Seminole To Make Its International Television Debut For May 17 COVID-19 Relief Match

Scheduled to make its world premiere at the 2021 Walker Cup, the exclusive Seminole Golf Club will now make its debut for television cameras in a grand way by hosting a COVID-19 relief match.

Though the real standout here is UnitedHealth Group in pledging $3 million to give to the worthy causes noted below.

The format is a peculiar choice but that’s beside the point given the ultimate goal of raising funds and providing some much-needed competition on TV. For Immediate Release:

McIlroy, Johnson, Fowler, Wolff headline TaylorMade Driving Relief 

marking return of televised golf to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts 

UnitedHealth Group pledges $3 million in support of the American Nurses Foundation and CDC Foundation 

PGA TOUR, NBC Sports and Sky Sports to broadcast team competition from Seminole Golf Club, May 17 

Farmers Insurance® pledges $1 million for birdies-and-eagle pool supporting Off Their Plate 

PGA TOUR Charities live donation platform powered by GoFundMe to support additional COVID-19 relief initiatives 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., (May 04, 2020) – The PGA TOUR, NBC Sports and Sky Sports today announced the return of televised golf with TaylorMade Driving Relief, centered around a $3 million charity skins match supported by UnitedHealth Group to raise money and awareness for the American Nurses Foundation and CDC Foundation, two organizations helping to lead COVID-19 relief efforts.

On Sunday, May 17, from Seminole Golf Club, TaylorMade Driving Relief will feature two-time FedExCup champion and World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and 20-time PGA TOUR winner Dustin Johnson, teaming up against two Oklahoma State University alumni: PGA TOUR superstar Rickie Fowler and 2019 first-time TOUR winner and 2019 NCAA National Champion Matthew Wolff. The competition will follow strict CDC social distancing guidelines, local mandates and will utilize appropriate testing measures to help protect the health and safety of the golfers, production crew and others on site.

Additionally, Farmers Insurance® has pledged $1 million to back a birdies-and-eagle pool to benefit Off Their Plate, a charitable organization helping COVID-19 healthcare workers and impacted frontline shift employees.

Building upon this initial fundraising of $4 million, PGA TOUR Charities will announce a Text-To-Donate activation and online donation platform powered by GoFundMe to allow viewers to make additional contributions and raise funds for COVID-19 relief.

EVENT INFORMATION: 

• Players: All four golfers will donate their time for the 18-hole, two-man team skins competition, with McIlroy/Johnson playing for the American Nurses Foundation and Fowler/Wolff playing for the CDC Foundation.

• Location: Seminole Golf Club (Juno Beach, Fla.) A majestic Donald Ross design with a clever routing on a rectangular site, each hole at Seminole encounters a new wind direction. Seminole has long been one of America’s most-revered clubs and this marks the club’s first ever golf event broadcast. No fans or spectators will be permitted on site.

• Date/Time: Sunday, May 17; live coverage will air from 2-6 p.m. ET 

• Television Broadcast: NBC, GOLF Channel, NBCSN, Sky Sports and other PGA TOUR global media partners

• Digital: Unauthenticated streaming of the entire event available via PGA TOUR LIVE (NBC Sports Gold and Amazon Prime Video), GOLFPASS, GolfChannel.com and GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR. Pre-match coverage as well as the first two holes of the event also will stream on Twitter. 

• Safety measures: PGA TOUR will follow all guidelines, executive orders and mandates issued by the state of Florida, Palm Beach County and the city of Juno Beach.

“We are excited about the safe and responsible return of live golf and the opportunity to raise significant funds for those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic through the TaylorMade Driving Relief event,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “With four of the PGA TOUR’s top stars in Rory, Rickie, Dustin and Matthew of Team TaylorMade participating and UnitedHealth Group serving as the foundation of charitable giving, and Farmers Insurance providing an additional bonus pool, golf fans around the world can look forward to a unique, interactive and entertaining event that will help those in need.”

