(Reuters) – The 2020 season of the PGA Tour Series-China has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers of the series said in a statement https://www.pgatour.com/news/2020/07/21/officials-cancel-2020-pga-tour-series-china-season.html on Wednesday.
The PGA Tour and the China Golf Association said they had arrived at the decision as access into China and the continued global spread of the novel coronavirus made it impossible to proceed with the tournaments.
“It’s a disappointment, but I know our players and fans understand … that the health and safety of everyone associated with the series is of the utmost importance,” series executive director Greg Carlson said.
“Staging a Tour based in China with players from five different continents is not feasible at this time…
“We will continue to evaluate what is happening with the coronavirus and hope the situation alleviates itself so we can again resume tournament golf in this part of the world in 2021.”
Fourteen tournaments were scheduled this year. The series had held the first of three planned qualifying tournaments for players from mainland China in January before the season was stalled due to the pandemic.
Organisers said players who earned membership following the 2019 season via a top-50 finish on the Order of Merit and those who earned their cards in the qualifying tournament this year would maintain their PGA Tour Series-China status in 2021.
The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada also cancelled its season due to restrictions at the Canada-U.S. border.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
