in 1979, but would be unable to contain Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and the like today. Cherry Hills (No. 89 Classic) hosted U.S. Opens in 1938, 1960 and 1978, with no player breaking 280, yet saw record scoring (266 by Billy Horschel) at the BMW Championship in 2014.
Without laying out any defined plan to curtail distance, the ruling bodies’ report did mention two possibilities: rolling back equipment standards across the board, or a local rule for gear that better contains elite players only – essentially bifurcation.
There’s no telling what’s to come, or if shorter courses that easily qualify as national treasures will ever see a U.S. Open.
The Man Out Front will keep his eye on the ball.
U.S. Open distances over the years
Year
Course
Yardage
1895
Newport*
5,510
1903
Baltusrol
6,003
1915
Baltusrol
6,212
1920
Inverness
6,569
1935
Oakmont
6,981
1948
Riviera
7,020
1954
Baltusrol
7,027
1964
Congressional
7,053
1974
Winged Foot
6,961
1986
Shinnecock
6,912
1997
Congressional
7,213
2007
Oakmont
7,355
2011
Congressional
7,574
2020**
Winged Foot
7,477
* Two loops around the nine-hole course
** The 2020 U.S. Open is scheduled for June but that is subject to change.
The U.S. Women’s Open has never been played in December but will be this year after moving off its original June dates due to coronavirus.
The USGA has announced that the 75th U.S. Women’s Open has been postponed from June 4-7 due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The event will now be held Dec. 10-13 and will remain at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, but for the first time in event history, the contest will be played over two courses.
Champions Golf Club was founded in 1957 by World Golf Hall of Fame members Jimmy Demaret and Jack Burke Jr. The Cypress Creek Course, which has previously hosted four USGA championships – the 1969 U.S. Open, 1993 U.S. Amateur, 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur – was originally slated to host all four rounds. Now, the Jackrabbit Course, designed by George Fazio and opened in 1964, will co-host Rounds 1 and 2.
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“The USGA remains committed to hosting the U.S. Women’s Open in 2020,” said USGA CEO Mike Davis in a release. “We are grateful to the LPGA and our broadcast partner FOX for their terrific collaboration in finding a new date for the championship. Our priority remains ensuring the safety of all involved with the U.S. Women’s Open, while still providing the world’s best players the opportunity to compete this year.”
USGA officials are reviewing how the new dates will impact exemption categories. Qualifying rounds will be held on rescheduled dates and potentially new venues.
Since the USGA began conducting the U.S. Women’s Open in 1953, the championship has only been held in May, June and July. Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the latest Women’s Open ever contested on Sept. 30, 1950.
Golf’s governing bodies are close to unveiling a new schedule that would see at least three majors and the Ryder Cup contested this year.
After weeks of daily conference calls in a frantic bid to rescue a season crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, golf’s governing bodies are close to unveiling a new schedule that would see at least three major championships — including the Masters in November — and the Ryder Cup contested this year.
The details of the ambitious revised schedule were outlined to Golfweek by three people close to the discussions, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity since they are not authorized to address the matter publicly.
The planned joint announcement of a new schedule has been delayed while the R&A decides if the 149th Open Championship — slated for July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s in England — will be postponed or canceled entirely. A rescheduled Open would take place at the same venue from Sept. 17-20 — just one week before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. If the R&A opts to cancel, that slot on the calendar could see the U.S. Open played at Winged Foot.
“At this point we are not in a position to confirm any specific dates. While we are hopeful that we will be able to conduct the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in June, it is increasingly likely that we will need to postpone,” said Craig Annis, the USGA’s chief brand officer. “We have been working with our broadcast partner Fox Sports, the PGA Tour, and other golf organizations to determine what a viable postponement date could be should we need to make that decision. We are currently considering a number of options and expect to be in a position to announce a decision by next week.”
One of those options under consideration: holding the U.S. Open later in the year on the West coast. The USGA has had initial conversations with two potential venues in California: Torrey Pines near San Diego, which has long been in line to host the Open in ’21, and Pebble Beach, where the ’19 edition was played. Annis acknowledged conversations are underway with several alternate venues and did not rule out a move west.
