Monahan Emphasizes Need For Widespread, Large Scale COVID-19 Testing If PGA Tour Is To Return

The Detroit News’ Tony Paul highlighted the remarks while attempting to determine if June’s Rocket Mortgage Classic could even be played. But a day after another oddly-timed schedule rollout tone deaf to over 4000 lives lost in a single day (in the U.S.) and parallels were suggested between a contagious virus pandemic and 9/11, Jay Monahan hit all the right notes discussing with Mike Tirico the possibility of a PGA Tour return.

Even better, not one mention of golf being played on 3-400 acres.

Talking to Tirico on his NBC Sports show, Lunch Time Live, Monahan made clear what is necessary for early June’s Colonial.

"We need to have widespread, large-scale testing across our country, where we are going to be able to test players, caddies and other constituents before we return," Monahan told Tirico. 

"But we need to do so (in a way) that's not going to take away from the critical need we're going to be facing."

Players were fairly muted in expressing strong views either way about the planned return, though Brooks Koepka wondered if the push was too soon while Justin Thomas praised Tour leadership for at least trying.

The full conversation was posted at YouTube:

Marion! World Golf Hall Of Fame Adds The Golf Great And Visionary

Marion Hollins was announced as a new member of the World Golf Hall of Fame’s 2021 class. While her playing record was nice, Hollins was the kind of early pioneer for American golf that HOF requirements can often overlook. Yet now here she is, in and thanks in large part to the efforts of Pasatiempo historian Bob Beck and many others, finally getting deserved recognition.

Jim McCabe filed this excellent PGATour.com look at her captivating and ultimately too-short life as an athlete, dreamer and doer.

If you missed it last year, David Owen filed this item for the New Yorker considering Hollins’ influence on Bobby Jones and the creation of Augusta National.

Beth Ann Nichols puts Hollins in the top 5 all-time influential women in golf. Works for me.

As GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell writes, she is finally forgotten no more.

She’s being remembered in a big way with Friday’s news that she will join Tiger Woods as the second inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame’s class of 2021. Hollins, who died in 1944, at the age of 51, was selected through the contributor category as a “visionary golf course architect” and pioneer of the game. More inductees will be joining Woods and Hollins over the next week or so.

“When you start reading about Marion Hollins, you realize what a trailblazer she was,” said Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, one of the co-chairs of the selection committee. “In her era, she didn’t have many resources with the status of women in sports and golf. To be that kind of trailblazer with that kind of enthusiasm and energy and get into course development and design is very inspirational.”

A nice set of photos of Marion:

Had the privilege of spending a lot of time with on-site Pasatiempo historian last visit, and shared some candid Marion Hollins stories and photos with me.

Here’s Marion hitting opening tee shot to open Pasa, one of her Christmas cards, and original green sketch. #GolfHOF2021 👏 pic.twitter.com/RGhTqk89o2

— Pete Pappas (@PGAPappas) April 17, 2020

Here is our Golf Channel feature on three women who made an impact on Bobby Jones, featuring Hollins five minutes into the piece:

COVID-19: 48%: U.S. Golf Course Closure Rate Declines A Bit

From 44% last week, with a margin of error of +/-3%, the National Golf Foundation’s surveying suggests a sizeable number of courses remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The findings reflect the at-times uncertain nature of golf operations in states like Texas and New York, where recent amendments to executive orders specified that golf is a non-essential business.

While the governor of Texas, which has the fifth-most courses in the country, last week said golf was a non-essential business, he later clarified that they can continue to allow play provided they maintain safe distancing practices and adhere to adjusted operational guidelines prescribed the CDC.

In the Northeast, New York’s various golf associations said last week that the state’s recent “non-essential” advisory didn’t affect non-commercial recreation activities — an interpretation that would potentially pertain to hundreds of private clubs in the region.

R.I.P. The Greenbrier Classic

Jim Justice’s purchase of the Greenbrier Resort and subsequent ten playings of the Greenbrier Classic made for a welcome addition to the PGA Tour.

Besides bringing the pros to West Virginia and highlighting C.B. Macdonald’s work, the stop gave pro golf another look at an interesting old-school layout.

Lost though in the remaining 2020 schedule rollout was the tournament’s demise despite having seven years left on its existing contract, notes GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall. Officials with the event blamed the move to fall, in part, on what killed off the event, according to Beall’s report.

