PGA Tour announces ban on fans at upcoming events

The PGA Tour has announced a ban on fans at its upcoming tournaments, beginning with tomorrow’s second round of the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass

The move comes amid the continued global spread of the coronavirus and will remain in force until at least the Valero Texas Open, which takes place from April 2-5 – the week before the Masters.

The affected tournaments are: The PLAYERS Championship (Rounds 2-4); the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort in Florida; the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Texas; and the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio, also in Texas.

Additionally, the tour has also announced the postponement of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, scheduled to take place at the Corales Golf Club in the Dominican Republic from March 26-29.

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Making the announcement, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that suspending the tour “indefinitely”, as has happened with NBA basketball, ATP tennis and MLS football, had been considered but was ultimately ruled out – at least for now.

“We are comfortable that this is the right path but it is something we’ll consider going forward,” said Monahan. 

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Meanwhile, it is believed that Masters officials still plan on staging next month’s tournament – but they, too, are reckoned to be seriously
exploring the prospect of playing it behind closed doors.

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According to Golf Digest’s Brian Wacker and Joel
Beall, the first men’s major championship of the season is proceeding as
planned.