Golfer Jordan Spieth on the Australian Open. (AP/File)
The Australia Open will likely be absent from the sporting calendar for the primary time since World Battle Two this season after Golf Australia and the PGA of Australia cancelled all of their prime occasions on Friday due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The one hundred and fifth version of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious match, scheduled to happen at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath Golf Membership, had already been postponed from its normal slot in November.
With Melbourne nonetheless in lockdown and entry to Australia nonetheless extraordinarily tough for foreigners, nonetheless, the governing our bodies determined to cancel each women and men’s Opens in addition to the Australian PGA Championship.
“It’s unprecedented and an actual blow for Australian golf and its followers,” PGA of Australia chief government Gavin Kirkman mentioned in a information launch.
“We now have collectively spent months in exhaustive session with all related authorities and our sanctioning companions to attempt to discover a solution to stage all three occasions safely.
“However even with a number of contingency plans, it has reached a degree the place choices need to be made and this, regrettably, is the one we’ve needed to take.”
The Australian PGA Championship, which was first performed in 1905 and is co-sanctioned by the European Tour, had already been moved from December to February at Brisbane’s Royal Queensland.
The governing our bodies mentioned they thought-about a raft of measures to get the tournaments up and operating, together with bringing gamers right into a biosecure bubble and limiting crowds, however the choices proved “unviable”.
“The occasions depend on vital assist from gamers and excursions around the globe, so given present quarantine restrictions, we consider the sphere power of all three occasions can be severely compromised,” mentioned Golf Australia’s new chief government James Sutherland.
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