The Asian Tour announced on Sunday plans to restart its coronavirus-ravaged season in September after a six-month suspension, but players ...
The Asian Tour announced on Sunday plans to restart its coronavirus-ravaged season in September after a six-month suspension, but players may have to travel alone despite restrictions beginning to ease across the world’s most populous continent.
The tour, which has been suspended since American Trevor Simsby won the Malaysia Open on March 7, told AFP it aims to tee off again at the Shinhan Donghae Open from September 10 to 13 in South Korea, the first of three events in consecutive weeks.
The $1.181 million tournament at Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club, Incheon, will be played under Covid-19 travel and distancing protocols which could mean few spectators and players using local caddies.
“We are targeting between 10 to 12 events from September to December,” Asian Tour Commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant told AFP, with the tour calendar almost certainly extending into the new year before transitioning into the 2021 season.
“Unlike domestic markets, we understand international travel will slowly restart in phases and the ultimate lifting of quarantine periods will determine the tour’s ability to resume full-scale operations,” Cho added.
“If we need to minimise the number of foreign travellers travelling into a host country, we may have to do without private caddies, entourages, and support staff,” admitted Cho.
“It is possible...