BROADCAST: PGA TOUR Entertainment will produce live coverage, which will feature commentary from NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico from his home in Michigan, as well as analysts Paul Azinger and Gary Koch and play-by-play with Rich Lerner from an off-site production facility. On site at Seminole Golf Club will be on-course reporters Jerry Foltz and Steve Sands.

“NBC Sports is proud to raise awareness for these charities that are directly making an impact on COVID-19 relief,” said Pete Bevacqua, President, NBC Sports Group. “We’re grateful to the four exceptional PGA TOUR players for donating their time, as well as all the sponsors for helping elevate this unique fundraising event, which will feature the first worldwide broadcast of a golf competition from Seminole Golf Club.”

“Seminole Golf Club is honored to host this charitable event and welcomes all golf fans and sports enthusiasts to tune in to the broadcast to see these world-class players take on our course,” said Jimmy Dunne, President of Seminole Golf Club.  “This match is a pure public service, with all money raised providing COVID-19 relief to those most in need in Florida and around the country, and Seminole is thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to such a worthy cause at this difficult time.” 

FUNDRAISING AND IMPACT: Thanks to a pledge from UnitedHealth Group, the primary charitable component will see the teams compete in a $3 million charity skins match as each team will compete for one of two charities, the American Nurses Foundation and CDC Foundation.

“The 325,000 people of UnitedHealth Group continue to work tirelessly every day to support the health and safety of the people we are privileged to serve and to contribute to the resolution of this pandemic,” said David S. Wichmann, UnitedHealth Group Chief Executive Officer. “This additional financial support for the American Nurses Foundation and the CDC Foundation advances our commitment to take care of those who care for us by helping to meet the clinical, emotional and mental health needs of our frontline heroes, doctors, nurses and all health care workers. We’re pleased to be a part of this event designed to bring attention to and encourage further financial support for those on the leading edge of fighting this pandemic.”

Additionally, Farmers Insurance also kicked off fundraising efforts with a $1 million pledge, to back a birdies-and-eagles pool to benefit Off Their Plate, whose work creates a conduit for local communities to provide nutritious meals to the hospital teams we depend on and economic relief to local restaurant workers who have been most affected by COVID.

“For more than 90 years, serving our customers and helping communities impacted by disasters around the country has been in our DNA, and that remains true now more than ever. On behalf of everyone at Farmers, we’re proud of first responders and frontline workers for what they continue to do every single day during this unprecedented situation,” said Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey. “It’s a privilege to support this event, alongside our brand ambassador Rickie Fowler, and provide much needed funds to Off Their Plate, so they can continue to help those most impacted in this uncertain time.”

COMPETITORS: TaylorMade brings four of the world’s best and most exciting players to the event, and all are donating their time to be a part of the COVID-19 relief effort.

“While all of us navigate through the impact of this pandemic, we wanted to do our part for first responders and nominated COVID-19 charities. After speaking with our Team TaylorMade athletes, we are thrilled to make this TaylorMade Driving Relief event happen with our partners at the PGA TOUR and NBC Sports,” said David Abeles,CEO, TaylorMade. “The return of live golf and the opportunity to raise money for those affected is simply fantastic.”

Rory McIlroy, TaylorMade and UnitedHealth Group Health Ambassador:

• The reigning FedExCup champion and 2019 PGA TOUR Player of the Year is currently ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. McIlroy has 18 PGA TOUR victories and an additional nine wins worldwide including four major championships, the 2019 PLAYERS Championship, three World Golf Championships and the 2019 and 2016 FedExCup titles. 

• “It’s been difficult to witness what so many are enduring over the last several weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m excited and thankful to TaylorMade and UnitedHealth Group for making this event possible and providing us with the opportunity to show our support of those on the frontlines. I hope that we can provide some respite and entertainment for those tuning in across the globe. Dustin and I will have a lot of fun together and our games will fit well as we push to raise funds and awareness on May 17.”

 Dustin Johnson, TaylorMade Ambassador: 

• Johnson, a 20-time PGA TOUR winner, is currently No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Johnson’s 20 victories include the 2016 U.S. Open, six World Golf Championships events and four FedExCup Playoffs events.

