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The European Tour has shelved the idea of staging three events in Florida in the aftermath of the Masters.
Instead, chief executive Keith Pelley has written to his members confirming the tour’s intention “to stay with our current schedule in Europe for April and May.”
That means events in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Portugal, France, England and Denmark remain on the schedule although they are susceptible to pandemic-related changes to health and safety protocols in the respective countries.
“The concept of playing in the United States was always part of our continuing investigation to explore all avenues to allow you to play a full schedule,” Pelley wrote in the private memo, seen by Golf Digest. “Even though we are not now going across the Atlantic, the offer to stage events in Florida was a generous one by the PGA Tour and shows the strength of the strategic alliance between our two tours that we announced last year.”
World No 1 Dustin Johnson has become one of the first top golfers to rule out playing in this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
He said scheduling difficulties were the reason for ducking out of the opportunity to represent his country in the Games.
“It’s right in the middle of a big stretch of golf for me,” Johnson told reporters at the Players Championship. “It’s a lot of travelling at a time where it’s important for me to feel like I’m focused playing on the PGA Tour.
“I think if there was a little bit more time … yeah, I obviously, definitely would have thought about it a lot more.”
Among the first to react was Thomas Bjørn of Denmark. The former European Ryder Cup captain’s career peaked before golf’s 2016 return to the games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I grew up and played my best when golf wasn’t in the Olympics and I look at it now wishing it had been,” Bjørn wrote in a series of Twitter messages. “I would today have been a 3-5 time Olympian and would have backed myself to win a medal. What a thrill that must be.
“My advice to young golfers is: If you are ever good enough, there is two things you should do,” Bjørn wrote in a series of Twitter messages. “Never miss your national open and play in the Olympics. When you get older you realise what you have missed out on.
The RBC Canadian Open has been cancelled for the second straight year because of COVID-19, it has been announced. The PGA Tour had been hoping the event would take place on 7-13 June at St George’s Golf & Country Club in Etobicoke, Ontario.
“Even with an extensive health and safety plan in place, we faced a number of significant logistical challenges that led us to this decision,” PGA Tour president Tyler Dennis said.
The Canadian Open is the third oldest national championship behind the Open Championship and U.S. Open. It dates to 1904 and had been held every year except for wartime cancellations – 1915-18 and 1943-44 – until last year.
“I’m obviously disappointed with the news but it was not a surprise,” said Canada’s highest-ranked player Corey Connors. “I was really looking forward to the event this year as it’s always fun to play in front of and feel the support of the great Canadian golf fans.
“Golf Canada works so hard to make it a great event each year, so I really feel for everybody involved.”
The PGA Tour plans to fill the vacant slot in its schedule at a venue yet to be named in the United States.
Reigning AIB Women’s Open champion Sophia Popov had free time on her hands last week but certainly didn’t put her feet up and enjoy a well-earned rest.
Instead, the popular German caddied for her boyfriend, Max Mehles, at the Mackenzie Tour Q-School event in Highland Oaks, Alabama, returning the favour which had seen Mehles carry her bag while she won the British title at Royal Troon last summer. He went on to caddie for her for the rest of the 2020 season before resuming his own playing career.
Mehles, a former German amateur international, was tied for the lead after opening rounds of 71, 67 and 71 but in the end settled for a conditional card when he dropped to a share of 10th place after a closing 73.
Asked what her caddie duties involved, Popov said: “I help out with the reads and club selections here and there but for the most part just keep him in good spirits.”
The previous week, Costa Rica’s Luis Gagne won the Mackenzie Tour’s second Q-School event at Howey-In-The Hills in Florida. Indian amateur Saptak Talwar, a native of New Delhi and a student at Sacred Heart University, also earned his full card at that event.
The European Tour lost a longtime friend and supporter with the death of Gaston Barras at the age of 89.
Barras was an influential figure in Swiss golf and played a key role in the staging of the Omega European Masters, formerly the Swiss Open. He had held the role as chair of the organising committee of the Omega European Masters since 1964.
