New York Post - 13.03.2020

(Ben Green) #1
New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020

nypost.com

LAST LOOK:RickieFowler
tees off along thewater on
No. 18 in front of a packed
hillside of fans. The PGA
Tour initially planned to
continue the tournament
— without fans — but
called it off around 9:45 on
Thursday night. EPA

P


ONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.
— The PGA Tour was play-
ing a dangerousgame.
Thankfully, after hoursof head
scratchingbased on a decision
that had potentialto blow up in its
face, the Tour cameto its senses.
BeginningWednesday night,
oneby one,every major sports
league and organization had been
canceling and suspending opera-
tions with the global threatof
coronavirus looming.
Firs t, the NBA suspended its
season until further notice on
Wednesday night. OnThursday,
the NHL and MLS did thesame.
Then the NCAATournamentwas
canceledcompletely. Andfinally,

Major League Baseball canceled
the rest of spring training and
postponed the startof the regular
season.
The PGA Tour, meanwhile,
carried on its merryway, playing
Thursday’s openinground of The
Players Championship, the orga-
nization’s flagshiptournament, in
frontof any fan who had a ticket

to get in at TPCSawgrass.
It was not agood look.
Nor was PGA Tour commis-
sionerJay Monahan, in a noon
pressconference Thursday,
announcing thatThe Players
would play on without spectators
and so,too, would the next three
tournaments — nextweek’s Val-
spar inTampa, theWGC Match
Play inAustin,Texas, and the
ValeroTexas Open inSan Anto-
nio.
Who knows what finallygot to
Monahanover dinner, but shortly
before10:30 p.m. Thursday, the
PGA Tour reversedfield and
announced that itwas canceling
the rest of The Players and the

threetournamentsfollowing it.
Now thegolf ball rests on the
first tee of Augusta National,
which was curiouslyradio silent
on Thursdaywhile therest of the
sportsworl d crumbled before our
disbelievingeyes.
Mastersweek begins April 8
and it’s anyone’s guess whether it
will go on — with or without its
“patrons’’ ... orgo on at all.
Asked after hisround Thursday
whether he’d given any thoughtto
The Masters,Rory McIlroy said,
“Yeah, I have a little bit. I don’t see
how they can let spectators in if
they doplay it at this point.’’
That was the originaltack tak-
en by Monahan in the afternoon.

And, given theblack-and-white
decisions the other leagues and
organizations made, that never
felt like enoughconsidering the
uneasy, if frightening, timeswe
live in at the moment.
Godforbid anyone involved
contracted the virusat Sawgrass
this week as aresult of the tour-
namentplaying on the next three
days.
What if oneof the players was
stricken as aresult of the tourna-
mentgoing on?That would bea
stain the powers of Ponte Vedra
would never be ableto erase.Nev-
er mind that,what about a poten-
tial lawsuit theTour mightface if
that happened?

I wantedThe Players Champi-
onshipto be played. I want The
Masters and allof the tourna-
mentsto be played. I’m agolf
junkie. I love playing thegame
recreationally andcovering it pro-
fessionally.
These are nervous timesfor
everyone.We’ve all become
germophobeseven ifwe never
thought about such things before.
Despite never having been ager-
mophobe, Ifoundmyself stop-
pingat two pharmacies onmy
way to the golf courseThurs-
day morningto buy disinfectant
wipes and handsanitizer onlyto
find the shelves empty.
Beforehe arrived for his 7:5 1

a.m.tee timefor the opening
round,Lucas Glover teed off on
the PGA Tour onTwitter.
The 40-year-old with three
career PGA Tour victories,
including the2009 U.S. Openat
Bethpage Black,tweeted: “Rest
of sports and media:why don’t
they drugtest the @PGATOUR,
Tour: okay, we better start doing
that too. Rest of sports and media:
thinkwe better stop and stay
awayfrom crowds. Tour: hold our
beers it’s @THEPLAYERSChamp
week!!!’’
Later in the morning, C.T. Pan
posted a statement onTwitter
about withdrawing fromThe
Players before his scheduled 2:0 2

p.m. tee time, citing the “riskof
exposureto the Coronavirus.’’
A bigpart of Monahan’s ini-
tial reasoningfor not canceling
the tournament altogetherwas
becausegolf is an outdoor sport.
“We’re comfortable having our
players continueto play at this
time,’’ he said.
Apparently, thatcomfort level
evaporated inside thePGA Tour
offices somewhere between lunch
and dinner time.
MaybeMonahan listenedto
the powerful comments LPGA
Tour commissioner Michael
Whan delivered to the Golf
Channel onThursday night
when speaking about cancel-

ing the next threeevents on the
women’s calendar, includinga
major championship.
Whansaid he thought maybe
the LPGAcould play the next
two events, butadded, “Can I live
with it if I’m wrong? If I’m wrong,
I regret that therest of my life. If
this is a decision that’s wrong the
otherway, [that]we should have
played, I feel terrible about it, but
I can live with that.This is a deci-
sion that I may not like but I don’t
think it’s one I’llregret.’’
By night’s endThursday, even
if it took him a littletoo longto
come to the rightconclusion,
Monahan left himself with no
regrets.