• “I’m really excited to team up with Rory and to get back out on the golf course. Seminole is a great venue and it will be cool to show it to the world through this event. I’m sure Rickie and Matthew will be ready for us, but hopefully Rory and I can take them and help generate a lot of money and support for charities and those affected most by COVID-19.”

Rickie Fowler, TaylorMade Ball and Farmers Insurance Ambassador:

• Fowler owns nine victories worldwide, including his memorable win at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2015 when he played the finishing stretch of holes 15-18 in a 5-under total of 11 strokes. 

• “When I heard about this event, I couldn’t get involved fast enough. It’s special to be able to have an impact and raise charitable contributions through our sport and to do it with Matthew as a partner. I know how much I have missed sports and golf, especially, so to be one of the first events returning to television is very exciting and I’m proud to have Farmers, one of my sponsors, be a partner of this event as well. Playing aggressive has never been a problem for Matthew and me so we should have no issue testing the birdies-and-eagles bonus pool that has been backed by Farmers Insurance $1 million pledge.”

 Matthew Wolff, TaylorMade Ambassador:

• Wolff turned professional last June and by July, he earned his first career PGA TOUR victory at the inaugural 3M Open. Playing on sponsor exemptions, he needed just four starts to capture that first title and earned his PGA TOUR card at age 20. Wolff became the third player to win the individual title at the NCAA Championships and a PGA TOUR event in the same year, joining Ben Crenshaw and Tiger Woods.

• “I’m fired up to play alongside Rickie and raise money to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts. Rory and DJ have welcomed me to team TaylorMade with open arms and become great friends so I can’t wait for a fun competition against us Cowboys. Rickie and I are ready to bring our best and more importantly help the frontline heroes getting us through this extremely difficult time. Special thanks to the PGA Tour, NBC, Taylormade and all our partners for the opportunity. See you at Seminole!”

Testing, Testing, Testing And Maybe Something More For Pro Golf's Return?

For those trying to imagine how professional golf will return, or those charged with trying to get the sport jump-started, a couple of weekend reads offered food for thought. While testing options and availability vary widely—I took part in LA County’s COVID-19 free testing this weekend and it worked incredibly efficiently—we know pro sports leagues will likely find a way to get tests.

But the big picture issues go beyond availability to optics and plans that provide assurance should testing no be available, or only seen as part of the solution.

From AP’s Tim Reynolds, who did touch on the PGA Tour’s return but focused largely on MLB, NBA and the NHL.

Some teams were sharply criticized for getting their players tested when the pandemic was beginning to take hold in March. The leagues want to avoid a similar blowback.

“The threshold question is the health question. That’s where we’re spending the most time,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “The ones that are the most worrisome are the ones that are beyond their control.”

According to Major League Baseball, 3,000 kits would need to be available for players, staff, broadcasters and others for every round of testing to get its season going and keep it going. Even if the NHL and NBA return with just 16 postseason teams on the ice and courts, those leagues would likely require tests for a minimum of 1,000 players and staff. And there’s no telling how often — Daily? Every few days? Weekly? — the tests would be required to be administered.

With tests still in short supply, that’s not a great look.

Pulitzer winner Laurie Garrett was featured in Frank Bruni’s Sunday NY Times column for her admittedly bleak outlook and vast history of coverage and predictions of past pandemics.

While she was speaking of the country and people who need to be tested, her comments should be noted by sports executives who are trying to imagine how they respect public and athlete safety in bringing their sports back.

And what America needs most right now, she said, isn’t this drumbeat of testing, testing, testing, because there will never be enough superfast, super-reliable tests to determine on the spot who can safely enter a crowded workplace or venue, which is the scenario that some people seem to have in mind. America needs good information, from many rigorously designed studies, about the prevalence and deadliness of coronavirus infections in given subsets of people, so that governors and mayors can develop rules for social distancing and reopening that are sensible, sustainable and tailored to the situation at hand.

COVID-19 Relief Fundraiser With Rory, Johnson, Fowler And Wolff In The Works

Two different sources—Barstool’s Riggs and Hank Haney say another foursome is trying to set the pace for COVID-19 fundraisers. Format is unclear with a team component as well as a Skins format mentioned. If you were worried. Riggs says a place called Admiral’s Cove is the likely venue if the event happens May 17th.