In a statement, Greenbrier officials said the tournament moving to the fall had not gone as well as hoped compared to its Fourth of July date. The Greenbrier said attendance and the attractiveness of sponsors "dropped significantly."

And this from AP’s

The yearly tournament, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, has struggled to draw fanfare after moving from summer to fall. Last year, attendance dragged as the matches went up against college football home games, even as one of Justice's family mining companies bought 30,000 tickets to give away to fans.

“We are happy to reach a resolution with the PGA Tour that is mutually beneficial to both parties in this time of crisis,” said Jill Justice, the governor's daughter and president of The Greenbrier.

Just a reminder here that the PGA Tour rearranged it’s calendar schedule to the dreaded wraparound for two reasons: to avoid football season and to elevate the fall events into tournaments with FedExCup points status. The Greenbrier took a year off to accommodate a leap to the fall and now, is no more with seven years left on its deal.

An Alternative To Raised Cups: The EZ Lift

Nice spot by Alex Myers at GolfDigest.com to post this device in use at Cobblestone Golf Course in Acworth, Georgia.

It’s an upgrade to raised cups, though who actually makes it, I’m not sure.

Check out the new EZ Lift ball retrievers that we have installed on all flagsticks. No need to ever touch the flagstick again! pic.twitter.com/h5oKyXQME5

— Cobblestone (@CobblestoneGolf) April 16, 2020

Last Call: McKellar Journal Issue 3 For $10

At a time we all need a little extra distraction reading, many thanks to co-founders Lawrence Donegan and Thomas Dunne for knocking a few dollars off the McKellar Journal cover price to provide the best issue yet.

Here is the last chance, with code SHACK, to get issue 3 for $10 plus shipping. Today, Thursday April 16 is the final day of this promotion. Thank you already to all who have picked up a copy or checked out McKellar’s website.

Also, one of my favorite pieces in an issue with 20 superb reads, is now available to listen to:

PGA Tour To Players Uncomfortable With June Return : "You're an independent contractor. You're not required to be at any PGA TOUR event."

The PGA Tour rolled out an ambitious 2019-20 schedule completion, followed by a 2020-21 schedule start (minus the suddenly-defunct Greenbrier Classic and cancelled Canadian and Barbasol stops). But this comment from the PGA Tour’s Andy Pazder is certainly accurate, though insensitive to players who have COVID-19 concerns.

From a teleconference featuring operations heads Andy Pazdur and Tyler Dennis in support of the schedule rollout:

Q. What about the players who don't feel comfortable? There are going to be players who don't feel comfortable coming back. What happens to those players if you start and they're not comfortable coming back playing again?

ANDY PAZDER: That's a question I think you need to direct to individual players. My only experience with anything like this I guess would be the first few tournaments following 9/11. We had players that were uneasy about air travel. That's one of the beauties of being a PGA TOUR member; you're an independent contractor. You're not required to be at any PGA TOUR event. So they have that discretion to play tournaments where they favor the golf course or tournaments in this instance, to your question, they may or may not feel comfortable. But that's an individual player decision.

So I would direct you to reach out to some of the players that you know to get their direct perspective. I can't speak on their behalf as it relates to that.

Athletes in other sports have already begun to openly question the sanity of quarantining in the same hotels. For example, in baseball, which has considered a concept of stationary games and hotels, normally not-outspoken players are sensing their safety and sanity is not being taken into account (Bill Shaikin reports on the comments of Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw).

The PGA Tour’s plan is to have robust testing, as Rex Hoggard reports, and the repeated mention of this key point was reassuring. So was the plan to only go forward if testing is not being taken away from those on the front lines or more in need.

Details of how things work on course are still being worked out:

TYLER DENNIS: Yeah, so that's another part of our analysis that we've been working on, you know, from a health and safety point of view, but even with the rules officials, for example. So if you think about how a player and a caddie travel throughout their daily competition routine, we've looked at -- we've mapped out and are still in the process of finalizing what that day looks like, because we know that golf can be played in a safe way that abides by social distancing guidelines, and we're seeing that in many spaces across the country, by the way, at the amateur level. But we can apply some of those same principles to golf on the PGA TOUR.

So anyway, from the driving range to the first tee, all kinds of little details, scorecards and bunker rakes and flagsticks and how we can make sure all that is done in a socially distanced way and make sure that things stay safe and clean and sanitized. So there's a big project going on to think about those details, and as we get closer, we'll certainly share with you guys those details of how that day would look.

