PGA Tour plans to welcome fans in early 2021

Professional golfer Kevin Kisner, who serves as a player director on the PGA Tour's policy board, believes the Tour could begin welcoming fans to events in early 2021. 

Per Bob Harig of ESPN, Kisner updated the Tour's stance regarding spectators on Thursday while speaking at East Lake Golf Club, home of the Tour Championship:

"I think the start of the new year, we'll probably transition into trying something. 

"Obviously, it takes time. And what we've done with this pro-am thing, is we started on the Champions Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour to test it, and maybe we'll test some fans out there to see how the protocols work. I think we'll start with a very limited number and transition from there."

The PGA Tour Champions currently intends to permit up to 5,000 fans per day for the Sanford International in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, next week. However, the Tour has reversed course as it concerns hosting customers on multiple occasions since it resumed play amid the coronavirus pandemic in June. 

In July, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said he was "hopeful" percentages of fans could be on courses before the end of the year. That now seems unlikely with the uncontrolled virus outbreak having claimed over 185,000 American lives as of Sept. 3.