What Might Have Been: Golf's Return To Historic Newport Thwarted By Coronavirus

While still pressing ahead with plans for a U.S. Open in September at Winged Foot, the USGA did announce the cancellation of its U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club and the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn. Both are treasured national championship venues but any time big time golf is played at Newport, the spectacle is a joy to behold.

Scott Barrett reports from Newport on the understanding from those who worked on the 2020 Senior Open.

Planning for the 2020 U.S. Senior Open began long ago, and an official announcement was made during an intimate gathering at the Newport Marriott in April 2017. It would have been the 41st installment of the tournament, which heads to Omaha Country Club in Nebraska next year and Saucon Valley Country Club in 2022.

“It’s out of our control,” Barclay Douglas, president of Newport Country Club, told The Daily News via a phone conversation Monday morning. “It’s unfortunate because a lot of people worked hard and were anticipating this.”

The full USGA statement, which also notes no decision has been made yet on major amateur events other than the already cancelled Four-ball events.

U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championships

In addition to the postponement of the U.S. Open, the USGA has made the decision to cancel the U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championships for 2020. 

The 41st U.S. Senior Open had been scheduled for June 25-28 at Newport Country Club in Newport, R.I. The 41st edition of the championship will now be played at Omaha (Neb.) Country Club from July 8-11, 2021. The 3rd U.S. Senior Women’s Open, which was scheduled to take place July 9-12 at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn., will not be conducted this year. More information about future sites and dates will be announced in the coming weeks.

“Canceling this year’s Senior Open championships was a very difficult decision to make,” said Davis. “Not only are they important pillars of our championship schedule, but we also value our relationships with both Newport Country Club and Brooklawn Country Club and were looking forward to staging incredible events there this summer. Given the ongoing health and safety issues related to COVID-19 and the significant consolidation of schedules into the back half of 2020, including the postponement of the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Open, we felt it necessary to make these unfortunate adjustments to our 2020 championship plans.”