This would’ve been a great week for the AT&T Byron Nelson. But it’s on to 2021.
Thursday marked a bittersweet day for the folks at AT&T Byron Nelson.
It should have been the opening round of the 2020 tournament in the final year at Dallas’ Trinity Forest Golf Club. The weekend forecast calls for sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s.
It would have been a celebration of the 100th year of the Salesmanship Club, which runs the AT&T Byron Nelson, and the 75th anniversary of Byron Nelson’s remarkable 1945 season in which he won 18 PGA Tour events.
Instead, though, the tournament was among the many sporting events canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic. Officials spent Thursday afternoon doing media interviews at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, where the tournament will be held for at least the next five years.
“This would’ve been a great week and tournament experience for everyone from our fans to our sponsors to our volunteers to the players,” said John Jenkins, the 2020 tournament chairman. “There’s a sense of loss by not being able to do that this year. Obviously there are a lot of people going through much more difficult situations during this time, so our hearts go out to them.”
Jenkins said one of the positives that has come about during the crisis is a number of the corporate sponsors, including title sponsor AT&T, and even individuals who purchased ticket packages have converted money spent into donations for the Momentous Institute, the sole beneficiary from the tournament.
PGA Tour player Ryan Palmer has also started a fund to help charities of canceled PGA Tour events such as Momentous Institute.
“We think we’ll be able to meet our budgetary needs for the Momentous Institute because of everyone’s amazing heart,” Jenkins said. “Momentous meets at the intersection of education and social and emotional health. That work has never been more important than it is today.”
Tournament officials feel good about the path going forward too. TPC Craig Ranch was designed to host PGA Tour-type events and the Salesmanship Club has had success running two Korn Ferry tournaments at the venue.
“This has been certainly not been the year we expected, but we’ll be back stronger, bigger and better,” Jenkins said. “The 2021 tournament up at TPC Craig Ranch will be fantastic.”
