Augusta National Golf Club https://www.augusta.com fell in line with virtually all other major sports events and organizations when it announced on Friday that the Masters, scheduled for April 9-12, has been postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
A day earlier, the PGA Tour announced that the final three rounds of The Players Championship and tournaments scheduled for the next three weeks have been canceled for the same reason. The Corrales Puntacana Resort and Spa Championship scheduled for March 26-29 already had been canceled.
And there speculation that the NFL Draft set for April 23-25 in Las Vegas could be held without the usual fan participation.
“Ultimately, the health and well-being of everyone associated with these events and the citizens of the Augusta community led us to this decision,” Chairman Fred Ridley of Augusta National said in a statement. “We hope this postponement puts us in the best position to safely host the Masters Tournament and our amateur events at some later date.”
The second Augusta National Women’s Amateur, scheduled for April 1-4, and the Drive, Chip and Putt competition for players aged 9-15, which is played at the beginning of Masters week, also have been canceled.
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, who won the Masters a record six times among his 18 major titles, agreed with the decision but believe it will go beyond a postponement.
“I don’t think anybody wants to go to Augusta and get sick,” Nicklaus said by phone on ESPN’s Sports Center. “There’s people coming from all over the world and the chances of people bringing something are great.
“In all practicality, they are postponing, but I can’t see any way they would play it at a later date. How in the world could they work it into the schedule? It wouldn’t be fair to any other tournament that are later. I think we are probably going to miss the Masters this year, that’s just my opinion, but I think it makes logical sense.
“There are other tournaments that could be canceled, including my Memorial Tournament (scheduled for June 4-7).”
The NCAA canceled the rest of its basketball season and all spring sports seasons, the NBA and NHL halted their seasons, MLS and major soccer leagues in Europe postponed games, the LPGA Tour has canceled three tournaments, including the ANA Inspiration in Mission Hills that is the first golf major of the year, and major league baseball has postponed the start of its season.
Golf was the last to join in, but did so in the last two days.
“I’m bummed,” fourth-ranked Justin Thomas said Friday morning as he prepared to leave TPC Sawgrass. “Like I said yesterday, selfishly, I wanna play. But it’s way, way beyond that. You have to take a lot of factors and measures into the equation here with safety and health of everyone involved.”
Tiger Woods claimed a fifth Masters title and 15th major, his first in 11 years, last April and if the Masters is canceled he will lose a chance to creep closer to that Nicklaus record of 18.
