Coronavirus: Another European Tour event postponed

There will be no golf on the European Tour until May at the very earliest, following news that the Andalucia Masters has been called off.

The tournament was the next tournament on the schedule following the cancellation of this week’s Hero Indian Open, as well as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, The Masters, Maybank Malaysian Open and Volvo China Open. 

However, the European Tour has tonight confirmed that the tournament, which had been due to take place from April 30 to May 3 at Valderrama, now won’t be played. 

Javier Reviriego, the CEO of Real Club Valderrama, said: “We are deeply concerned by the current developments related to coronavirus and we believe postponing the event is the best decision. 

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“We will work jointly with the European Tour and our sponsors to find a new date in the calendar to host this fantastic golf tournament. All of us at Valderrama look forward to hosting players and fans when we put this exceptional situation behind us.”

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European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley added: “We are all taking a day-by-day approach at the moment and we continue to assess the impact of coronavirus on all our events, but following discussions with all parties involved, it was clear that postponing the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation at this point is the correct course of action. 

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“Public health and well-being remains the absolute priority for all of us.”

The postponement of the Andalucia Masters brings the total number of European Tour events affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 to eight. 

The next event currently scheduled to take place on the European Tour is GolfSixes at Oitavois Dunes in Portugal from May 9-10 followed by the US PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park the following week.