Aaditya Nair
19th October 2020
The Australian Open will be missing from the schedule for the first time since World War II this season after Golf Australia, and the PGA of Australia dropped all sporting events on Friday on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 105th version of this seasoned and esteemed competition planned to happen at Melbourne's Kingston Heath Golf Club. It had been delayed from its typical opening in November.
Golfer Jordan Spieth at the Australian Open (Source: The Indian Express)
With Melbourne still in lockdown, admittance to Australia still amazingly hard for outsiders, notwithstanding, the overseeing bodies chose to drop the two people Opens just as the Australian PGA Championship.
"It's phenomenal, and a genuine blow for Australian golf and its fans," PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman said in a news discharge. "We have aggregately gone through months in comprehensive discussion with every single significant position and our authorizing accomplices to attempt to figure out how to organize each of the three functions securely,” as reported by the Indian Express."In any case, even with various alternative courses of action, it has arrived at a point where choices must be made, and this, sadly, is the one we need to take," quoted Indian Express.
The Australian PGA Championship was first played in 1905 and is co-authorized by the European Tour. It had just been moved from December to February at Brisbane's Royal Queensland. The administrative bodies said they considered measures to get the competitions fully operational, including bringing players into a biosecure bubble and limiting groups. However, the alternatives seemed ‘unviable’. "The events rely on significant support from players and tours around the world, so given the current quarantine restrictions, we believe the field strength of all three events would be severely compromised," said Golf Australia's new chief executive James Sutherland.
(Sources: The Indian Express, Times of India, First Post)
Edited by: Keyuri