Firestone Country Club apparently is no longer being considered to fill an opening on the PGA Tour’s revamped schedule after Thursday’s cancellation of the John Deere Classic due to coronavirus concerns.
According to Golfweek, Akron and Detroit were among the alternative sites and Rob Oller of the Columbus Dispatch reported that Columbus could be in the mix, with one source saying it appeared to be the top option. According to the Dispatch story, Lexington, Kentucky, and Carmel, Indiana, are also possibilities.
“There are multiple options, more than a handful,” a PGA Tour player told Golfweek.
But Don Padgett III, executive director of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, said via text Friday that the Champions Tour major Aug. 12-16 would be the only professional golf tournament staged in Akron this year.
The John Deere was scheduled for July 9-12 in Silvis, Illinois, and was to be the first PGA Tour event to allow spectators.
Because of COVID-19, the tour could be considering keeping players in the same city for consecutive weeks. The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club is set for July 16-19, the week after the now-open date. The Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club is scheduled for July 2-5.
The Detroit event will be played without fans; the Memorial has not been given approval to allow spectators.
Representatives of four tournaments preparing to host professional golf events in Ohio this year recently wrote a letter to Governor Mike DeWine seeking permission to allow the public to attend, according to the Dispatch. Those four were the Memorial, the Bridgestone Senior Players, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and the LPGA Tour’s Marathon Classic in Sylvania.
The last time the same course hosted pro events in consecutive weeks was in 2014, when Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina was the site of the U.S. Open, followed by the U.S. Women’s Open.
Ohio State’s Scarlet Course and Scioto Country Club have held professional tournaments, but the Dispatch reported Scarlet had not been contacted by the tour as of Friday and Scioto did not know of any feelers in that regard.
The Nationwide, a Korn Ferry Tour event, is scheduled for Aug. 20-23 at OSU Scarlet.
