Golf In A Plague Year March 30: No Go

Golf In A Plague Year March 30: No Go

The COVID-19 shutdown continues: Still no golf in Michigan; Detroit Auto Show Called Off; Evian Championship rescheduled; more.

What We’re Missing This Week On Tour

This week’s regularly scheduled PGA TOUR event, the Valero Texas Open, has been cancelled. On the LPGA, the year’s first professional major, the ANA Inspiration has been postponed until Sept. 10 – 13.

Still No Golf In Michigan

Oakland Hills briefly had a plan to reopen its North Course to its members. It included no guests, no carts, twosomes only and online tee registration ten minutes apart. Flags and rakes would be removed. Social distancing was to be maintained by the members.

The storied club’s thinking was that if people were allowed to walk the course without clubs, they could be allowed to have clubs if no employees were present.

State officials nixed the plan.

Meanwhile, at nearly every playground and schoolyard I have passed in recent days, there are young people out playing basketball and climbing on the equipment. Basketball and playground mobs apparently are state-approved activities.

The difference, of course, is that police have no interest in issuing tickets to ballers and parents of young children. Bad optics. It’ll end up on YouTube as police harassment. They can, however, easily levy a fine against a course.

Detroit Auto Show Called Off

The Detroit Auto show is cancelled for 2020. Long a fixture in mid-winter, the Auto Show this year was planned for June as a large indoor-outdoor celebration of motor cars. It would have been a lot of fun.

However, the TCF Center (Cobo Hall), the indoor space in the plan, has been designated by FEMA as a field hospital for the next six months.

Evian Championship Rescheduled

With the Tokyo Olympics postponed until 2021, the LPGA stepped into the gap and moved the 2020 Evian Championship to August 6 – 9.

Originally scheduled for July 23-26, the Evian Championship, held in Evian-les-Bains, France, will now take place the week before the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, which is scheduled for Aug. 13-16 in North Berwick, Scotland.