Oh, and of course, releases being granted for the players.

That reminds me, no word yet if the PGA Tour has signed off on independent contractor’s Woods and Mickelson who requested releases for The Match 2 with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, which was announced without Tour sanctioning.

Here’s Haney discussing on his podcast:

Sources are telling me there's a little league warmup Match being created that will jump in front of THE MATCH - Wolff & Fowler vs. Rory & DJ

Check out today's full episode of the Hank Haney Podcasthttps://t.co/moBj1QU8Dn pic.twitter.com/QwmEWTC74a

— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) April 30, 2020

Key to this: Rory telling his Starbucks barista to juice him with a Reserve Blend jolt. Because he’ll need to do a lot of talking over 18 holes to make this TV friendly.

Hadwin: If Flagstick Stays In Hole, "That might make me honestly rethink playing"

Scott Stallings suggested PGA Tour players were “not going to play for their livelihood with no rakes in the bunker.”

And now Adam Hadwin is wondering if he can play with flagsticks left in the cup to prevent excessive player/caddie contact with the pin.

Now, all of these great golfers are eager to get back and undoubtedly a few are practically inconsolable without golf to prepare for. But it’s also clear that when they return, things will change, less money might be there and some “sacrifices” will need to be made.

Hadwin is a very grounded person and comes off that way during the rest of the interview where he expresses empathy for those dealing with the virus. So it’s a bit startling to hear an elite golfer suggest in this time of pandemic that putting with the flagstick in has proven so untenable.

“Are we not going to be allowed to touch pins, or flags?” Hadwin said. “I putt with the flag out, so if we all of a sudden are going to be forced to putt with it in to not touch a flag, I’m going to have issues with that, and that might make me honestly rethink playing, because it changes everything.”

This picture painted by Hadwin illustrates an issue golf faces, assuming the sport and world listens to pros instead of just telling them this is (temporarily) how it’s going to be for a while.

“Maybe there’s one person wearing gloves walking with every group that pulls flags for us when we need to so caddies or players aren’t touching it,” Hadwin said. “If you force us to play with the flag in it changes everything. It messes me up on the greens and I can promise you I’m thinking about it. Doesn’t matter how well I’m hitting it; when I get on the greens I’ll be thinking about it, how I’m putting with the flag in and I haven’t been able to adjust to it and I shouldn’t have to adjust to it. Maybe I’ll protest, maybe I wouldn’t. If that’s the only possible way for us to play again, I don’t know, maybe. Maybe I’ll play and moan about it every day that I play and just go do it. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”

I’d do a poll, but pretty sure 99% of you would vote for Hadwin going the route of “I’ll play and moan about it every day that I play and just go do it.”

The full interview:

"A fully-operational Shotlink system, according to multiple officials, ranks only behind the players in tournament priority.”

GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall and friends took a comprehensive look—with help from tournament officials sharing many financials—at everything required to get a scaled back PGA Tour event to be played in a time of pandemic.

Combined with the Commissioner saying testing is paramount with the continued testing shortfall and the likely need for some from certain locales to 14-day quarantine before turning up in certain regions, and the chances seem remote of a June restart.

As a fan of ShotLink, this part struck me as an odd priority given the tight working space for a ShotLink truck crew and the need for some volunteers to run the system.

“However, there are areas the Tour has identified as essential, chief among them Shotlink. The Tour’s proprietary data content is key for scoring, stats and its gambling relationships, such as with daily fantasy site DraftKings. A fully-operational Shotlink system, according to multiple officials, ranks only behind the players in tournament priority.”

Outside of scoring, I’m not sure how eager fans and players are to have that information versus a simple return to play when it’s safe to do so. Especially if setting up Shotlink impacts COVID-19 testing for those more in need.

Just as expanding fields are being expanded at a time the size of gatherings is under scrutiny, this is a headscratcher. Hundreds and hundreds of golf tournament are played annually without ShotLink but with some form of live scoring. If a “fully operational” ShotLink system is the only way to monitor scoring, a reassessment of priorities is certainly in order.

