golf tournament? You crowd in together entering the course. You crowd together in the pro shop buying merch, you crowd together at the beer tent, you crowd together around the green watching the world’s greatest putt out. It’s a communal activity, directly at odds with the need for social distancing." data-reactid="16">Have you ever been to a golf tournament? Participate together to enter the course. Crowd together in the pro shop to buy merch, crowd together at the beer tent, crowd around the green to watch the largest putt in the world. It is a community activity, directly in contrast with the need for social estrangement.
golf course for fans. So when the PGA Tour announced back in the spring that next week’s Memorial would be its first tournament to welcome back fans, there was cautious hope. Surely golf fans could be trusted to keep far apart, right? Surely they’d stay separated to minimize the spread of coronavirus, right?" data-reactid="17">However, there is a lot of space on a golf course for fans. So when the PGA Tour announced in the spring that next week’s Memorial would be his first tournament to welcome fans, there was cautious hope. Surely golf enthusiasts could trust themselves to stay away, right? They would definitely stay separate to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, right?
Cut to July 2020. With cases spanning across the nation, including in Ohio’s home state of the Memorial, the PGA Tour has decided that maybe fans on the ropes aren’t a great idea after all.
“Given the wider challenges that communities face as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we must remain focused on priority # 1 for our return to golf – the health and safety of everyone involved,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “Although this was a difficult decision, it was taken collectively and we are grateful for the process undertaken so far that will allow us to welcome fans on the spot when the time is right.”
The tour had worked with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to devise a plan that included 8,000 fans per day, roughly 20 percent of the tournament’s normal capacity. All fans on the spot should have worn masks. There would have been no stands and the areas around the holes would have been clearly marked as one-way to minimize interactions.
Jack Nicklaus and Patrick Cantlay at Memorial 2019. (Getty)
But like many other states, Ohio has seen an increase in positive tests in the past few weeks. Each day in July was above the state’s 21-day moving average of 762 positive tests, with a July 2 peak at 1,301 positive tests. Overall, Ohio has registered 57,151 virus cases.
Tour players themselves were not immune to the virus; more players and caddies have contracted the virus and players like Brooks Koepka and Webb Simpson have withdrawn due to infection or exposure.
The 3M Open and the PGA Championship had already announced that they would play without the fans in attendance. So the first that the galleries could fill is now the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis and the Barracuda Championship in Reno, both scheduled for July 30th. 2.
With the caveat that very few of us are epidemiologists, this reversal illustrates how difficult it will be for fans to participate in sporting events anytime soon. If the Tour does not believe that 20 percent of normal capacity fans, with room to move virtually anywhere on a route, can safely watch an event, how can we expect to see fans who would be limited to a single seat?
We will see fans surround Tiger Woods sooner or later. But at the moment, it certainly seems later than before.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him with story tips and ideas at [email protected].
