Golf game struck by Coronavirus

Courses closed and tournaments cancelled worldwide

Daffodils and tulips bursting into bloom. Blossom on the trees. The sound of mowers on the breeze. The fragrance of freshly-cut grass. Spring – it’s the most beautiful time of the year. A time to rejoice. Yes, Spring is here – the new golf season can begin! But, alas, this year is different. This is no ordinary Spring. These are unprecedented times.

The year 2020 will long be remembered for the Coronavirus: COVID-19. The health and economic crises caused by Corona look likely to impact our lives for many years to come. As I write, the Coronavirus has claimed more than one million lives worldwide and the death toll continues to rise at an alarming rate.

Unprecedented steps have been taken in a bid to stop the spread of this deadly virus. Not only with the closure of restaurants, theatres and cinemas, and later schools and universities, but also fitness centres and sports clubs.

Much to the amazement of many golfers, the game of golf fell under the ‘safe-distancing’ measures. The closure of the clubhouse and restaurant was expected. However, many had thought that golf, because it is an outdoor sport in the fresh air that can easily be played with just two people with little or no body contact, would be allowed. After all, on a golf course it’s very easy to keep a safe two metres from your fellow golfer. But, alas, golf was not an exception. All golf courses and driving ranges were also asked to close.

In Holland, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the closure advice on Sunday, 15 March 2020. In the UK that happened five days later. It was a bitter blow for golf courses who had already experienced one of the wettest winters on record and who now looked forward to balancing the books with a booming Spring. To make matters even worse, beautiful weather has been predicted for the second half of March right up until Easter.

Friday the 13th

The Players Championship at TP Sawgrass at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida (12-15 March) was staged amidst growing concern about the spread of the Coronavirus. Tour pros were getting anxious about getting back home as more and more airlines cancelled flights and some countries were closing their borders in a bid to contain the pandemic.

At first the PGA announced that fans would not be allowed on the course for the last three rounds in an attempt to create a safe environment for players and spectators. Eventually the tournament was cancelled after play on Thursday. The final straw for the PGA came when they heard that Walt Disney World and Universal, two massive theme parks in Orlando, Florida, around 150 miles from the TP Sawgrass golf course had announced that they were temporarily shutting down due to the Coronavirus.

Unprecedented cancellations worldwide

The day the Players Championship stopped was eerie. It was early morning on Friday the 13th of March. The powers that be in the PGA also took the unprecedented step of announcing the cancellation of the next three Tour events.

Not long afterwards, Augusta National Chairman, Fred Ridley, announced the postponement of the Masters which was due to take place from 9-12 April. It is hoped to reschedule the Masters, one of the most prestigious events on the golfing calendar, as well as the PGA Championship (originally planned for 14-17 May in San Francisco) until later in the season. Golf’s other two Majors, The Open Championship and the US Open may well suffer the same fate.

Olympic flame put out

Such is the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic that even the Olympic Committee have now reluctantly postponed the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo until next year. The new date is set for 23 July to 8 August 2021. Earlier in March, the 2020 World Cup Rugby and the European Football Championship were the first to be cancelled. Announcements about the postponement or cancellation of many other sporting events around the world flooded in soon after.

We’ll never know whether Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama would have maintained his awesome opening form in the Players Championship where he shot a nine-under par 63 on day one. We’ll never know whether World Number One Rory McIlroy would have pulled-off another victory at TP Sawgrass to become the first player to successfully defend The Players Championship title. What is even more spooky, we have no idea when it will be safe again for any of us to gather, even in small numbers, on the golf course. It appears that the current safe-distancing measures will be in force until at least the first of June.

Take good care, dear golfer, and stay healthy!

Wendy Hoad