As an aside, DraftKings began public trading on NASDAQ Friday.

Tiger, Phil Confirm The Match 2 Is On For May With Brady, Manning**

I’d hate to call this announcement premature since Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both retweeted this report:

🚨 It’s official: @TigerWoods, Peyton Manning, @PhilMickelson and @TomBrady all on one golf course ️

The Match: Champions for Charity is coming soon exclusively on TNT. All proceeds will benefit COVID-19 relief ⛳️https://t.co/yJFIflsCht pic.twitter.com/OQcwiPTHCw

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 22, 2020

However, note in this story from The Action Network’s Darren Rovell (with additional reporting by Jason Sobel), that the PGA Tour has not officially signed off on the event. Even as independent contractors, players must get a release to play in any other competition not already sanctioned by the PGA Tour.

A PGA TOUR official told The Action Network’s Jason Sobel that Tiger and Phil would need to receive a “release form for them to play a televised or streamed event in the U.S.”

A TOUR official told Sobel, “We are still in discussions on a number of items, including ensuring the health and safety for all involved with the event.”

Obviously working through all safety protocols and considering precautions for such an event in the next month is a major process. As of April 1, the early details of this concept were out and the Tour was still mulling its position in these very fluid times.

That said, when the original “Match” was announced in 2018, all parties were aligned in sharing the news.

Bryson Hopes To Get His Muscle-Driven Weight Up To 270 Pounds

Nothing that a 100cc’s off the driver head size couldn’t make someone reconsider!

While I know most of you are watching his Twitch streams—at least he’s doling out tips and not subjecting us to his Peloton plight—but just in case, Zephyr Melton does the Twitching for us and says this very large person is, really, Bryson DeChambeau, world No. 13 and very promising young player.

On a recent Twitch stream from his indoor simulator, DeChambeau shared that he’s gotten even bigger since the fall. Last night he weighed in at 239 pounds. And his “base weight” is now a whopping 235 pounds.

“I’ve upped my size tremendously,” DeChambeau said. “Forearms strength, shoulder strength has gotten crazy strong. I’ve been working hard on that. Leg strength is still there.”

Later on, he defended the decision to get bigger and said players shouldn’t worry about putting on too much weight. He also said he isn’t done trying to bulk up — and 270(!) isn’t even a stretch.

239? That weight sounds familiar.

Naturally, Bryson’s pursuit is his choice and we will all salute him if the speed helps him win tournaments and grow the game.

But is this really what we want golf to turn into? Or for young kids to mimic?

"Why a Second Wave Could Be Even Worse for Sports"

If you’ve been following the likes of Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Twitter or watching the (sadly) prescient Netflix documentary, Pandemic, you know that second waves have often been worse than initial pandemics outbreaks.

So as the PGA Tour positions itself to be the first (and still only major sport) to schedule a return without fans (first four weeks), the inability of other sports to set return dates makes clearly some leagues are fearful of being the sport that starts a second wave.

Thanks to reader John for sending along Louise Radnofsky and Ben Cohen’s Wall Street Journal piece considering the dangers of a second wave setting the sports world back should such a gathering be responsible for another outbreak.

While the story focuses on the danger of crowds, even a gathering of athletes who then go off to airports and hotels and another city a week later, could be disastrous.

Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who is advising the Trump administration on its coronavirus policy, says he sees a high risk of a second wave in the fall. He’s been pushing for a staggered return of activities. His plan calls for gradually scaling back up again, based on the size of the gatherings and their significance, and monitoring the effects at each stage.

Mass gatherings for sports games are at the bottom of his list. The sight of fans in stadiums is contingent on a “quiescent” fall and robust system of testing and contact tracing to identify and isolate new cases— as well as measures that include fever guns, hand sanitizer handouts and masks inside stadiums.

“We could bring lawn maintenance crews back at the end of the month with very low risk, but we can’t fill up stadiums,” he said Wednesday. “I think the entertainment venues are going to be some of the last things we bring back… Sports are going to be played with no fans for a while.”

