By the time the official postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games was announced last Tuesday, a sense of inevitability had already stolen the thunder from the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee. It merely formalized what everyone was expecting.
While the world sorts through the ongoing impact of the coronavirus, with seemingly every corner of society touched in a significant way, the question of what happens when a sense of normalcy returns is never far away.
It is a light of hope in a dark time.
For professional golf, it’s a huge question without a definitive answer at the moment.

There are big questions: Will the Masters actually be played in October or even November? Is the U.S. Open just an official announcement away from being moved into late summer while remaining at Winged Foot? What about the Ryder Cup?
There are smaller, but still important questions: Can a PGA Tour season still be called complete if 30 percent of it is lost? What about Korn Ferry Tour players chasing their PGA Tour cards who are seeing opportunities disappear with each passing week? Will some tournaments be played without galleries?
“I can’t imagine the jigsaw puzzle the European Tour, the PGA Tour and the four majors have on their hands before we even start talking about the Ryder Cup. It’s a crazy puzzle,” Graeme McDowell said last week.
Eventually, there will be a restart button and how the professional golf calendar will look remains a work in progress. While the postponement of the Olympics was a major blow to the sporting world, it may help golf sort through the necessary reshuffling of its schedule, particularly where major championships are concerned.
At this point, the PGA Tour is still publicly pointing toward a restart at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, in late May. That could change – and it could be played without spectators – but it’s at least a target. At the moment, it seems overly optimistic.
“I think the tour is doing everything it can to get us back to work at Colonial without putting anyone at risk. The No. 1 thing we need to do is get back to work.” – Kevin Kisner
It’s also possible that the invitational Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial Tournament could become full-field events to provide more playing opportunities for PGA Tour players.
“I think the tour is doing everything it can to get us back to work at Colonial without putting anyone at risk,” Kevin Kisner said. “The No. 1 thing we need to do is get back to work. They may try to expand some fields so guys can catch up with playing opportunities but it all depends on when we go back.”
The Players Championship is gone and isn’t coming back this year. The Masters has been postponed. The PGA Championship is looking for a new date. The USGA is standing by its statement that it has until mid-April to make a decision about the U.S. Open at Winged Foot but published reports and common sense suggest a move is imminent.
The Open Championship remains an open question given the dire situation in the U.K. and playing the Ryder Cup this fall in Wisconsin may hinge on how much golf is played in June, July and August to allow for a proper qualification period.
Though Masters officials aren’t commenting – and they won’t until they have something definite to say – they have done nothing to shoot down reports that the tournament may be played in the second week of October, though November is also said to be in the equation. There is certainly enough anecdotal evidence – from the paucity and price of hotel rooms in the Augusta area that October week and at least one big golf venue cancelling previously booked events to clear that week on its schedule – to suggest it’s moving in that direction.
Then again, would it be a total surprise if Augusta officials decided to wait it out until next April?
We are one week from what would have been Masters week and, with all due respect to the harrowing reality of the moment, it’s going to feel empty without it. There will be replays to watch and pimento cheese available but it’s a bit like postponing Christmas.
The USGA has already determined there will be no corporate hospitality venues on site if the U.S. Open were to be played in June but with Westchester County, where Winged Foot is located, effectively shut down for the foreseeable future the USGA has no real option but to find a later date for the U.S. Open.
The Open Championship, meanwhile, remains on the schedule as planned at Royal St. George’s in July but given the restrictions on travel and on life within the U.K., it seems likely to be postponed and rescheduled in the fall.
That would likely allow for the qualifying process return to local and sectional events rather than the abbreviated plan currently in place.
“We are absolutely committed to Winged Foot. If we have to pivot, we will take into account a number of factors when that happens. When could we move it and if we could do it then at Winged Foot,” Craig Annis, the USGA’s chief brand officer, said last week.
The beneficiary of the Olympics being pushed into 2021 appears to be the PGA Championship, which could now neatly slip into the late July/early August window vacated by the IOC. It would allow time for TPC Harding Park in San Francisco to be ready and still fit the event within the confines of the current season.

The Open Championship, meanwhile, remains on the schedule as planned at Royal St. George’s in July but given the restrictions on travel and on life within the U.K., it seems likely to be postponed and rescheduled in the fall.
One scenario has the PGA Championship in August, the Open Championship in September, the U.S. Open in October and the Masters in November.
Still six months away, the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits could be part of an extraordinary period of competitive golf. It’s possible from early August through early November, all four majors, the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup could take place in a four-month window.
Television factors into the equation as well, with the behemoth that is the NFL re-emerging in September. CBS, which televises the Masters, and Fox Sports, which airs the U.S. Open, would have serious scheduling issues.
There are also questions about the feasibility of the Ryder Cup being played this year if only because of a compromised qualifying process. One possibility is allowing captains Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington to pick their 12-player teams.
“For me the major championships take priority over the Ryder Cup,” McDowell said. “It’s really only viable if the qualification process reflects correctly the 12 best players.”
Which brings us back to where we are. Waiting and wondering when professional golf will begin again while we wait on bigger matters to be resolved.