Monahan said that the Tour will need to be able to test players, caddies and others before play resumesgetty images
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said the new schedule, which pegs a return for the sport on June 11, was able to come together after working with "players, with our board, and with all of our tournaments and title sponsors." Appearing on NBCSN's "Lunch Talk Live" on Friday, Monahan said, “You’ve seen in some other sports where they’ve had some challenges with certain events getting out in front of the rest of the sport. For us, it was really important right away to come together and try to figure out what is the best possible schedule for our players and for our fans.” Monahan stressed that the Tour will need "to be able to test players, caddies and other constituents before we return.” He added the shutdown has caused commissioners across the sports landscape to "come together to think about our industry and how our industry responds and returns in addition to how we do so as individual sports." Monahan: "The amount of communication and sharing has certainly been helpful to the PGA Tour, and I’m hopeful that what we’re experiencing and our plans will be helpful to others” (“Lunch Talk Live,” NBCSN, 4/17).
IS TOUR BEING TOO OPTIMISTIC? GOLF.com's weekly roundtable discussed how likely the Tour is to actually return for the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11. Golf.com's Sean Zak gave it a 50/50 chance but said, "The more pressing question that we’ll have to answer in late May is 'Should the Tour do this?'" Golf.com's Alan Shipnuck: "I deeply hope widespread testing is available by the beginning of June, but right now we’re barely scratching the surface nationally. Can that change in five weeks? I’m dubious." Golf.com's Josh Sens: "If it’s not easy for everyone in the country to get tested by that point, how will it look for a bunch of professional golfers to have ready access to the test?" Golf.com's Josh Berhow: "This needs to be 100 percent safe for players, caddies, staffers, etc., and if it’s not, it’s not worth the risk and bad PR" (GOLF.com, 4/19).
TESTING THE TESTING PROTOCOL: Golf Channel’s Anna Whiteley cited a report from The Guardian that the PGA Tour is "planning to use up to one million COVID-19 testing kits in order to routinely check the health of its players and personnel.” The PGA Tour in the story denied that report, but Golf Channel’s Paige MacKenzie said, “I’d feel relieved as a player that they’re going through this very, very thorough testing procedure." However, she asked, "What if you do test positive? Are you going to be able to get your eligibility back for those events?” Golf Channel's Robert Damron: “I would be happy that they’re taking such a hard approach to try to quell the outbreak.” Damron: “The protocol for what would happen if a player tests positive … there are more questions than answers every time we read something like this." MacKenzie: “The virus isn’t going anywhere, so how long is this testing procedure going to be in place?” MacKenzie: “It’s going to be incredibly invasive for these players and these caddies” (“Morning Drive,” Golf Channel, 4/20).