“Depending on how far out we might have to go it could mean that we need to find a new location. If we get beyond September we would need to find a U.S. Open-ready course in a place with the right climate and agronomics, with consideration to available daylight hours,” he said. “We are fortunate to have a number of USGA host site partners who we are engaging with to determine viability.”
Both Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach have multiple courses on property — a key consideration in getting a full field around for the first two rounds with limited daylight (Pinehurst in North Carolina has also been mooted, though that is considered unlikely.). “Certainly if we had to postpone and if we moved to a slot in the late fall, we would potentially need two courses if the size of the field remains the same,” Annis conceded. “The traditional timing of the U.S. Open allows us to work with maximum daylight hours. Any move away from that would provide daylight challenges for us that we would need to address and playing on two courses could be a way to resolve that challenge.”
The Masters, which was due to begin next week at Augusta National Golf Club, is tentatively penciled in for the week of Nov. 9, according to two people with knowledge of the current planning who spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. And what was for so many years the last major of the season is now aiming to be the first: the PGA Championship will be scheduled for Aug. 6-9 at Harding Park in San Francisco.
“Glory’s First Shot” will be followed by the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship and then three FedEx Cup playoff events, culminating with the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. Early talks included possibly restaging the Players Championship, which was abandoned after just one round last month, but the Tour’s flagship event will not now be part of the new lineup. As things stand, only the Ryder Cup will be played on its original dates.
It’s unclear whether the Tour would seek to begin its 2020-21 wraparound season as usual after the Tour Championship. An announcement on a new LPGA Tour schedule could come as early as this week, while the impact of the revised calendar on the European Tour remains uncertain.
While any refreshed schedule would obviously be subject to change — and complete cancellation, given the rapidly expanding coronavirus crisis — the timeframe targeted to resume the PGA Tour season is mid-June. That could potentially allow the Tour to use the four weeks vacated by the Olympics and the U.S. and British Opens to stage tournaments that were previously postponed. Events currently rostered for that summer period — like the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto, the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Conn., and the WGC-St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tenn. — could be impacted, either to facilitate the playing of other stops or because of local conditions.
Another uncertain element is television, with networks faced with finding slots to broadcast golf at a time when they have commitments to other sports (assuming some normalcy has returned to the sporting calendar by then). NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN all have obligations with the NFL, college football, Premier League soccer and NASCAR, among others. That could mean, for example, that more U.S. Open coverage is aired on Fox Sports 1 rather than Fox’s main network. Fox is contractually obliged to air the championship on its main channel only when it is played in its traditional June date.
The USGA and R&A jointly decided not to hold the June matches in Wales, instead pushing them to 2021.
This month was supposed to end with the eight-woman U.S. Curtis Cup team being revealed. Now, any player eyeing a spot on that team will have to wait until 2021 to compete. The USGA and R&A jointly announced on Wednesday that due to the evolving dynamics of the coronavirus pandemic, the biennial team match was being moved from its originally scheduled dates of June 12-14 at Conwy Golf Club in Wales to 2021.
The Curtis Cup is contested by two teams of eight female amateur players, one from the United States and one from Great Britain and Ireland. The USGA’s International Team Selection Committee selects the USA Team, while the R&A selects the GB&I Team.
“The decision to postpone this year’s Curtis Cup Match did not come lightly, but based on a number of factors, including guidance from the CDC and restrictions on international travel, we’re confident it is what’s best for the health and safety of our players, staff, fans, and everyone associated with the Match,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships for the USGA. “We’re extremely appreciative of The R&A and all involved for the quick work and dedication to ensure this competition moves forward next year.”
The U.S. team was to be captained by Sarah Ingram, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion in the 1990s who also appeared in three Curtis Cups that same decade. She’ll stay on to captain the matches when they are played next year.
Elaine Ratcliffe, whose resume as a player includes the English Amateur Championship and the Finnish Amateur Championship, will remain captain of the GB&I squad. The formal team selection process was to have taken place in April.
“It is certainly disappointing anytime you have to postpone something you are so actively looking forward to, but when we take our team to the Match, we want to be able to focus on competition and camaraderie, rather than have to worry about health and safety,” Ingram said. “I feel for the players who have worked so hard these last two years and share in the disappointment they surely feel that the Curtis Cup will not be contested this June. Despite the delay, we will be ready and eager to have the experience of a lifetime.”