By MARK CANNIZZARO

PONTE VEDRA
BEACH, Fla. —Even with
the uneasy specter of
thecoronavirus spread-
ing globally andeven in
the wake of every major
sporting league and orga-
nization suspending oper-
ations,The Players Cham-
pionship hadplans to carry
on — withplayers but no
spectators after fans were
on handfor Thursday’s
first round — through its
scheduledfour rounds.
PGA Tour commissioner
Jay Monahan announced
on Thurs-
day that
The Play-
ers aswell
as the
next threetournaments
before the Masters (Val-
spar,WGC Match Play and
ValeroTexas Open)would
be played as schedule, but
without any spectators
allowed onto thegrounds.
That was to begin with
Friday’s secondroundof
The Players Championship
at TPCSawgrass.
Now that will not hap-
pen.
In a stunning rever-
sal of plan, thePGA Tour
announcedThursday night,
nearly 10 hours after it said
it would play on, that it is
canceling therest of The
Players this week aswell as

the next threetournaments.
Players were notified
via text at about 9:50p.m.
Thursday that thetour-
nament had been can-
celed becauseof the “rap-
idly changing situation”
regarding COVID-19. In a
follow-up text, theTour
said the next threeevents
were also canceled.
So, the
nexttour-
nament on
the sched-
ule isThe
Masters,which is sched-
uledto begin April9. No
one fromAugusta National
hascommented publicly
about the status of the
year’s first major champi-
onship.
“We have pledged from
the startto be responsible,
thoughtful and transparent
with our decision process,”
the Tour said in a state-
ment. “We dideverything
possibleto crea te a safe
environmentfor ourplay-
ers in orderto continue the
event through theweek-
end, andwe were endeav-
oringto give ourfans a
much-neededrespite from

the current climate. Butat
this point — and as the sit-
uationcontinuesto rapidly
change — the right thingto
do for ourplayers and our
fans isto pause.”
This was a significant
change inplan consid-
ering that,at 6:45p.m.,
the Tour hadreleaseda

detailed operationsplan
for the next threerounds,
including mediaavailabil-
ity, logistics duringplay,
player-support services,
broadcast notes andpark-
ing plans.
On Wednesday, the NBA
suspended its season. As
Thursday unfolded, the

NHL and MLSfollowed
suit. Then the NCAA
Tournament,which was
scheduledto begin next
week, canceled the entire
eventfor thefirst time
in its history. Andfinally,
Major League Baseball
canceled therest of spring
training and postponed the
startof the regular season.
This clearly hadto put
pressure on thePGA Tour,
which was the only major
sports organization carry-
ing on with its schedule.
“I think it’s naturalto feel
pressureto do what oth-
ers have done,’’ Monahan
said earlier in the day. “I
thinkyou have to lookat
what’s uniqueto your sport
relati ve to what others have
done, and I think our sport
is unique,particularly given
the venueswhere we host
our tournaments.’’
Monahan, in his after-
noon pressconference,
said he’d spoken with
PresidentTrump and Flor-
ida Gov. Ron DeSantis and
consulted them.
“Ourteam is in con-
stantcommunication with
local health authorities in

each market in which our
tournaments areplayed,
andwe are tracking and
monitoring the health
information providedby
the CDC and theWorld
Health Organization in
additionto the travel advi-
sories providedby the U.S.
State Department,’’Mona-
han said. “Both the White
House and the Governor’s
office have been and are
supportive of the precau-
tionary measureswe have
taken to this point.It goes
withoutsaying that this
is an incredibly fluid and
dynamic situation.
“At this point in time
PGA Tour events across
all tours will currently
proceed as scheduled but
will do so withoutfans,’’
Monahanwent on. “This
policy startsat The Play-
ers Championship [Friday]
andcontinues through
theValeroTexas Open.
It’s importantto note that
could change.’’
It changedratherrapidly.
“This is a pretty serious
thing thatwe needto do all
we can to make sure that
people don’t lose lives over
it thatwe can prevent,’’
Phil Mickelsonsaid.
“This makes profession-
al sports insignificant,’’
GraemeMcDowell said.
“There are bigger thingsat
stake here.’’
[email protected]

SWING SHIFT


PGA reverses course and wipes out


Players Championship, next 3 events


After Tour comes to senses and follows the crowd, focus turns to the Masters


Mark Cannizzaro

CORONAVIRUS


IN GOLF


THENAGAIN...PGA Tour commissioner Jay
Monahan held a press conference at noon Thursday,
stating theTour’s intentions to continue the Players
Championship, but without fans the rest of theway.
Thursday night, theTour called it off. EPA
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