The COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc with sporting schedules all over the world. Football’s European Championship has been postponed until 2021, the Olympic Games have been put back a year, the Formula 1 season is now scheduled to start in June and golf events have been postponed or cancelled across the PGA, European Tour and LPGA Tours – with casualties including both The Masters, the US PGA Championship and the second World Golf Championships event of the year. Here’s what the world’s top players had to say about the unprecedented situation.
Stephen Gallacher
Last year’s Hero Indian Open champion on the postponement of this year’s tournament due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“A pandemic is a serious thing and people are dying from it. There’s going to be an Indian Open tournament next year, so it’s just a case of getting everybody back to full health. Obviously, you want to go back as defending champion but the bigger picture is more important than sport. We don’t really know what’s happening, to be honest.”
Tiger Woods
The fifteen-time Major winner tweeted the following to his army of fans.
There are a lot more important things in life than a golf tournament right now. We need to be safe, smart and do what is best for ourselves, our loved ones and our community.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) March 16, 2020
Jon Rahm
The Race to Dubai and DP World Tour Championship winner had this to say about his family who were on lockdown in Bilbao, Spain.
“Everybody’s there. I have spoken with them. I went to the grocery store, and I gave them a call since I knew they had nothing else to do. Basically, everyone is in quarantine. My family is in great spirits. My grandma is the most spirited, most energetic 85-year-old you’ll ever meet. She’s trying to look on the bright side of everything so it’s
always refreshing to talk with her, but it’s hard. She saw a family get taken home by the police because they were out walking.”
Ryder Cup hopeful, Matthias Schwab
“I was in Doha for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters before the virus really started to spread faster. When the Kenya Open was called off I stayed in Qatar hoping to get some good practice in before going to India – but then the Indian Open was called off so I came back home to Austria. Now, I’m at home, hanging out and waiting to see what happens next. I’m trying to stay fit and work out a bit but there are a bunch of restrictions from the government as you’re not supposed to go outside or really gather with other people.”
Four-time European Tour winner, Matt Wallace
“I’ve been playing in the United States for the last few weeks and was watching on at what was happening on the European Tour and obviously keeping a close eye on it all. I was due to play Malaysia after The Masters and that was one of the first tournaments to be called off and then Kenya and India went, too. This was all going on while we were at Bay Hill and then we came into the week at The Players. There was a bit of uncertainty – everyone was talking about it all the time – and we played the first day. While I was on the course, they announced that the rest of the tournament was going to be behind closed doors and then on the Thursday night it was called off, along with the next three events. And then, the following day, it was The Masters. Now the event at Valderrama and the PGA Tour events up to the US PGA are off, too. No-one knows what’s happening at the moment and golf stops being as important when we have something like this, which no-one has any experience of, is going on. I don’t know when I’ll be playing again, but I’ll be doing all I can to be ready.”