The U.S. team leads the overall series, 29-8-3, and is coming off a record-setting 17-3 victory at the 2018 matches played at Quaker Ridge in Scarsdale, New York.
Will the U.S. Open be played in June and how is a golf equipment company helping first responders? All this and more on Golfweek Rewind.
The USGA addresses the status of the 2020 U.S. Open, the IOC makes a decision about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a golf gear company lends a hand to first responders to the coronavirus pandemic.
Take a look at the week’s top stories on the latest episode of Golfweek Rewind featured below.
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Top stories
The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo have been officially postponed. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo he and International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the games until 2021. When the Japanese Prime Minister’s office expects the games to be played can be found in the video above.
Our Hero of the Week is Seamus Golf, a small brand based Oregon, which decided to help hospitals, medical personnel and first responders around the country as COVID-19 rages. Here’s how they’re making an impact.
Professional golf
The USGA released a statement last week that said no decision has been made to change the June date of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. While postponement is a possibility, the USGA said it is monitoring all available guidance from the CDC, World Health Organization and other officials to “do what is in the best interests of the community for the health and safety of all those involved.” In mid-April, the USGA plans to make an official announcement regarding the U.S. Open.
The Evian Championship has been rescheduled. One of the LPGA’s five majors, the Evian Championship has been moved from July to August.
More information on these top stories and all the latest cancellations and postponements can be found in the latest edition of Golfweek Rewind featured above.
The prospects of the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot took a hit after an executive order closed the club amid the coronavirus outbreak.
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An executive order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo resulted in the indefinite closure of Winged Foot Golf Club and further complicated a decision facing the USGA regarding the future of the U.S. Open.
The organization expects to announce next month whether the championship will be contested June 18-21, postponed or canceled.
New York remains the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, which took root in New Rochelle, some three miles from the gates of Winged Foot. The private 36-hole facility ceased operations Sunday evening.
“There are multiple variables that we need to consider, including the CDC and local guidelines,” USGA chief brand officer Craig Annis said Monday. “We are continuing to monitor the situation and making relevant contingency plans.
“We expect to make a decision sometime in the middle of April.”
The USGA staffers who had been working at Winged Foot are now sheltering in place at various locations in Westchester.
Preparations began to slow earlier this month and were halted altogether a week ago. Only the protective bases that provide support for major infrastructure are in place. No grandstands or hospitality structures have been erected.
Winged Foot Golf Club, host of the 2020 U.S. Open, is now closed. (Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)
“We simply did not want to put anyone at risk,” Annis said via email. “While construction onsite at Winged Foot has stopped for now, we are continuing to hold the dates for the U.S. Open in June and will monitor all available guidance and regulations from the CDC, WHO and other federal, state and local authorities to do what is in the best interests of the community.”
Finding a new date for the U.S. Open might be difficult with the Masters and PGA Championship already postponing. There will be a July 30-August 2 date available if the Olympics announced it is postponing the Games in Tokyo. It’s possible the U.S. Open would have to be scaled down if the situation improves enough in the coming weeks to play in June.
Winged Foot is allowed to have essential personnel on the grounds while the closure is in effect, allowing the grounds crew to maintain the West Course, which recently underwent an extensive restoration that highlights the original A.W. Tillinghast details.
Leave it to the USGA to find a message of golf unity in a climate that has many golf fans feeling a little unsettled.
Leave it to the USGA to find a message of golf unity in a climate that has many golf fans feeling a little unsettled. Amid a global coronavirus pandemic that has the professional golf world on hold – and the first two USGA championships officially off the competition calendar – the golf body sent a message we can all get behind.
A two-minute video posted to USGA social-media accounts on Friday first acknowledged what we all know: “We are living through an unprecedented time.” With uplifting, chill-inducing music – and with various golf championship scenes as a background – the USGA sung all the praises of golf while also reminding audiences where it falls on the level of importance these days.
“This is a commitment to players, fans, volunteers, everyone. We will work tirelessly to make this game even better,” the overlaid text read.
Finally, a parting thought: “We’re united by our love of the game. And we’re all in this together.”
