P.G.A. Championship will continue without fans

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The trend towards fan-free tournaments was boosted on Monday when officials for the P.G.A. Championship announced that this year's first major championship without spectators would take place August 6-9 at T.P.C. Harding Park in San Francisco.

The decision was made in coordination with officials of the State of California and the City and District of San Francisco, taking into account participants' health and well-being during the coronavirus pandemic.

The PGA of America, which leads the championship, had considered moving the league to a different location, perhaps in the Southeast, although holding the event in San Francisco had always been preferred. The city last hosted a major tournament in 2012 when the United States Open was held at the Olympic Club.

There were no fans when the professional wave of men, who was suspended for three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, returned on June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth.

The PGA Championship, originally scheduled for May 14-17, would be the first golf major of 2020 to be contested without fans, but may not be the last. The US Open, which was scheduled for mid-June until moved to September 17-20, has also discussed a fan-free event at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Westchester County, NY Officials for the Masters tournament in Augusta, Ga., Postponed from early April to November 12-15, little has said about their plans, but privately discussed several unforeseen events, including spectators.

Updated June 22, 2020

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The P.G.A. of America also faces a tough decision about how to hold the Ryder Cup, a biennial international golf competition that the organization also sponsors. The event, scheduled for late September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, and known for its boisterous, partisan crowds, could potentially be kept without fans, but dozens of professional golfers have called on to postpone the Ryder Cup for a year instead. Some players have suggested that they will not play if the event's fairways aren't littered with a large crowd.

At present, only the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, scheduled from July 16 to 19, plans to accommodate a limited number of spectators. State officials approved a plan there that allowed spectators on the trail for 8,000 daily before the event.

Last weekend's PGA Tour was in Hilton Head, SC, where the RBC Heritage was also held without spectators, something the tour plans to continue as it travels from Connecticut to Michigan in the ensuing weeks, Ohio and Minnesota are hopping.