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The Rocket Mortgage Classic made the cut in the PGA Tour’s latest reshuffle of the 2020 schedule.
The tournament is moving from late May to July 2-5, the PGA Tour announced Thursday, setting the stage for what should have been an raucous July Fourth weekend at Detroit Golf Club.
The tournament will commence without fans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted stay-at-home orders across the country and social-distancing recommendations that ask people to stay at least 6 feet apart.
The same rules apply to golfers — and caddies — on tour.
PGA Tour pro Brian Stuard figures players will have no problem grabbing and replacing their clubs in the bag while letting their caddies just focus on carrying the bag and helping players in other ways.
“I’m sure that is something the Tour will give us guidelines or tips — even dealing with going into the locker room or entering the clubhouse or what to do at the driving range,” Stuard said. “There’s going to have to be some kind of set of rules, at least to start with. It will probably be more things like, will the caddies wash the balls, can he get a ball out of the bag for you? It will be interesting to see what happens.”
Stuard tied for fifth with Brandt Snedeker and Patrick Reed, among others, in last year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, the first PGA Tour tournament played inside Detroit’s city limits.
He agreed the PGA Tour should take additional measures to promote social distancing, such as assigning volunteers to rake bunkers or handle the flag stick on each green. And Ryan Brehm, a Mount Pleasant native who regained conditional status on tour for this season, said COVID-19 testing should occur for caddies and players.
“There will be necessary protocols that we’ll all need to learn and accept and adopt, but that’s OK,” said Brehm, who now lives in Traverse City. “The feedback I am getting from people who talk about this is that at least in golf, we’re not sharing the same golf ball; we all have our own, compared to sports like basketball and baseball.”
Brehm could join Stuard in Detroit in July, though his conditional status likely will prevent him from knowing until much closer to the event. He downplayed the impact of playing without fans, saying players get into their “own world out there, anyway.”
That’s not to say that he hasn’t felt the rush of energy created by a gallery of patrons, but he and Stuard both recognize a new reality must be accepted in professional golf. At least for the next few months.
“It could make it a little more relaxed atmosphere,” Stuard said. “Maybe not so much of a stress (environment), possibly. I don’t know. I’m sure we’re still going to know that you’re playing for something; but not having a thousand people staring right at you might be a little different. I think it’s going to be strange and different for everybody.”
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