There will be no fans in the galleries, but professional golf returns this week with plenty of players worthy of attention.
The PGA Tour resumes with the Charles Schwab Challenge, featuring 16 of the top 20 golfers in the world at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. No. 1 ranked Rory McIlroy will be part of a field that includes 101 PGA Tour winners and 24 major champions.
Xander Schauffele has four PGA Tour wins on his resume. The 12th-ranked player in the world will be part of the first tournament since the coronavirus pandemic forced a shutdown. The first round of the Players Championship had just been completed when play came to a halt on March 12.
“I think it’s a mixture of nerves and excitement,” Schauffele said. “We don’t really know what to expect, but I think everybody is just ready to get back on the course and do our job. I am sure the second tournament on our schedule is going to be a little bit smoother than the first as we try to figure out what we can and can’t do on and off the course.”
Players will be tested for COVID-19 at the tournament site and results, according to the PGA, will be available within hours. A golfer who tests positive for COVID-19 will be sent home.
Charter flights are going to be made available for players and caddies to travel between events.
Essentially, the PGA Tour is trying to create a tournament bubble, including designated hotels for players.
“Golf is one of the few sports that I feel like we can play with the whole COVID situation,” Schauffele said. “Naturally, we’re not very close to each other, we’re not really a team, and you don’t really hang out among each other. For the most part, I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Part of that step for professional golf is tournaments without spectators. This week’s event in Fort Worth is the first of five tournaments scheduled to go on without fans before the PGA Tour reviews its attendance policy.
By its nature, golf is sport where the crowd is supposed to be quiet anyway, but the empty galleries still might have an impact, depending on the golfer.
“I don’t think I pull the biggest crowd or get too fired up off a crowd,” Schauffele said. “There are few guys out there that the crowd really does get them going and pushes them through. So, for me, I don’t think it will have too much of an effect. It will be sort of like playing a round of golf with your buddies, but it just happens to be for a lot more money.”
This week is the first time in 90 days that PGA Tour players are gathering at a golf course to get ready for a tournament.
When Schauffele first returned to his hometown of San Diego back in March, only play was allowed at golf courses and not practice on ranges or putting greens.
Schauffele believes being forced to just relax and play instead of intensely focusing on a specific area of his game might be a blessing in disguise.
“I was sort of frustrated with my putting,” Schauffele said. “I have used this time to reboot, and it was nice to set the clubs down for six or seven weeks and totally flush my memory of everything. I feel like that was a positive for me personally.”
Schauffele will find out for sure starting Thursday morning with the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
