Players such as Rory McIlroy may believe that a Ryder Cup without fans is not a Ryder Cup and so should be postponed but the truth is Europe cannot afford to postpone the event if the knock-on effect is the pushing back of the 2022 match.
In this period of lockdowns, we know that 2020 Ryder Cup Captain Padraig Harrington will be fine. A couple of years back he invited GolfPunk to go All Back To His with him where he treated us to a trick shot spectacular, showed us his man cave, took us on at pool & table tennis and let us hoist the Wanamaker Trophy and Claret Jugs!!!!
As the Coronavirus crisis rumbles on golf tours facing an uncertain future. Every week that passes means that both the PGA Tour and European Tour are losing millions in TV and sponsorship revenues. The Americans have a plan for survival but their European counterparts face the perfect storm of challenges that threaten the existence of the European Tour itself.
Golfers will have an opportunity to tee it up with a top-ranked tour player, schedule their next golf lesson with a world-renowned instructor, get fit like a professional, or even experience Pebble Beach with a local resident, while ‘Chipping In’ to make a difference with the COVID-19 Relief Charity Golf Auction.
It’s a very challenging time for players of all standards. Attending the course or driving range is out of bounds however this time can be used to good use. Simon Capon offers some ways to use this time productively and illustrate how players can come out of this situation a much stronger psychological player than the one who entered it.
I’m just about to pay my annual subscription, a tad late but hopefully given the current circumstances my tardiness is overlooked. I will be signing a cheque, or more likely be doing an online transfer, for a chunky sum of money, at a time when I have absolutely no idea when my next round will come. I am happy to pay up but many up and down the country will be thinking twice.
As we feared the 'Covidiots' have spoiled it for the responsible vast majority in the UK and we are not only in lockdown but golf is also out of bounds! England Golf, Scotland Golf, Wales Golf and the Golfing Union of Ireland all confirmed that courses must now shut until further notice.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington has scotched the stories of this September's event being moved back a year to 2021 saying that the reports were "made-up stuff". Social media had been awash with suggestions that the match which is due to take place from 25th to 27th September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin was to be a further casualty of Coronavirus.
Before you get too excited it is Bryson DeChambeau’s ball speed that is going north rather than his pace around the paddock! The man who spent the majority of the off-season pumping iron showed off the results of that work ahead of the Player’s Championship.
As previously reported, the Golf Hall of Fame recently amended the qualification criteria moving the minimum age for both male and females to 45 from 50. So, it was hardly a ‘dropped my bacon sandwich’ moment when we learned that Tiger was on the list of finalists.
Royal Troon first hosted The Open in 1923, and the great event will return to the famed links course in South Ayrshire a century on from that first staging. In 2023 Royal Troon will be staging the event for the tenth time, the last time being 2016 when Henrik Stenson prevailed in a mighty battle with Phil Mickelson.
It’s Manic Monday, so here is a very quick round up of all the results and stories from the weekend on the, PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA and Women’s European Tour.