Monahan Emphasizes Need For Widespread, Large Scale COVID-19 Testing If PGA Tour Is To Return

The Detroit News’ Tony Paul highlighted the remarks while attempting to determine if June’s Rocket Mortgage Classic could even be played. But a day after another oddly-timed schedule rollout tone deaf to over 4000 lives lost in a single day (in the U.S.) and parallels were suggested between a contagious virus pandemic and 9/11, Jay Monahan hit all the right notes discussing with Mike Tirico the possibility of a PGA Tour return.

Even better, not one mention of golf being played on 3-400 acres.

Talking to Tirico on his NBC Sports show, Lunch Time Live, Monahan made clear what is necessary for early June’s Colonial.

"We need to have widespread, large-scale testing across our country, where we are going to be able to test players, caddies and other constituents before we return," Monahan told Tirico. 

"But we need to do so (in a way) that's not going to take away from the critical need we're going to be facing."

Players were fairly muted in expressing strong views either way about the planned return, though Brooks Koepka wondered if the push was too soon while Justin Thomas praised Tour leadership for at least trying.

The full conversation was posted at YouTube:

R.I.P. The Greenbrier Classic

Jim Justice’s purchase of the Greenbrier Resort and subsequent ten playings of the Greenbrier Classic made for a welcome addition to the PGA Tour.

Besides bringing the pros to West Virginia and highlighting C.B. Macdonald’s work, the stop gave pro golf another look at an interesting old-school layout.

Lost though in the remaining 2020 schedule rollout was the tournament’s demise despite having seven years left on its existing contract, notes GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall. Officials with the event blamed the move to fall, in part, on what killed off the event, according to Beall’s report.

In a statement, Greenbrier officials said the tournament moving to the fall had not gone as well as hoped compared to its Fourth of July date. The Greenbrier said attendance and the attractiveness of sponsors "dropped significantly."

And this from AP’s

The yearly tournament, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, has struggled to draw fanfare after moving from summer to fall. Last year, attendance dragged as the matches went up against college football home games, even as one of Justice's family mining companies bought 30,000 tickets to give away to fans.

“We are happy to reach a resolution with the PGA Tour that is mutually beneficial to both parties in this time of crisis,” said Jill Justice, the governor's daughter and president of The Greenbrier.

Just a reminder here that the PGA Tour rearranged it’s calendar schedule to the dreaded wraparound for two reasons: to avoid football season and to elevate the fall events into tournaments with FedExCup points status. The Greenbrier took a year off to accommodate a leap to the fall and now, is no more with seven years left on its deal.

PGA Tour To Players Uncomfortable With June Return : "You're an independent contractor. You're not required to be at any PGA TOUR event."

The PGA Tour rolled out an ambitious 2019-20 schedule completion, followed by a 2020-21 schedule start (minus the suddenly-defunct Greenbrier Classic and cancelled Canadian and Barbasol stops). But this comment from the PGA Tour’s Andy Pazder is certainly accurate, though insensitive to players who have COVID-19 concerns.

From a teleconference featuring operations heads Andy Pazdur and Tyler Dennis in support of the schedule rollout:

Q. What about the players who don't feel comfortable? There are going to be players who don't feel comfortable coming back. What happens to those players if you start and they're not comfortable coming back playing again?

ANDY PAZDER: That's a question I think you need to direct to individual players. My only experience with anything like this I guess would be the first few tournaments following 9/11. We had players that were uneasy about air travel. That's one of the beauties of being a PGA TOUR member; you're an independent contractor. You're not required to be at any PGA TOUR event. So they have that discretion to play tournaments where they favor the golf course or tournaments in this instance, to your question, they may or may not feel comfortable. But that's an individual player decision.

So I would direct you to reach out to some of the players that you know to get their direct perspective. I can't speak on their behalf as it relates to that.

Athletes in other sports have already begun to openly question the sanity of quarantining in the same hotels. For example, in baseball, which has considered a concept of stationary games and hotels, normally not-outspoken players are sensing their safety and sanity is not being taken into account (Bill Shaikin reports on the comments of Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw).

