Golfs’ first major tournament of the year, the Masters, has been cancelled, as announced by Augusta National officials.
The tournament was scheduled to be played April 9th-12th, and will be the fifth major golf event that will not be played at their original scheduled time. This comes after the cancellation of the rest of the Players Championship, Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, WGC-Dell Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas, and Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
In an official statement, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, Fred Riley, said that “they hope this postponement puts us in the best position to safely host the Masters Tournament and our amateur events at some later date.”
There is no set date as for when the event will be played, as the outbreak of the virus is still very uncertain.
The tournament has been around since 1934 and has never been played outside of March or April. There has always been a set ending on the second Sunday of April.
The Players Championship started on Thursday with limited fan access to golfers. It had been scheduled to start today without fans, but it was cancelled on Thursday night with the competitors splitting the $15 million prize.
This is the latest sporting event to be cancelled or delayed because of the coronavirus, with next week’s March Madness tournament being cancelled, the NBA and NHL postponing their regular seasons, and the MLB delaying their opening day.
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