The European Tour is really taking a hit with this world-wide sports shutdown.
The Tour has cancelled all its May and June events.
First event that could take place as of now is the British Masters. This year’s event is currently scheduled to be played July 30-August 2 at the Close House Golf Club in Newcastle, England. Host of the event is Lee Westwood, who represents Close House.
If that date sounds familiar, it is the same date as the WGC-St. Jude in Memphis. Odds are the higher-ranked International players will show up there and play for $10.5 million (thank you Federal Express) rather than the measly $2.5 million purse at the British Masters. The WGC event is co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
The European Tour officials announced late last week that the June 25-28 BMW International Open and the July 2-5 Open de France have both been canceled, while the July 9-12 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open has been postponed.
A total of 17 European Tour events, including two Rolex Series events, have now been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief executive Keith Pelley expressed optimism that the Scottish Open can be rescheduled and wrote in a letter to fans that he is “genuinely hopeful that from now on the information I send you in relation to our 2020 schedule will be positive.
“We cannot emphatically commit to a start date because, as I have said many times, we will not resume until it is safe and we are permitted to do so,” Pelley wrote. “We now have 14 weeks with no tournaments, but those three and a half months are also the time where the global situation may well begin to show signs of improvement. There are already discussions centering around the easing of restrictions in several countries, and everyone is optimistic that these can continue.”
The restrictions Pelley mentioned are another difficulty. International travel is a weekly happening on the European Tour and until it becomes more open, the European Tour can only wait.
2 Comments
baxter cepeda
It’s funny how some expect golf tours to take 3-4 months off a year When They cannot even take a couple months off — one time —during a worldwide pandemic —without freaking out.
But Maybe if the euro tour had a 3 month offseason to begin with, each event would have more value. Also it would be easier to reschedule, because there would be more open dates to work with.
But the top golf tours tours have no flexibility to reschedule because the entire schedule is saturated with events.
Most sports leagues have a lot more options right now than the golfs tours, simply because they have a lot more calendar to work with.
Tom Edrington
Can’t see the NBA playing; NHL could if it went right to playoffs; What they’re really sweating are the college football season and NFL….huge revenue sports!