The PGA Tour’s plan is to have robust testing, as Rex Hoggard reports, and the repeated mention of this key point was reassuring. So was the plan to only go forward if testing is not being taken away from those on the front lines or more in need.

Details of how things work on course are still being worked out:

TYLER DENNIS: Yeah, so that's another part of our analysis that we've been working on, you know, from a health and safety point of view, but even with the rules officials, for example. So if you think about how a player and a caddie travel throughout their daily competition routine, we've looked at -- we've mapped out and are still in the process of finalizing what that day looks like, because we know that golf can be played in a safe way that abides by social distancing guidelines, and we're seeing that in many spaces across the country, by the way, at the amateur level. But we can apply some of those same principles to golf on the PGA TOUR.

So anyway, from the driving range to the first tee, all kinds of little details, scorecards and bunker rakes and flagsticks and how we can make sure all that is done in a socially distanced way and make sure that things stay safe and clean and sanitized. So there's a big project going on to think about those details, and as we get closer, we'll certainly share with you guys those details of how that day would look.

But in general I think that the daily life of a PGA TOUR golfer and his caddie won't be tremendously different. We're just going to have to have some nuances to relate to social distancing and safe sanitation practices.

Not addressed and still not clear beyond safety and logistics: the optics of returning and using resources in markets that are still under strain, and what damage that could do to the PGA Tour’s reputation.

Pros And Cons Of Push Playing Pro Golf Again In June

Eric Patterson at The Score lays out a smart list of pros and cons to the PGA Tour pushing to be playing in June, making it likely the first major sport to return. He calls it an “aggressive approach” and says the Tour has a chance to provide a “template” for other leagues.

So as Friday’s likely rollout, as other components to President Trump’s vision for reopening the economy are presented, keep on the look out for signs the Tour has secured testing and presented other safety-first ideas to get sports started again.

On the pro side he writes:

A successful return to play would provide other professional leagues the opportunity to determine exactly what's required to run a sporting event during the coronavirus pandemic. Lessons learned from the Tour's efforts to efficiently test players, safely travel between states, and piece together broadcasts with reduced crews could help accelerate the returns of other sports.

Unfortunately, there is no financial perk in setting that table.

Another “pro” left out: never having to see those virile and virus-friendly bro hug/shakes that we won’t have to endure again. Ever.

The con side makes you wonder what the insurance costs will be to play events when portrayed this way:

The PGA Tour can't really be confined to a single city or state, a luxury other professional sports have the opportunity to explore. Not all players can afford to charter private flights, either; pros will be frequenting airports, staying in hotels, and eating at restaurants on the road.

Imagine the backlash if a player tests positive for COVID-19 after returning to action and the PGA Tour is forced to shut down yet again. This single con might outweigh all the pros combined.

PGA Tour's Planned Mid-June Return Is Looking Wildly Optimistic

We can all understand why the PGA Tour has tried to salvage the season, but sharing it publicly on a day well over a 1000 Americans died seemed, well, bizarre if not just, plain, tone deaf. Golf’s other families went along for urgent schedule news that a week later looks premature in both the optics and common sense departments.

Jubilation has followed, and even delusional cases have been made as to how a golf tournament essentially runs itself (“Players can enforce the rules (hell, that's part of the game) so no need for rules officials”). Only has reality set in over at Golf.com where this week’s Confidential questioned the premature announcement timing.

Subsequent reports say the PGA Tour is aware mid-May is out and are targeting June 11-14 for a return at the Charles Schwab Challenge, aka the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.

A state where Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered travelers from cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami) and states (California, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington) to be quarantined for 14 days upon entering the Lone Star state.

Everyone certainly hopes that changes because the virus slows, but given the low testing rate in Texas, it’s not clear yet if the state has kept the virus at bay. And in golf’s case, how many players from those areas or other areas added to the Governor’s order would be willing to quarantine for two weeks prior?

The second event back is expected to be Detroit’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. That’s in Michigan, where death tolls are high, the stories heartbreaking, and all signs say there is a long way to go before any crowd will be lawfully, willfully or joyously gathering.