But in general I think that the daily life of a PGA TOUR golfer and his caddie won't be tremendously different. We're just going to have to have some nuances to relate to social distancing and safe sanitation practices.

Not addressed and still not clear beyond safety and logistics: the optics of returning and using resources in markets that are still under strain, and what damage that could do to the PGA Tour’s reputation.

Today In Calming Diversionary Content: Augusta National Posts Nearly 45 Minutes Of Naturescapes

Think of this posted by the Masters YouTube page as the springtime version of a yule log…and also a reminder that the 12the green is really, really small.

Who needs the Calm app when you have this?

Brooks Koepka: Give Me The Old Course Every Day

USA Today’s Steve DiMeglio interviewed Brooks Koepka about a range of topics and while his favorite snack is noteworthy, the wokesters and architecturalistas will rejoice hearing his very non-Florida Man answer to favorite course.

“My favorite course is St. Andrews, that’s easy. I could play that every day of my life and not get bored of it. It’s always different. Every time you play it, it’s like, why is this bunker here? Then you play it the next couple of rounds and the wind’s in a different direction, different strength, and you realize why that bunker’s there.”

Pros And Cons Of Push Playing Pro Golf Again In June

Eric Patterson at The Score lays out a smart list of pros and cons to the PGA Tour pushing to be playing in June, making it likely the first major sport to return. He calls it an “aggressive approach” and says the Tour has a chance to provide a “template” for other leagues.

So as Friday’s likely rollout, as other components to President Trump’s vision for reopening the economy are presented, keep on the look out for signs the Tour has secured testing and presented other safety-first ideas to get sports started again.

On the pro side he writes:

A successful return to play would provide other professional leagues the opportunity to determine exactly what's required to run a sporting event during the coronavirus pandemic. Lessons learned from the Tour's efforts to efficiently test players, safely travel between states, and piece together broadcasts with reduced crews could help accelerate the returns of other sports.

Unfortunately, there is no financial perk in setting that table.

Another “pro” left out: never having to see those virile and virus-friendly bro hug/shakes that we won’t have to endure again. Ever.

The con side makes you wonder what the insurance costs will be to play events when portrayed this way:

The PGA Tour can't really be confined to a single city or state, a luxury other professional sports have the opportunity to explore. Not all players can afford to charter private flights, either; pros will be frequenting airports, staying in hotels, and eating at restaurants on the road.

Imagine the backlash if a player tests positive for COVID-19 after returning to action and the PGA Tour is forced to shut down yet again. This single con might outweigh all the pros combined.

PGA Tour To Unveil June Restart Schedule And Replace Weeks Of Other Tournaments Cancelled By COVID-19

I hope that headline was not too subtle.

Yes, postponed or cancelled events like the Olympic Games, U.S. Open and Open Championship will be replaced by PGA Tour events. It’s a little hard to picture, but we’ll go with it and watch how this is rolled out. Namely, will there be any suggestion of measures taken to ensure all can safely travel to and play in these events?

What precautions are being taken for everyone else besides players?

One big change from rumored concepts: the RBC Heritage Classic that would be played this week will now move to the end of June as the second stop after Colonial. Travel between states remains a huge concern, while the U.S. has a travel ban on visitors from many parts of the globe.

From Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com exclusive:

After the Charles Schwab Challenge, the Tour has an opening on its calendar for a “Potential PGA Tour Tournament” from June 18-21, when the U.S. Open was to be held before the USGA announced its postponement to September. Scheduling conversations at the Tour remain ongoing and fluid, but according to multiple sources, the RBC Heritage, originally scheduled to be played this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, is likely to fill that slot.

He goes on to present a schedule which, absent a massive outpouring of COVID-19 tests and data, along with signs that travel will return to normal, makes this an wildly optimistic. Also, several of the markets targeted just may not be ready for any kind of event by then given the still-unfolding and increasing loss of life.

On a lighter note, no word yet on the Wyndham Rewards points ramifications, though layoffs, salary cuts and other struggles for the hotel chain might influence that.

The schedule sent to players:

Here it is....the new PGA Tour schedule..

First event....June 8 🙄🙄 pic.twitter.com/w4zPBgWSNZ

— McKellar Magazine (@McKellarJournal) April 15, 2020

Mike Clayton: "All the fun of the unfair"

Generally when golf has had a pause caused by wars, the sport has used the times as an opportunity to consider its playing values. Sometimes the sport moved in a better direction (after WWI), and other times in ways that aged as well as a Robert Trent Jones runway tee.

