Augusta National Golf Club announced on Friday that the Masters tournament will be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Club Chairman Fred Riley said that tournament officials, who at first appeared set to hold the tournament — the first major of the year — without spectators, changed their minds after learning new information.
“Ultimately, the health and well-being of everyone associated with these events and the citizens of the Augusta community led us to this decision. We hope this postponement puts us in the best position to safely host the Masters Tournament and our amateur events at some later date,” Riley said in a statement.
“We will continue to work with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of the Governor, the Georgia Department of Public Health, the City of Augusta and all other local authorities. We are grateful to all of these entities for their exceptional efforts and guidance.”
The Masters was scheduled to take place April 9-12, with Tiger Woods returning as the defending champion. But as sports leagues across the country — including the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) — abandon the season, golf is following suit.
“We recognize this decision will affect many people, including our loyal patrons. Your patience as we make every effort to communicate effectively and efficiently is appreciated, and we will share any additional information as soon as it becomes available. Updates also will be posted to our website, Masters.com,” Riley said.
The move by Augusta National came after the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour announced on Thursday that it was canceling The Players’ Championship and all the other tournaments leading up to the Masters.
The world’s No. 1 player, Rory McIlroy, on Thursday said the PGA should shut down if any player or caddie tested positive for the coronavirus.
“My mother’s got respiratory issues and I certainly don’t want to get something and pass it on to her and all of a sudden there’s some sort of complication,” McIlroy said. “It’s in its infancy here in the United States, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“It’s scary time, and I think that the PGA Tour have made a step in the right direction and I think we just have to play it by ear and take it day by day,” the Irishman said.
The NBA earlier this week announced that all games are suspended until further notice after one player tested positive. The NHL and Major League Soccer (MLS) followed suit, announcing they would suspend their seasons.
Then Major League Baseball (MLB), which doesn’t begin its season until April, announced it would delay the start of its 2020 season by at least two weeks due to the “national emergency.”
Meanwhile, men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, which were set to start soon, were also cancelled — just a day after officials had announced the games would go on without spectators.
Organizers of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where there are 639 confirmed cases, have not yet announced whether the games will go on, a decision that could come as late May.