The third planned event is the Travelers Championship in Middlesex, Connecticut where the county home to TPC River Highlands has been less hard hit. However, the rest of the state is facing an uphill climb returning to normalcy anytime soon.

And The Memorial, reportedly penciled into the cancelled Open Championship’s date, is played in Ohio where Governor Mike DeWine has been aggressive in taking measures while warning that testing is imperative to any return to normalcy.

Morning Read’s John Hawkins points out how the push to play the “playoffs” as up to twenty events are lost, may make the situation worse.

That neighborhood, by the way, is roughly the size of a driving range. Not nearly as large as the consequences of prematurely rebooting a schedule likely to lose 40 percent of its original bulk. At least 20 events are almost certain not to be held, which makes the decision to try and salvage the FedEx Cup playoffs a pathetic submission to the Tour’s money-grubbing sensibilities.

If that were not sobering enough, SI’s Stephanie Apstein talked to leading epidemiologists about the prospect of sports returning with or without fans and the conclusion is: not soon:

"We will not have sporting events with fans until we have a vaccine," says Zach Binney, a PhD in epidemiology who wrote his dissertation on injuries in the NFL and now teaches at Emory. Barring a medical miracle, the process of developing and widely distributing a vaccine is likely to take 12 to 18 months.

Again, it’s understandable to plan, but veering into the land of absurd to keep touting events to be played in matter of weeks, and in some of the nation’s most uncertain and hardest hit regions.

"PGA Tour, other tours should take cue from Olympics"

One of the more lucid reads in a while on golf tournaments, postponements and the big picture comes from Morning Read’s Dave Seanor. He highlights both the tough-but-necessary call by the IOC to postpone the Olympics, as well as the reasoned stance of the International Golf Federation head Antony Scanlon.

As it turns out, the IOC was ahead of the curve. In the ensuing weeks, only the R&A has taken similar forward-thinking action by postponing the 149th British Open until July 2021. The PGA of America, U.S. Golf Association and PGA Tour continue to operate under the wishful thinking that the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and various Tour events can be played in 2021. Ditto for Augusta National Golf Club, which holds out hope that a November date for the Masters will be doable. (It’s noteworthy that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, unlike his counterparts in California and New York, resisted early shelter-in-place directives and recently displayed a commerce-over-citizens’-health predilection by opening his state’s beaches against the wishes of local governments.)

The IOC, of course, had to consider the needs of many more sports than golf. While it may have dilly-dallied for several weeks, it ultimately concluded that a piecemeal attempt to salvage Tokyo 2020 would have been futile. International sports federations welcomed the schedule clarity, but the IGF still finds itself at the mercy of various pro tours hoping to rescue some portion of their 2020 seasons.

“Now that we know the new dates, we will work to finalize the qualification system for the Tokyo Games and adapt all our operational plans accordingly,” Scanlon said.

Scanlon’s positive outlook in a bleak time highlights how you’d hope an executive would think. That’s a nice way of saying he appears to have grasped reality and is thinking how to properly position golf when the time is right.

Sunshine Tour Chief: "I think there are going to be different priorities going forward."

While it’s way too early to be fussing over finance as the world faces another day of pandemic carnage, perhaps Sunshine Tour commissioner Selwyn Nathan’s remarks will help the professional golf world retain some perspective about the sport that will greet them when some form of normalcy returns.

Nick Said of Reuters spoke to Nathan, who has been talking to corporate sponsors and sees purses possibly returning to 2000 levels. He also says there will be “different priorities” going forward with “a lot of haircuts.”

“I don’t think guys will be playing for between 800,000 and 1.5-million euros (as a first prize) any more.

“In my opinion, and after speaking to people around the world, we could be winding the clock back to 2000.

“And for now that might be the smartest thing in sport, to go back to something that is more palatable for partners.”

And this…

“I think they will need us like oxygen, and we will need them also to give our players something to play in.

“But nobody is going to be walking around as gung-ho as they were, not in any sporting sphere around the world.”