PGA Tour Commissioner Says ‘We Will Need To Test Players And Caddies Before We Return,’ Is Confident They’ll Be In A Position To Do So

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The PGA Tour announced a new-look schedule on Thursday with the week of June 8-14 circled as the return dates for The Charles Schwab Challenge.

The Tour stated that it plans to play the first four tournaments on the schedule with no fans in attendance as it remains focused on the health and safety of everyone associated with the Tour.

“The health and safety of all associated with the PGA Tour and our global community continues to be our No. 1 priority, and our hope is to play a role – responsibly – in the world’s return to enjoying the things we love,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the PGA Tour announcing a new-look schedule that would likely make professional golf the first major sport to return to action amid the pandemic, there’s no denying that it’s optimistic.

There are plenty of questions surrounding the situation with the obvious ones centered around testing players, caddies and other essential personnel at events.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan joined Mike Tirico on NBCSN on Friday morning and Tirico asked him about social distancing and the situation among testing everyone involved with an event, specifically what level of testing does the Tour need to be at to return to action.

Monahan said that it’s something that the Tour is working on right now and explained that “we are going to need to be able to test players, caddies and other constituents before we return, but we need to do so in a way that’s not going to take away from the critical need that we’re currently facing.”

Monahan also explained that “based on the advice we’re getting from medical experts, we’ll be in that position.”

Nothing that Monahan said should come across as surprising, for most keeping up with the situation it was probably implied testing would be needed, but it is the first time he’s come out and said that essentially everyone involved with a tournament will need to be tested before a tee is put in the ground.

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