PGA to ease back into tournaments in Florida, sans crowds

Whole new game: The Players Championship is an entirely different course in March than in May. Image via PGA Tour.

The PGA is trying to ease back into golf tournaments in June in the wake of multiple events that were canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The PGA Tour had to stop or postpone at least 13 events once the coronavirus pandemic set in.

Based in Ponte Vedra Beach, the PGA Tour announced this week it will start tournaments in mid-June. While the Tour outlined plans for tournaments for nationwide dates through October, the PGA will begin with two events in Florida.

The Korn Ferry Tour (formerly known as the Web.com tour) came out with a modified slate of events that are, for now, part of the schedule for professional golfers to return to competitive play. The Korn Ferry Tour is a competitive developmental tour of events for younger or newer players.

The two Florida events on the Korn Ferry Tour include the Challenge at TPC Sawgrass from June 8-14 in Ponte Vedra. The second event comes the following week from June 15-20 in the King & Bear Classic at World Golf Village just north of St. Augustine.

While the Korn Ferry Tour events will provide ample opportunity for players to compete, they’ll begin with no spectators. The two events will play in St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra, while closed to spectators.

At least the next two events after the Northeast Florida tournaments will also be closed to the public. Those events are from June 22-28 in Farmington, Utah, and June 29-July 5 in Berthoud, Colorado. PGA Tour officials said they would monitor developments on the coronavirus outbreak after the first four events to determine whether they’ll let spectators attend further events.

“As we look toward a return to golf, the health and safety of everyone associated with the Korn Ferry Tour and our communities will remain our No. 1 priority,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “With the impact sustained thus far to our 2020 schedule, it was imperative that we strive to create new playing opportunities for our membership …”

Gov. Ron DeSantis is also trying to put golf back into play as he announced there would be a charitable tournament sometime in May. PGA Tour veterans Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson — along with NFL greats Tom Brady and Peyton Manning — have committed to take part in the event.

They have yet to set a date and venue for the charitable match designed to raise donations for COVID-19 victims.