PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Players Championship went from having no fans to having no players.
In a surprise announcement Thursday night, the PGA Tour cancelled the rest of The Players Championship and decided to shut down its other tournaments for the next three weeks.
Only 10 hours earlier, as the opening round was underway and fans continued to stream into the TPC Sawgrass, Commissioner Jay Monahan announced no fans would be allowed at tour events for the next month because of the fears over the new coronavirus outbreak.
It was a bold decision in light of other leagues either suspending play or cancelling entire tournaments.
And then the tour changed course.
“We did everything possible to create a safe environment for our players in order to continue the event throughout the weekend,” the tour said in a statement. “But at this point — and as the situation continues to rapidly change — the right thing to do for our players and our fans is to pause.”
Monahan scheduled a new conference for Friday morning for additional details.
The Players Championship is the flagship event of the PGA Tour that offers a $15 million purse, the richest in golf. There was no immediate word whether it would be rescheduled.
Also shut down were the Valspar Championship next week in the Tampa Bay area, the Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas, and the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. The Match Play is for the top 64 players available in the world ranking, and there was some concern not all could travel to Texas for the World Golf Championships event.
The next scheduled event would be the Masters, set for April 9-12.
Augusta National’s only comment regarding the coronavirus was on March 4, when the club said it was in contact with government and health officials and at that point all its events remained on the calendar.
Monahan initially decided to continue with PGA Tour events even as most sports were either suspending play or cancelling entire tournaments, including the lucrative NCAA basketball tournaments for men and women. Major league baseball postponed the start of its season.
In golf, the LPGA Tour postponed its next three tournaments — two with title sponsors based in South Korea, another in Japan — with plans to reschedule later in the year. The final event was the LPGA’s first major of the year.
LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said on the Golf Channel telecast Thursday he was “fairly confident” the LPGA could play next week in Phoenix, and maybe even San Diego the following week without fans.
“But can I live with it if I’m wrong? If I’m wrong, I’ll regret that the rest of my life,” Whan said. “This is a decision I may not like, but I don’t think I’ll ever regret. I just wasn’t willing to live with being wrong.”
Monahan leaned on golf being a non-contact sport played outdoors over sprawling acreage, a set of circumstances that don’t apply to leagues that chose to stop playing.
“And that’s something that we thought about and talked about,” Monahan said. “But ultimately, when you break it down and you think about what’s going to happen here over the course of the next three days and then going forward, we’re comfortable having our players continue to play at this time.”
Not everyone was.
C.T. Pan of Taiwan withdrew. He posted a tweet — which he then deleted — saying he was the only one not playing, “same number as the hand sanitizers in the clubhouse, locker and dining.”
Pan later tweeted that he withdrew to reduce the risk of getting the virus: “Our lifestyle is like a circus, travelling from one place to another. We believe this is a time to exercise caution by not playing this week.”
Rory McIlroy said it was a “scary time” and that the tour made a step in the right direction by eliminating fans. But he said it would only take one player or caddie to test positive for the virus.
“We need to shut it down then,” he said without hesitation. “I think for us to keep playing on tour, we all — the tour players and people that are involved — need to get tested.”
He said he would get tested next week.
So the last golf with fans turned out to be a calm Thursday on a dynamic Stadium Course on the TPC Sawgrass, where Hideki Matsuyama tied the course record with a 63. McIlroy and Brooks Koepka each had three birdies in the final hour to salvage their rough starts with 70s.
“At least they got to enjoy themselves for one day,” McIlroy said. “Now it’s going to look a little different.”
The cancellation brings an abrupt end to the most ambitious project ever by the PGA Tour. For the first time, every shot by every player in every round was available through streaming.
And now there’s no golf at all, at least until the Masters.
If the Masters is held, defending champion Tiger Woods will not have played for seven weeks ahead of his title defence. Woods chose not to be at The Players Championship, saying his back was not ready.
Augusta National has a history of not rushing decisions. Even so, McIlroy found himself looking ahead at the Masters.
“I don’t see how they can let spectators in if they do play it, at this point,” he said.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