One of the oldest events on the circuit, it is the longest running tournament held at the same venue. It has been staged at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club since 1948, in Barras’s hometown high in the Swiss Alps.
The onetime president of the Swiss Golf Association (1991-96) had been a Crans-sur-Sierre member since 1954, and was president of the club from 1981 until his death. In 2010, then European Tour chief executive George O’Grady made Barras an honorary life vice president of the European Tour.
“Everyone at the European Tour is deeply saddened to hear of Gaston’s passing,” Pelley said. “As well as being a much-loved and valued friend of the European Tour for many years he was, quite simply, the driving force behind golf in Switzerland.”
Ask and ye shall receive, members of the Women’s Professional Golfers’ Association have discovered. They asked for more money for events on the 2021 WPGA One-Day Series when surveyed, and that’s exactly what they are going to get.
“There was a good response to the survey and we have taken the members’ opinions on board,” said Tristan Crew MBE, PGA executive director, member services.
“The upshot is a new-look schedule, doubled prize money, the introduction of two pro-ams that will give members the chance to network with amateurs, and a new name – the WPGA Series.”
The Series begins at Little Aston Golf Club on 25 May and features eight tournaments with a total prize fund of £20,000. The £6,000 WPGA Championship at Kedleston Park, Derbyshire, is one of the eight. Defending champion Heather MacRae will get the opportunity to win it for a third time.
Paul Lawrie will head a selection committee to choose the 12 European players he captains in this year’s Junior Ryder Cup against the United States. The decision to select all 12 players, six girls and six boys, stems from the disruption to the summer playing schedule caused by COVID-19.
Joining Lawrie on the selection committee are Anna Roscio, team manager of the Italian Ladies’ Golf Team; Stuart Wilson, 2021 Walker Cup captain and former Junior Ryder Cup captain; Edward Kitson of Ryder Cup Europe; and Spencer Henderson, former Scottish Boys’ national coach and Lawrie’s vice-captain.
The committee will take into account performances in all international events this season, with particular attention on eight boys’ international events and nine girls’ tournaments as well as performances in the Jacques Léglise and Junior Vagliano Trophies.
“With the revised criteria for the Junior Ryder Cup team now established, I’m very excited to see Europe’s best junior golfers compete this year,” Lawrie said. “There’s a lot of golf to be played between now and August and we expect competition to be fierce.”
The match will be held Monday and Tuesday of Ryder Cup week with the best junior amateurs from Europe and the US competing in a head-to-head mixed event.
Australian amateur golf has enjoyed a massive boom in the past few months.
Figures released by Golf Australia show that handicap rounds played during the summer of 2020-21 leaped by 12 percent compared to comparable figures the year before.
The figures were tracked by Golf Australia using data from its national computerised Golf Link handicap service between December 2020 and January-February 2021.
There were 2.89 million rounds played during that period compared to 2.58 million the previous year. Those figures do not include casual, non-handicap golf.
The figures also show big increases among the younger age groups. The 10-14 age bracket jumped 30.2 percent, the 20-24 age group went up by 54.5 percent while the 25-29 age group saw a 49.8 percent rise.
“Golf is being seen for exactly what it is: a safe, outdoor, healthy and sociable way to spend time,” said Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland. “Our job is to ensure these increases are part of a long-term trend, and are not just a temporary spike.”
The PGA EuroPro Tour has announced plans to stage Monday qualifiers ahead of every event on this year’s schedule.
The cost of entry will be £50 for tour members and £75 for non-members, which will be subtracted from the £295 tournament entry fee if a player qualifies. Spots will go to the top five players in each Monday qualifier.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be able to offer Monday qualifiers on the PGA EuroPro Tour,” said chief executive officer Dan Godding. “This is a move inspired by the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour who offer players a chance to qualify on a Monday and compete at the highest level.”
Colin Callander and Alistair Tait