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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Lucas Glover teed off as planned at 7:51 a.m. Thursday to begin his opening round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
That doesn’t mean he was happy about it.
In the wake of the ever-changing world with the spread of coronavirus making many feel uneasy, Glover tweaked the Tour for carrying on with the event.
“Rest of sports and media: why don’t they drug test the @PGATOUR, Tour: okay, we better start doing that too. Rest of sports and media: think we better stop and stay away from crowds. Tour: hold our beers it’s @THEPLAYERSChamp week!!!’’” the 40-year-old, who has three career PGA Tour victories, including the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, wrote on Twitter.
The PGA Tour later announced that all events will go on as scheduled but without fans.
Despite the NBA suspending its season indefinitely on Wednesday night and the NHL considering its options, the PGA Tour carried on with its flagship event with Thursday’s opening round.
The Tour went on with a scheduled annual concert on the grounds on Tuesday with the Chainsmokers playing to a large crowd. The Tour has been criticized in many circles for carrying on with that event.
At 10:50 a.m. Thursday, the PGA Tour announced that its commissioner Jay Monahan will conduct a press conference at noon.
Meanwhile, The Players instituted a ban on autographs Thursday, a policy that may remain in place for a while if the tournaments continue to take place.
“Fans have been informed that, out of an overabundance of caution, players will not sign autographs/interact as they would typically expect at a tournament,” the PGA Tour said in a statement.
As of Thursday morning, next week’s Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., as well as the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship in two weeks in Austin, Texas, are still scheduled as planned. One of the largest music festivals in the country, South by Southwest, which also takes place in Austin, Texas, was canceled last week.
One pressing matter, should the golf season continue as scheduled, is how some international players who are not already in the United States will be able to get to the Masters, which begins in three weeks in Augusta., Ga. In the wake of President Trump’s announcement Wednesday night that travel from Europe to the U.S. will be halted beginning Friday, that may make it difficult for players to travel.
As for whether the Masters will even take place, Alan Shipnuck of Golf.com reported Thursday a text message he received from an Augusta National member that stated: “I believe the tournament will be played. Discussions are ongoing. Limiting patrons seems likely. Might be none at all. Closing practice rounds, canceling the Par-3 … everything is on the table. Expect an announcement next week.”
It seems, at the moment, more likely that the Masters would be played without spectators.
“Given the chance to play the Masters if they weren’t going to let people in, I’d still want to be out there playing and trying to win a Masters,” said Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion. “Of course, I’d miss (the roars) a lot, but I’d rather still have the opportunity to play.”
