It’s official: PGA Tour moves Colonial to June but no party for fans
The Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club is expected to restart the PGA Tour’s season in June.
Golf’s sanctioning body officially announced its new schedule plans on Thursday morning with the Colonial being pushed back three weeks to the week of June 8-14. The caveat is the tournament is expected to be closed to the general public.
“We’re excited. This is good news,” said Rob Hood, the tournament’s chairman. “We certainly don’t want the event to be canceled. We’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s unfortunate that right now it’s without any fans, but we’re just excited that we’re planning to have the tournament.”
Again, PGA Tour and tournament officials stressed that this is the “plan” and, as with everything amid the coronavirus pandemic, is subject to change. Still, it’s positive news for now.
“I’m confident that we’ll be able to resume play. That’s different than certain,” said Andy Pazder, PGA Tour’s chief tournament and competitions officer. “If we’re comfortable that our testing protocols give us a confidence level, then we’re going to proceed with our tournaments. And we won’t proceed if we’re not confident.”
The PGA Tour believes pushing back its restart date to June gives it the best chance to resume play without disruptions.
“It wasn’t necessarily a date that we’d locked in for any specific reason,” Pazder said of the tour’s decision to restart the week of June 8. “It was more we have this opportunity to capitalize on the schedule flexibility and move things back just to give ourselves — increase the odds in our favor collectively to be able to resume at Colonial.”
The Colonial had been scheduled to be played next month over Memorial Day weekend (May 21-24), as the PGA Tour’s first event back amid the coronavirus pandemic. But, as Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said on Tuesday, that date was “really going to push it.
So the Colonial now moves into a date that had been scheduled for the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto. The PGA Tour canceled the RBC Canadian Open on Thursday.
As far as assurances from local and state officials to hold the Colonial, Pazder reiterated: “We believe and know that a tournament played June 8-14 will be done so in full compliance with all local health requirements, guidelines and requirements.”
The downside to this development is no fans, of course. Colonial has become known as one of the most fan friendly events in DFW.
Anyone who attends the tournament, whether it’s an avid golf fan or non-sports fan, has likely witnessed or partaking in the atmosphere around the course, including the “party hole” No. 13.
“It’s certainly a disappointment that our fans won’t be there,” Hood said. “But, again, it’s balanced with the opportunity to continue having the tournament. It’s not the greatest, but it’s not bad. We’re happy we can move forward and have the tournament for the community.”
The Colonial has been held every year since being canceled in 1949 due to a flood.
Being the first tournament back, Hood expects “one of the strongest fields we’ve ever had.”
It’s unknown whether the sport’s biggest draw, Tiger Woods, could return to Colonial for the first time since 1997. As of now, tournament officials said they haven’t heard from Woods’ camp yet.
At the end of the day, Colonial is simply happy to stay on the PGA Tour’s schedule for now even if it comes with restrictions.
“The tournament is always worth hosting,” Hood said. “It will definitely have a completely different look on television. We won’t be building out hospitality venues, the tents, the whole look will be completely different. But it’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be different.”
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 8:55 AM.