As we consider what will happen to some of the trends and shifting values, Mike Clayton reminds us that somehow, some way, golf grew when it was far more unfair than anyone today could ever know. That made it fun and who knows, our idea of fun may radically change in this bizarre time.

Either way, check out his piece for Golf Australia.

I loved this:

What changed was the introduction of the concept of “fairness” and the idea formulated primarily by Americans and adopted largely by Australians (and most others) that you had to be able to see where you were going. The notion of the “blind shot” was seen as somehow silly, poor design and something to be avoided by course architects at all costs.

Bunkers in the middle of fairways came to be viewed as poor hazards catching “perfect” drives. Yet if the measure of a perfect shot is its position in relation to the one following how could a drive into a bunker possibly be seen as perfect?

That two players could hit almost the same shot and come up with two quite different results also was seen as being unfair and the result has been a sanitisation of the original game. Architectural quirks, the luck of the bounce and multiple ways of playing a shot and a hole make the game unpredictable and offend the “predictable” crowd.

I do wonder if deprived the game will golfers be able to laugh at themselves more because they’re just so happy to be out playing?

Florida Governor Wants Woods-Mickelson Match For Content-Starved World

Ron DeSantis has made sports an essential business in Florida, reports Jan Jankowski. He wants to generate content.

Gov. DeSantis said he is open to supporting more sporting events with no crowds.

“If NASCAR does a race and can televise it without having a large crowd, I think that’s a good thing,“ he said.

He also mentioned he would be open to seeing a Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson golf challenge in the state.

“We wouldn’t have a gallery there, you wouldn’t have crowds. But to put that on TV, I think people have been starved for content,” DeSantis said.

So the easy part is done: Florida will host The Match 2 or whatever they are reportedly cooking up in the name of COVID-19 charity.

Now the hard part for Phil and Tiger: getting a PGA Tour release.

Waugh: PGA Championship Prepared To Play Without Fans

GolfDigest.com’s Daniel Rappaport sums up PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh’s comments to satellite radio.

In short, the PGA of America is confident they will play a “fairly normal” PGA at TPC Harding Park rescheduled for early August.

“If the safest and/or the only way to [hold the PGA] is to do it without fans, we’re fully prepared to do that,” Waugh said. “We believe that having it as a television event is worth doing regardless of whether there’s fans there or not.

“Obviously that’ll change the experience, but we think the world is starved for entertainment—particularly in sports—and we think golf has the unique ability to be first out among sports in that we’re played over a couple hundred acres.”

Oh no, the acreage thing again.

Anyway, Gavin Newsom, the Golden State’s Governor, spoke today and presented primary issues as part of a three-state effort to restart the west coast economy. He indicated that large gatherings will almost assuredly be unlikely this August:

Gov. Newsom: “The prospect of mass gatherings is negligible at best until we get to herd immunity or a vaccine.”

But... “Things can change radically” if there’s therapeutics and tracing.

Says any sort of large gathering of strangers in June, July, August is extremely unlikely

— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dieter) April 14, 2020

Here is the clip of Waugh speaking to Sirius/XM’s Dave Marr:

.@PGA CEO Seth Waugh currently has 3 plans for the @PGAChampionship scheduled August 6th-9th at @TPCHardingPark:

Plan A) Hold it as normal with fans
Plan B) Hold it as normal without fans
Plan C) Stage it at another site pic.twitter.com/uc6CeT5vPf

— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) April 14, 2020

State Of The Game Episode 104: What Will Become Of The European Tour?

As we recorded, Paul McGinley’s warning of lower purses and other issues with golf’s hoped-for return was on our State of the Game minds. Since then the ominous news from European Tour Chief Keith Pelley to his players surfaced in this James Corrigan Telegraph story. Namely, smaller purses and way fewer tournament build-out perks.

So professional golf on hold for the foreseeable future we explore what the pro game might look like on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we consider whether the European Tour can survive the current crisis and if not will it the PGA Tour or the Premier Golf League become its savior?

To flesh this out, we are joined by sports business expert Richard Gillis on Episode 104 of State of the Game. Embedded below or wherever you get your pods.

For more from Gillis, check out his excellent Unofficial Partner podcast and blog covering global sports.