While the PGA Tour has stated that it will not allow fans in its tournaments for the remainder of the current season and in its 2020-21 campaign opening event, Golf Digest has learned that the organization will begin allowing more people to be there, starting with next week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis.
In an email sent to players Wednesday night and obtained from Golf Digest, the tour said that tournaments and title sponsors will be allowed to have up to 50 guests per day from Thursday to Sunday and that spouses and significant others they could be admitted on the spot during the competition days.
Guests of sponsors and significant spouses / others will not be tested for COVID-19 but will have to undergo a temperature check and complete a questionnaire every day upon arrival. There will also be restrictions on where they can go once on the grounds.
“These programs will be implemented on a tournament-by-tournament basis, in accordance with current state and local guidelines and at the tournament’s discretion,” said tour chief of operations, Tyler Dennis, in the email.
There will also be honorary observers – 16 groups of two a day – and what the tour calls virtual player involvement, which will replace traditional Wednesday pro-am, which have been canceled for the rest of the season. Up to 30 players would be required to participate in tasks such as questions and answers of 30 to 45 minutes, while 10 players would be available for similar activities on Tuesday or Wednesday of the tournament week.
All in all, these programs would add around 500 or more bodies on site each week in addition to the already around 1,100 currently in tournaments between players, caddy, volunteers, media and officials.
Likewise, starting next week’s Pinnacle Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour, there will be on-site access to what the email calls the representatives of the selected tournament sponsors and other VIPs, as well as a limited number of honorary observers. On a weekly basis, the spouses of the players or significant others will also be able to participate during the days of the competitions.
Below is a complete list of which tournaments will allow which element:
Former St. Jude Invitational powered by the WGC
Involvement of the virtual player: Yes
Hosted experiences: No
Honorary observers: Yes
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: Yes
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: Yes
Barracuda championship
Involvement of the virtual player: Yes
Hosted experiences: No
Honorary observers: No
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: No
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: NoPGA championship
Involvement of the virtual player: No
Hosted experiences: No
Honorary observers: No
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: No
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: No
Wyndham championship
Involvement of the virtual player: Yes
Hosted experiences: Yes
Honorary observers: Yes
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: Yes
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: Yes
The Northern Trust
Involvement of the virtual player: Yes
Experiences hosted: TBD
Honorary observers: TBD
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: TBD
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: No
BMW Championship
Involvement of the virtual player: Yes
Hosted experiences: Yes
Honorary observers: Yes
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: Yes
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: Yes
Tour Championship
Involvement of the virtual player: Yes
Hosted experiences: Yes
Honorary observers: Yes
Spouses / Significant Other Spectators: Yes
Spouses / Other significant access to facilities: Yes
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