Through coordinated announcements, the R&A, PGA of America, and USGA have released the dates for the golf major championships impacted by the Coronavirus.
August 6-12 – PGA Championship, Harding Park, San Francisco
September 17-20 – U.S. Open, Winged Foot, Mamaroneck, NY
September 25-27 – Ryder Cup, Whistling Straits, Kohler, WI
November 12-15 – Masters Tournament. From today’s press release:
“We remain very mindful of the extraordinary and unprecedented challenges presented by the Coronavirus around the world. As such, we continue to keep in close contact with local, state and national health authorities to help inform our decisions.
In collaboration with the leading organizations in golf, Augusta National Golf Club has identified November 9-15 as the intended dates to host the 2020 Masters. While more details will be shared in the weeks and months to come, we, like all of you, will continue to focus on all mandated precautions and guidelines to fight against the Coronavirus. Along the way, we hope the anticipation of staging the Masters Tournament in the fall brings a moment of joy to the Augusta community and all those who love the sport.
We want to emphasize that our future plans are incumbent upon favorable counsel and direction from health officials. Provided that occurs and we can conduct the 2020 Masters, we intend to invite those professionals and amateurs who would have qualified for our original April date and welcome all existing ticket holders to enjoy the excitement of Masters week.
After careful consideration and following an extensive review process, we also have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Ultimately, the many scheduling challenges with NCAA tournaments, the World Amateur Team Championships, the LPGA Q-Series and other events when women’s amateur golf resumes led to this decision.
Each player who accepted an invitation for the 2020 championship will be invited to compete in the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, provided she remains an amateur. Also, those who purchased tickets will be sent a refund in May and given the opportunity to purchase tickets for the event next year.”
Sadly, the R&A has canceled the Open Championship. It will be played at St. George’s (this year’s venue) next year. The Open is the first major to be canceled since 1945 when all but the PGA Championship were called off because of World War II.
This is the 13th time that The Open has not been played since the tournament began in 1860. All but one of those previous cancellations were attributed to either World War I or World War II.
