Amid a rash of further tournament postponements and cancellations last week – including the deferral of May’s USPGA Championship to a hoped-for summer date in San Francisco – it was possible for golfers to perceive silver linings as the coronavirus pandemic altered lives worldwide. With modifications, such as the PVC piping Pinehurst Resort installed in its holes to help prevent players from touching flagsticks and cups, golfers in many corners of the globe continue to play recreationally while maintaining social distance. And the pro game’s sudden halt has given players and fans something many have argued for – an offseason – writes Ron Green Jr.
Though the pandemic may have interrupted tournament play, nothing need get in the way of the “sitting and thinking†sessions which have worked for one generation of golf addicts after another, writes Lewine Mair.
The European Tour last week announced the postponement of tournaments in Spain and Denmark while cancelling another in Portugal.
It was a surreal scene in Palm Harbor, Florida, last week, where instead of fans rooting for the likes of Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson at the Valspar Championship, the grandstands at Innisbrook Resort were being prematurely dismantled. But despite their disappointment about the tournament’s cancellation, tournament officials waxed optimistic.
In addition to scuttling professional tournaments, the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of World Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King’s annual pro-am to benefit Golf Fore Africa and its life-giving work delivering fresh water to rural villagers in the African nation of Zambia, writes Steve Eubanks.
British amateur golfers have been given the go-ahead by the government’s chief scientific advisor to continue to play recreational golf amid the coronavirus pandemic, writes Colin Callander.
A man many regard as the first celebrity CEO died recently, but he also should be remembered as a great golf guy, this week’s instalment of The Divot suggests.
Mike Cullity
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