PGA commissioner 'hopeful' fans can attend tournaments before 2020 ends

Since the coronavirus pandemic halted sports competitions around the world in March, every time the PGA Tour planned to host fans at tournaments, it has not been able to do so.

The Jack Nicklaus Memorial Tournament and PGA Championship both reversed course regarding spectators, and the Tour announced on Monday that fans won't be welcomed to tournaments for the remainder of the season. 

The 2020-21 season is scheduled to begin in September, and PGA commissioner Jay Monahan remained open to fans potentially attending at least a couple of tournaments before the new year while touching upon the subject on Wednesday. 

Per ESPN's Mike Wells, Monahan said: 

"I mean, we're doing everything we can to be prepared to have fans at our tournaments certainly in the final quarter of the year post-Tour Championship. The way it works — just so you guys all have a sense of it — is at this point we have enough time to be able to continue to assess what's happening on the ground in the markets where we play, speaking to governors, speaking to mayors, speaking to health authorities. ... I think as we get into early August and mid-August, then we'll start making some decisions about where we're going to be post-Tour Championship with our events.

"We're hopeful that you're going to see fans at our tournaments when we get to the back half of the year, or quarter of the year."

As Wells wrote, the Safeway Open held from Sept. 10-13 won't allow crowds. It's too early to speculate if the U.S. Open in Mamaroneck, New York, from Sept. 17-20 will permit even a percentage of fans because of the uncontrolled virus outbreak. 

According to Pro Football Talk, between 20,000 and 30,000 fans attended Wednesday's NASCAR All-Star events at the Bristol Motor Speedway venue that typically holds around 160,000 spectators.