Professional golf could be back on our televisions before the official start of summer.
On Thursday, the PGA Tour announced that the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, that was originally rescheduled for the middle of May has been postponed to June 8 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As with all rescheduling of sports events, this is subject to change per recommendations from local health authorities and other matters relating to the virus outbreak. Fans will not be allowed to attend at least the Tour's first four tournaments.
In the Tour's statement, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said the following:
"The health and safety of all associated with the PGA TOUR and our global community continues to be our No. 1 priority, and our hope is to play a role – responsibly – in the world’s return to enjoying the things we love. Today’s announcement is another positive step for our fans and players as we look toward the future, but as we’ve stressed on several occasions, we will resume competition only when – working closely with our tournaments, partners and communities – it is considered safe to do so under the guidance of the leading public health authorities."
Ryan Lavner of The Golf Channel shared on Twitter a fully updated PGA schedule that is subject to change.
New targeted return date for the PGA Tour: June 11-14, at Colonial.
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) April 16, 2020
No fans the first four events.
Here's the schedule for the rest of 2020, which, of course, is subject to change: pic.twitter.com/wLqYu3eVqj
As Chris Bumbaca of USA Today wrote, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on Wednesday that professional sports could soon resume in the United States as long as fans don't attend events and athletes remained quarantined in hotels when not participating in matches and events.
The NBA, NHL and MLB remain without definitive in-place plans to return to action. The 2020 NFL Draft, scheduled for April 23-25, will be a "virtual draft" with general managers and team executives making selections from their homes.
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