Weirfan The FedEx cup is meaningless this year, but at least it will be a huge payout for some players and that can help make up for the shortfall from no tournaments for most of the season. The way things are going, FedEx will be one of very few PGA sponsors that should be flush with cash given their business is actually increased during these times.

      ode

      The Open Championship and Wimbledon apparently were the only ones to have all encompassing pandemic insurance.

          Weirfan Who would have ever thought to buy that type insurance? The salesman must now be roaming the Sahara Desert, selling flood insurance.

            johnnydoom

            yeah, I feel real bad for them crying “poor mouth”. Maybe they can go on wrx and sell some of their “tour issue” crap that only fits them.

              ode The course would be playable (links courses are playable all year round - there has been a European Tour event at St. Andrews/Carnoustie/Kingsbarns in the autumn for quite a few years), but the amount of daylight available would potentially be an issue - the UK is far enough north for there to be a big difference in sunrise/sunset times between July and September/October. Royal St. Georges is probably the best course from that point of view (think that it's the most southerly course on the current Open rota), but it's asking a lot to get the whole field round in a maximum of 12 hours of decent daylight.

                  MartinD thanks for explaining. If they wanted to they could do it, but sounds like Rd. 1 and 2 would be a PITA.....split tees could be an option! Hopefully the insurance money goes to those who need it!

                      ode The easiest solution would be a faster pace of play... (We can dream, can't we? 🤣 )

                      Two-tee starts are a bit messy at most Open courses, as the 10th tee is often at the other end of the course - St. Andrews, Royal Troon, Carnoustie come to mind. One creative solution (so something that the R&A wouldn't go for) would be to use two courses for the first two rounds, which would have been an option for an Open at Royal St. Georges, with Prince's right alongside. (Prince's is used for Open qualifying, and has previously hosted the Open - admittedly in 1932...)

                          MartinD faster pace= you talking my language😉

                          I like the 2 course idea....don't they do that for Dunhill Links?

                              ode Three courses for the first three rounds - Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course - with the last round played at the Old Course. (I think that the format is very similar to the Pebble Beach tournament on the US Tour.)

                                  Just doesn't seem right not having The Open. It and The Masters are the ones I look forward to the most. The Open can be dependent (a little) on weather and venue, but it's golf we rarely get to see over here!

                                  PA-PLAYA
                                  Messing with the schedule rarely works out for the second tier tournaments, imo.
                                  They had the best date they could possibly have, given the theme of the tournament itself.
                                  Maybe they spent all they had fixing up the place after the flood?
                                  It's a shame but as you stated, may be a sign of things to come.
                                  Stupid Fedex playoffs has screwed up the whole deal, imo.

                                    Typhoon

                                    It's actually a pretty significant amount that these events raise for these charities. Golf does a lot of goodwill service that doesn't get talked about very often.

                                      4 days later

                                      About that Ryder Cup....

                                      Rory says that if the Ryder Cup can't be played with fans in attendance, it should be postponed another year. He makes a compelling argument. Would the Super Bowl be the same without NFL fans? It would definitely be different. But given our inability to look that far ahead into the future with what we're dealing with currently, I'm guessing the option of not allowing fans has to at least weigh on the minds of all pro sports commissioners at the moment.

                                      Then again, if health authorities deem it unsafe for fans to be in attendance, how many pro athletes are gonna feel comfortable traveling to various cities (or countries in the case of the Ryder Cup)?

                                      “That’s from a European, going to America, knowing that I’m going to get abuse," McIlroy said. "Obviously it would be better for Europeans to play without fans because we wouldn’t deal with some of the stuff that you have to put up with, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be a great spectacle. There would be no atmosphere. So if it came to whether they had to choose between not playing the Ryder Cup of playing it without fans, I would say just delay it a year.”

                                      I'm no LeBron apologist for sure, but several weeks ago he got roasted for suggesting the same thing, maintaining that he wouldn't resume playing hoops in empty arenas.

                                      https://www.golfchannel.com/news/rory-mcilroy-fan-less-ryder-cup-not-ryder-cup