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A18 SPORTS
Friday 20 March 2020
Uncertainty with majors as much about who plays as when

By DOUG FERGUSON 9-12. Moving to May, right
AP Golf Writer about the time the club
The new slogan the U.S. closes for the summer,
Open introduced just 17 would seem to be a long
days ago is an indication of shot. If that's the case, it
how complicated it will be would be simple enough
for golf to resume, assum- to add the top 50 from the
ing it ever does this year. world ranking not already
It's not a matter of when in — four players based on
the majors are played. It this week's ranking.
becomes a question of If it moves to the fall, Au-
who plays. gusta National could save
The branding campaign the PGA Tour winners after
called "From Many, One," April 12 and any late entries
touches on the identity that to the top 50 until the 2021
sets the U.S. Open — men's Masters.
and women's — apart from As for scheduling? That will
the other majors. require a new level of co-
The U.S. Open usually gets operation among the four
about 9,000 entries who organizations than run the
go through 18 holes of lo- majors and the PGA Tour
cal qualifying or 36 holes and European Tour, which
of sectional qualifying, supply the majority of the
sometimes both. From that players.
comes the 156-man field, It will be a shorter season, if
half of whom have to qual- there is a season.
ify. Still to be determined is the
The USGA is sticking to its fate of the Olympics in To-
principles, at least for now, In this April 14, 2019, file photo, Patrick Reed, left, helps Tiger Woods with his green jacket after kyo this summer, though the
by scrapping qualifiers for Woods won the Masters golf tournament, in Augusta, Ga. IOC is probably two months
men and women in May. Associated Press away from deciding. That
The U.S. Women's Open is to involves qualifying in other
be played June 4-7 in Hous- minimum. right course. with perhaps more to fol- sports that make golf look
ton. The U.S. Open is set for The first of 109 local quali- It's not really a U.S. Open low. easy by comparison.
June 18-21 at Winged Foot, fiers for the U.S. Open was without qualifying at all lev- The British Open, scheduled If no golf is played before
located about five miles to start on April 27 and go els. The 18-hole local quali- for July 16-19, already has the golf qualifying ends
away from the new coro- through May 12. The U.S fiers, while not as memo- held four of its international on June 22, the top four
navirus containment zone Women's Open had 25 sec- rable as who ends up win- final qualifiers, most recent- Americans would be Justin
set up in New Rochelle, tional qualifiers that were ning, are still important. ly at Bay Hill two weeks ago, Thomas, Brooks Koepka,
New York. to start on April 22. The first That's what the brand cam- with the next one sched- Webb Simpson and Xander
Both remain on the sched- one had been schedule for paign suggests, anyway. uled in Japan at the end Schauffele — followed by
ule. Kent, Washington, one of But it goes beyond qualifi- of May. It also takes the top Patrick Reed and Patrick
Before contemplating lo- the hardest-hit areas for the ers. 50 in the world, typically in Cantlay if any of the four
cation, consider the calen- coronavirus. Exempt players include the late May, at which point a choose not to play. That's
dar. Those have been can- top 10 on the LPGA Tour golf tournament might not according to a world rank-
The Centers for Disease celed. money list through April 15, have been played. The ing expert known only as
Control and Prevention got The USGA said it would work and the top 75 in the world next event on the Europe- "Nosferatu" on Twitter.
everyone's attention Sun- with its partners to "redesign ranking. Keep in mind the an Tour schedule, for ex- So it would look bleak for Ti-
day when it recommend- qualifying going forward as LPGA has played only four ample, is Denmark on May ger Woods chasing a gold
ed that events of 50 people events unfold." Exactly how times this year — twice in 21-24. medal. Then again, if the
or more not be held for the that unfolds might be the Florida, twice in Australia — The Masters was the first Olympics are not held, that
next eight weeks, which toughest test in golf. before canceling or post- men's major to be post- would be the least of any-
goes until May 10, at the To attempt a solution is the poning six straight events, poned, scheduled for April one's concerns.q

Surfing events wiped out until June amid virus outbreak

GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — The World Surf "We are a truly global sport. Moving tours and the season in Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam and
League is canceling or postponing all events events between countries is challenging under China and the major sports leagues in the U.S.
through the end of May, citing the continued the best of conditions. Under current circum- For most people, the new coronavirus causes
evolution of the coronavirus pandemic. stances, it's just not possible, and will not be only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever
WSL events at Bells Beach in southeast Austra- for some time to come," Logan said in a video and cough, and most recover. The worldwide
lia and at the Margaret River on the west coast statement. "As a league that organizes public outbreak has infected more than 179,000 peo-
have been postponed in the wake of the can- gatherings, we are also extremely conscious of ple and left more than 7,000 dead. More 78,000
cellation of the season-opening competition our social responsibility not to enable and ac- people have recovered, most of them in China,
on the Gold Coast. celerate the spread of the virus." where the outbreak started late last year.q
It's not expected to be a complete wipe out, A tour event scheduled for June 4-14 at Banyu-
though. wangi, Indonesia will either canceled or moved
WSL chief executive Erik Logan is hopeful the to an area with more infrastructure, the WSL
season will get started by mid-year, saying said. The surfing suspension follows cancella-
"June feels like the most likely time to kick off tions or season delays in other sports, including
the 2020 season safely." the first four Formula One Grand Prix races of