The Open 2020 cancelled as US golf majors set provisional new dates

The Open Championship has emerged, for now, as the outlier in this year’s major scene after cancelling its 149th staging scheduled for Royal St George’s in July. No sooner had the R&A confirmed that unprecedented step in peacetime than golf’s other big three - the US PGA Championship, Masters and US Open - issued new dates for 2020 despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The Ryder Cup also remains in its designated position, from 25 September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

Royal St George’s will still have an Open slot, but in July 2021. “I can assure everyone that we have explored every option for playing the Open this year but it is not going to be possible,” said Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive.

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“There are many different considerations that go into organising a major sporting event of this scale. We rely on the support of the emergency services, local authorities and a range of other organisations to stage the championship and it would be unreasonable to place any additional demands on them when they have far more urgent priorities to deal with.”

There are also commercial factors. Insiders have confirmed the R&A has a pandemic insurance policy in place which is almost identical to Wimbledon’s - cancelled last week - meaning it will be reimbursed for any losses incurred. The R&A’s funding of various grassroots projects will not be affected by a cancellation which breaks the Open’s unbroken sequence which began in 1945.

Mid-September had earlier been cited as the most likely plan B for this year’s Open but was ultimately ruled out on various grounds, included in which was the fact school summer holidays will have ended. Some 200,000 ticket holders were expected at Sandwich in July, with the R&A committed to a full refund for those who cannot, or choose not, to attend next year.

St Andrews will host the 150th Open, as was always intended, but in 2022 as opposed to 2021. The likelihood is that Royal Liverpool and Royal Troon, initially due to host the Opens of 2022 and 2023 respectively, will each slip back a year.

Most notable in a lengthy scheduling bulletin from golf bodies in the United States was a new Masters proposal. Augusta National typically hosts the year’s first major in early April, with the 84th edition postponed in March as coronavirus took hold. The Masters now has “intended dates” of the week commencing 9 November in what, should it transpire, will mark an historic shift.

“We want to emphasise that our future plans are incumbent upon favourable counsel and direction from health officials,” said Fred Ridley, Augusta National’s chairman. “Provided that occurs and we can conduct the 2020 Masters, we intend to invite those professionals and amateurs who would have qualified for our original April date and welcome all existing ticket holders to enjoy the excitement of Masters week.

“We remain very mindful of the extraordinary and unprecedented challenges presented by the coronavirus around the world. As such, we continue to keep in close contact with local, state and national health authorities to help inform our decisions.”

The US PGA Championship, to be held at Harding Park in San Francisco, is now due to tee off on 6 August. This appears optimistic given news from California over the weekend. After President Trump projected an “August or September” start for sport with spectators in the US, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, asserted: “I’m not anticipating that happening in this state. We have to be careful not to over-promise.”

The United States Golf Association simultaneously postponed the US Open, initially scheduled for 18-21 June at Winged Foot, and delivered a revised start date of 17 September. This means the major would be played the week before the US hosts Europe in the Ryder Cup. That biennial joust has thus far been unaffected.

The PGA Tour has announced plans to complete its regular season on Monday 7 September, with the conclusion of the Tour Championship at East Lake. “The Tour will seek to reschedule tournaments into the weeks formerly occupied by the US Open, the Open Championship and the men’s Olympic golf competition in June and July,” it added. It has been suggested the PGA Tour may look to return to competition in June, but without spectators. The European Tour will schedule revisions in the coming weeks after a raft of postponements.