It was reported Thursday night that the US Open golf tournament will not be played on June 18-21 this year as scheduled. The tournament is still expected to take place at Winged Foot Golf Club, but the U.S. Golf Association is looking to hold the tournament later in the summer.
It’s still three months until the tournament was scheduled to take place, so moving ahead with the postponement already means the USGA expects the COVID-19 pandemic to keep the sports world halted for the foreseeable future.
March 13, 2020; Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA; General view of the 17th hole during the 2020 edition of The Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass – Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The US Open is now the third major golf tournament postponed due to the coronavirus. The Masters, which was scheduled for April 9-12 was obviously postponed, and the PGA Championship scheduled for May 14-17 has also been put on hold. The Open Championship, which is scheduled for July 16-19 in England has its preparations proceeding as planned.
This means there are three major tournaments that need to take place in August and beyond. Then we also have the Fed Ex Cup playoffs, which we know the PGA Tour puts a huge amount of emphasis on, scheduled from April 8th to August 25th. This means, the three majors likely will take place in September or October.
I do think all three majors will take place this year. September to December is generally the offseason in the professional golf world, with mostly minor tournaments being held during that span. That will not be the case this year because I expect all three postponed major championship to be held during this typical “offseason”.
How this will affect The Masters, US Open, and total majors betting remains to be seen. The guys at SportsBettingCanadian.ca will be updating their guides for betting on each major as more information comes out. You can see their golf betting guide here.
March 13, 2020; Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA; Byeong Hun An walks to the clubhouse after the cancellation of the 2020 edition of The Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass – Stadium Course. The tournament was cancelled at the conclusion of the first round due to the developing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
When golf does return this year there will be huge tournaments nearly every week. It will be interesting to see how the players perform going from months of non-competitive play right into week after week of high-pressure golf tournaments. Whichever players are able to find their A-game right out of the gate, could do some major damage and put themselves in a position to make a positive out of this whole situation.
I for one hope that the decision to postpone the US Open turns out to have been done prematurely and we get professional golf back in late May or early June. It’s still far too early to know for sure.
