Golf

PGA Tour ‘bubble’ moves east after successful return

World number one Rory McIlroy heads strongest ever field at RBC Heritage Classic

Rory McIlroy plays a shot after taking a drop on the first hole during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Philip Reid's face
Philip Reid
Tue Jun 16 2020 - 06:30

The silence was deafening for the PGA Tour’s return at Colonial Country Club but, if it was a case of tip-toeing back into murky waters rather than diving straight in, the overall context is one of a successful Charles Schwab Challenge which has paved the way for incremental improvements as the circuit works its way onwards, starting with the RBC Heritage Classic at Hilton Head this week.

Although spectators will again be absent for the tournament in South Carolina, the course’s proximity to housing on its fringes should ensure some extra aural atmosphere; and, while Tiger Woods has again decided to delay his return to action, this edition of the Heritage Classic will actually have the highest strength of field in its history.

In weighing the positives against the negatives from Colonial, the balance tilted very firmly on positivity: from a health and safety standpoint, with the testing protocols apparently working extremely well and no negative results, the tournament ran well and nobody could argue there was any lack of drama until Daniel Berger ultimately sealed the deal in sudden death.

However, it was Collin Morikawa who, even in defeat, managed to convey how successful golf’s return had proven but also of the on-going responsibilities of players to ensure safety guidelines are followed to the tee: “ . . . . just because we played one week doesn’t mean we can go party and go do everything else like we used to. We still have to follow these guidelines and maintain safety and strict rules with how far we stay from each other because it’s still out there.

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“Obviously we don’t know how bad it is at any given moment. We don’t know who has it, if they have it, whether they’re symptomatic, asymptomatic. We just have to be cognizant of what’s around us and where we put ourselves because we want the tour to keep playing. We want to keep playing. Hopefully this just never stops. We’ve got months and months and months of golf up until the winter, so for me it’s exciting to be back.”

While Jordan Spieth, a member of the players’ board, talked of reviewing the opening week “to make it safer, better and more comfortable for everybody going forward . . . . (it’s) certainly weird not having fans but everything else going smoothly, and no negative tests, it’s awesome. It’s great that the bubble stayed a bubble, and now we’ve got to travel with it.”

Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, spoke of the Colonial as a “phenomenal” return to tournament play, but acknowledged the absence of spectators had left a void “. . . to not have the fan roars, to see the way players are responding when they’re making birdies and there’s not noise, that’s just a new reality for all of us.”

UK Swing

The first tournament that will allow spectators stateside will be at the Memorial tournament in July, while on the European Tour, which is due to restart with a so-called UK Swing segment starting with the British Masters at Close House in July, there are no plans as yet to have any spectators for that initial run of six tournaments.

The entry for the Heritage Classic has the second highest strength of field for a regular tournament on the PGA Tour, only behind the 2007 Wachovia Championship at Quail Hollow. The top-six players off the world rankings are competing, led by world number one Rory McIlroy. However, Jon Rahm, his closest pursuer in the rankings, would have an opportunity to leapfrog him if the Spaniard were to win.

Traditionally, the Heritage hasn’t featured on McIlroy’s scheduling. He last played it in 2009 (when he finished tied-58th) and, in subsequent seasons, given its usual slot in the calendar the week after the Masters, he has bypassed. In this restructured scheduling, all that has changed and McIlroy will attempt to bounce back from a disappointing final round at Colonial.