The decision by the Chinese government to cancel all sporting events for the rest of 2020 means the PGA Tour will likely have to forgo its World Golf Championship HSBC Champions, which has been in Shanghai since 2009 and was scheduled for Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
According to the Associated Press, HSBC (which stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp.) does not want to sponsor the tournament outside of China, preferring to wait until 2021.
In addition, the Tour could move its other two fall Asian events, the Zozo Championship in Japan and the CJ Cup in Korea, to the U.S., because of travel concerns by players during the coronavirus epidemic.
And it could be an easy fix, since they were scheduled in back-to-back weeks in October, following the Tour’s event in Las Vegas.
An AP story cited sources who requested anonymity who said the CJ Cup could be at another venue in Las Vegas Oct. 15-18, the week after the Shriners Hospital for Children Open at TPC Summerlin.
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And the Zozo Championship could be played at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousands Oaks, Calif. Tiger Woods is the defending champion and he held his off-season tournament there in the past.
Discussions are in the early stages, and other sites are under consideration depending on the title sponsors.
The Asian Swing had three world-class winners last year, Woods, Justin Thomas at the CJ Cup and Rory McIlroy at the HSBC.
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