PGA Tour’s Palmer on fan-less Colonial: ‘It’s almost like playing college golf again.’
Ryan Palmer enjoys the galleries every time he tees it up on the PGA Tour. There’s a certain buzz that develops from the crowd as the tournament unfolds each round.
“There’s an adrenaline rush that you get from the fans,” said Palmer, a four-time PGA Tour winner who has been on the circuit since 2004.
“If you’re on a good streak or if it’s late on Sunday, you can draw from the fans.”
That won’t be the case at this year’s Colonial.
The PGA Tour announced plans to restart its season at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, postponing it three weeks until the week of June 8 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The caveat is no fans will be allowed to attend the tournament, which has been played every year since 1949 when a flood canceled the event.
Colonial, like most PGA Tour events, has prided itself on fan hospitality over the years, such as turning No. 13 into a ‘party hole’ with a number of stands and hospitality suites.
That, of course, has fallen by the wayside.
“There’ll be no stands, probably no ropes, they’ll have TV towers obviously for television coverage, but it’s going to be a different scene,” said Palmer, a Colleyville resident who played at Texas A&M. “I’m not sure they’re even going to have volunteers on the golf course. My family will not be allowed to attend — my wife, my kids — so it’s definitely going to be an interesting scene.
“It’ll almost be like playing college golf all over again. Nobody is out there hardly. But I know all the players and caddies will be excited to get on the golf course and play a tournament. And I think it’ll be entertaining from a TV standpoint because they’ll really have an opportunity to get inside with players and caddies.”
For Palmer and the players, though, it’s a positive sign to even have a tournament to prepare for. The PGA Tour suspended the season following the first round of the Players Championship last month in Florida.
“It’s exciting. It’s nice to know we have a start date to look forward to,” Palmer said. “It gives the city of Fort Worth something to look forward to. Unfortunately there’s no fans, but at least it gives people live golf on TV. I think the world needs it. I’m excited that Colonial and Fort Worth and Charles Schwab are a part of it.
“I think the field is going to be pretty amazing cause everybody is itching to play golf.”
Instead of the usual 120-man field for invitationals, Colonial will expand to 144 players excluding past champions. So the field will likely be a little more than 144 since past champions don’t count against the 144 total.
At the end of the day, Palmer is excited to see a loaded field compete for Colonial’s signature plaid jacket. He feels the level of play will be as good as always even though players may have some rust with a three-plus month break.
“There will be some rust, but it depends on what guys have been doing,” Palmer said. “I’ve been keeping up every bit I can these past few weeks. You’ll see guys rusty for sure, but there’ll be guys in form, guys who have been playing and practicing. The PGA Tour players are so good, though, that we know this game and all it takes is one or two rounds to really get the feel of competitive golf back.
“Overall you’ll see some guys playing well, you’ll see some guys not playing well, so it’s just going to be interesting those first few weeks on the kind of game guys bring to the table.”
As far as maintaining social distance on the golf course and with his caddie, Palmer expressed little concern. He believes the PGA Tour will test players for the viurs and will also do so for caddies and anyone else who may be on the course grounds that week.
That’s the plan PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan laid out on NBCSN’s Lunch Talk Live with Mike Tirico on Friday.
“We need to have widespread, large-scale testing across our country,” Monahan said. “We are going to need to be able to test players, caddies, and other constituents before we return, but we need to do so in a way that’s not going to take away from the critical need that we’re currently facing.
“And we feel confident based on the advice that we’re getting from medical experts, that we’ll be in that position.”
Charity push
Palmer has been pleased with the early response he’s seen since introducing “Pros For A Purpose” last month as a way to raise money for the charities of canceled PGA Tour events amid the pandemic.
Meiomi Wines even got involved, donating $100,000 and starting a social media push #MeiomiPinotPuttOff that encourages fans to donate as well as making a putt in their home while drinking a glass of wine.
Meiomi is donating $5 for every Instagram post/story or Tweet using the hashtag, #MeiomiPinotPuttOff, for up to an additional $50,000 to the charity.
Palmer, of course, had little trouble completing the challenge on his practice putting mat and sent on the challenge to fellow PGA Tour players Jon Rahm and Colt Knost, as well as former Dallas Stars players Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow.
“It’s been great,” Palmer said. “Having Meiomi step up has been great, and it’s been a fun social media challenge with a lot of cool videos with guys and gals doing the putting challenge.
“It’s not going to be the money these charities are used to raising during the golf tournaments, but it’s quite a bit. Every little bit counts and matters.”
