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1. What will the immediate future of the LPGA Tour look like?
Keely Levins at Golf Digest…“The LPGA Tour announced its planned return to competition in mid-July, with a schedule of 21 events through Dec. 20-the only two off-weeks being Nov. 12-15 (when the men play the Masters) and Nov. 26-29 (Thanksgiving). Once the anticipation about seeing live golf again subsides, the question is: What exactly will the LPGA look like come July and how will it be different?”
- “The past several weeks have conditioned us to expect bad news, which makes one change to the LPGA truly surprising. Some purse sizes at the remaining events have gone up. How, in the middle of a pandemic that has triggered a global economic crisis, has that happened? LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan and his team say that’s it’s actually really simple: contraction and generous corporate partners. While the tour was able to reschedule many events, nine were unable to find a new place on the adjusted calendar. Some of the sponsors of those tournaments took prize money they were planning to use on their own event and gave it to a tournament that’s still on the schedule.”
- “They [title sponsors] wanted to be good partners with us and for us. They didn’t really want the credit of ‘here, take our money,’ but they really wanted to help our membership. So it was really, truly relationship-driven and being good partners to the LPGA,” Ricki Lasky, the tour’s chief tournament business officer, said.
2. Details of LPGA pushed-back restart
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, originally scheduled for June 19-21, will now be held Aug. 28-30, taking the place of the now canceled UL International Crown.”
- “The KPMG Women’s PGA is the latest major to move to a fall date. Originally scheduled for late June, the championship will now be held Oct. 8-11 at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.”
- “Four other events that were scheduled to take place earlier this spring and then postponed – Volvik Founders Cup, LOTTE Championship, HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open and LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship – have now been canceled for this season. That’s now a total of eight canceled events for 2020 plus the International Crown.”
- “The Marathon Classic, Meijer LPGA Classic, new Pelican Women’s Championship and Volunteers of America Classic have all moved to later dates…”
3. Romo happy to help
Brentley Romine at Golf Channel on Tony Romo’s week at the Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational…”Mr. Romo has needed a substitute teacher for a few days this week as he competes in a fundraising tournament at his home club, Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas. The Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational was created to raise money for the club’s caddies, who have been out of work since late March.”
- “For Romo, this week’s event has been less about making a statement – the 54-hole event, which features several PGA Tour pros and top amateurs, is the first golf tournament to be played in Texas since the shutdown – and more about giving back. All entry fees ($250 each) will be donated to the caddies while some players have chipped in more.”
- “I think more than anything, you’re trying to do good for some small causes,” Romo said. “Everyone in our position has helped out in a lot of different ways and it’s great just to see. The fact that it’s here, it’s local and it’s home, it’s just something that as soon as they were doing it, obviously I wanted to help out. Hopefully you’ll see stuff will slowly start to come back and people will be safe and those people who have been in trouble during this, hopefully we’ve been able to help in a small way.”
4. Faldo on golf without fans
Steve DiMeglio at Golfweek quoting the six-time major champion...”I don’t want to visualize that,” Sir Nick Faldo told Golfweek this week about the possible soundless scenarios due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. “I think matches or games or some tournaments are fine without fans, but finals? I would deem the Ryder Cup a final, just like the Super Bowl and the World Series. And the major championships fall in that line, too.
- “You have to have fans for the atmosphere, I would think.”
- …”Fans are really more than the atmosphere. They are part of the event,” Faldo said. “I laugh thinking when Tommy Fleetwood does his famous celebration in the Ryder Cup when he holes his putt, he’s going to look around and see nobody and he’s screaming to birds at Whistling Straits? Or Tiger fist-pumps after a huge putt and hears crickets?
5. LPGA testing plans
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell…”PGA commissioner Mike Whan believes testing for COVID-19 could be in large supply by the end of May, but he’s building a safety net by pushing back his tour’s re-start another month to mid-July.”
- “He wants to make sure his staff and players have a handle on how testing will work in a revamped world of competition.”
- “He also wants to make sure the communities they are visiting feel good about testing’s prevalence with a global roster of players coming their way.”
- “I think we’ve bought ourselves a month’s worth of safety and probably sanity, in terms of availability,” Whan said Wednesday in a conference call.”
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19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole2 weeks ago
