Golf

What do you do with a 5,000-seat, 117,000-foot, minor-league baseball stadium that isn't bringing in any revenue? List it on AirBnB, of course.

Women’s professional sport will make a return to Britain for the first time since the Covid-19 lockdown with the Women’s Open at Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club, a one-day tournament planned for June 18. Stars of the British women’s game including 2018 Women’s British Open Champion Georgia Hall are expected to take part behind closed doors in Hampshire in an event that was the brainchild of Ladies European Tour professional Liz Young and Brokenhurst Manor head professional, Jason MacNiven. Young says the aims of the competition are pretty simple: “It is to find a way to put on a tournament for women’s professionals, so that we can be competitive again and have the chance to earn a little money in these uncertain times and to boost the profile of the women’s game.� She is acutely aware of the situation facing women’s team sports such as football, rugby and cricket, which have had their domestic seasons cancelled. “It is so important that women’s sport is visible,� said Young. “There was controversy a few weeks ago over the first golf in the US being men’s only. Because golf is a sport that can be played safely now it is key that the women get exposure, too.� Although, not an officially sanctioned LET event, the Tour has supported Young and MacNiven in getting the message out to its members but it is also open to any female professional in the UK. Other well-known players signed up include Meghan MacLaren, Annabel Dimmock, Amy Boulden and Gabriella Cowley. Young is keen to stress that the event will adhere to government guidelines and that “caddies must be from the same household as the player�, but that they are keen that as many female professionals get involved as possible. “The great thing about this event is that you have a major winner like Georgia and then girls who have won multiple times on the LET but anybody could win, that is what is great about golf.� The event is yet to attract a sponsor and players are pitching in a £125 entry fee to contribute to the prize pot. With the dearth of live sporting action on television Young is making a plea to broadcasters to show the event. “I know people would love to watch live sport because there is so little. I would say to the likes of BBC and Sky that this a professional event with some big names, it is going to be good to watch,� she said. “It would also be an opportunity for people who are new to women’s golf to see just how good our game is. That is why it would be amazing if we could get this on television.� The event would be a chance for the LET and LPGA members to get a chance to dust off the cobwebs before a return of the major tours. It is understood that organisers are still hopeful that the AIG Women’s British Open will go ahead at Royal Troon on August 20-23. Organisers are also optimistic that the other European women’s major, the Evian Championship, which has already been rescheduled to tee off on Aug 6 on its usual course at the Evian Resort on the French side of Lake Geneva, will proceeed. If you are a female golf professional and would like to enter the Women’s Open at Brokenhurst Manor contact Liz Young via Twitter @lizyounggolf

While the course sits just miles from New York City, a major coronavirus hotspot, the USGA is committed to holding the tournament at Winged Foot.

The Mackenzie Tour announced Friday the cancelation of the remainder of its 2020 season amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

With LPGA caddies optional for the rest of the year, how many players will actually choose to carry their own bags? One caddie believes the option will be abused.

The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada said on Friday it had decided to cancel its 2020 season due to border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic that also requires mandatory quarantines for those entering the country. The tour for up-and-coming players, which is owned and operated by the PGA Tour, had planned to hold a record 13 events this year across Canada. "With growing uncertainty surrounding the border and the 14-day quarantine regulations, among other factors, we've weighed all of our options and concluded that it is not feasible to play this summer," Scott Pritchard, the Mackenzie Tour's executive director, said in a news release.

Caroline Masson says she is concerned about travel logistics when the LPGA returns, especially if a player were to contract the coronavirus while away from home.

As it searches for a replacement to the John Deere Classic, the PGA Tour is considering holding back-to-back events in Columbus, Ohio.

Despite a revised Texas order that would allow fans to attend the Charles Schwab Challenge, the PGA Tour will keep the event closed to the public.

More than a few athletes have competed on the largest golf tours in the U.S. Their status can be separated into two categories: novelties and those who made golf a career.

Golf's European Tour is set to resume in late July after a four-month coronavirus shutdown with a run of six tournaments in as many weeks across Britain. Players will be tested for the virus as soon as they arrive at tournaments, starting with the British Masters in northeast England. The European Tour is spending in excess of £2 million ($2.47 million) to implement these new-look safety measures, which extend to caddies, staff members and TV personnel, who will also need to undergo medical checks before receiving clearance for the event.

The Annika Foundation Crisis Relief Fund will award an initial round of $500 grants to 100 players, the foundation announced Friday.

GOLF Channel continues its “Big Break Monday� marathons with an encore presentation of Big Break The Palm Beaches, the series’ 23rd and final season featuring a cast of 12 male aspiring professional golfers, filmed at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The European Tour will resume play in mid-July with the British Masters.

The John Deere Classic, in position to be the first US PGA Tour event to be played with spectators since the coronavirus pandemic, has been cancelled, the tour confirmed on Thursday. Multiple media outlets had reported the event, scheduled for July 9-12 in Silvis, Illinois, would not be staged this year. "As a result of this decision, the PGA Tour announced that it will fill the week vacated by the John Deere Classic with a new tournament," the tour said in a statement, adding that details on the venue would be forthcoming in the near future.

Two-time major winner Stacy Lewis and former US Women's Open winner Brittany Lang will tee it up at the Texas Women's Open next week in Dallas. American's Lewis and Lang will be joined by several other US LPGA players, including Cheyenne Knight, France's Celine Boutier, Maria Fassi, of Mexico, and Gerina Piller for the June 2-4 event.

Two weeks before the PGA Tour is set to resume its schedule, John Deere Classic officials decided Thursday to cancel what would have been the fifth tournament back. Tournament director Clair Peterson said there were too many obstacles to overcome involving too many risks from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that it made financial sense in the long run to not hold the tournament. The John Deere would have been July 9-12 in Silvis, Illinois, the fifth PGA Tour stop under the revised schedule.

The John Deere Classic will not be played as scheduled this summer because of ongoing restrictions tied to coronavirus.

Professional golfers are set to wear microphones in serious competition for the first time when the European Tour resumes in July. Keith Pelley, the Tour’s chief executive, is determined to use the unprecedented run of six behind-closed-doors tournaments in Britain “to do things completely different from a television perspective�. “Covid-19 allows you to have permission to try things,� Pelley said. “Nobody is going to lose their card this year, that reduces the pressure. It really comes down to how open and creative you are and how your players want to embrace change.� Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played in a televised exhibition on Sunday in Florida that earned rave reviews, with much of the success put down to the insight provided by the player microphones. And with no fans allowed for at least the first few months back on Tour, Pelley is ready to break new ground to counter the lack of atmosphere. “Technology has come so far, it [the microphone] is really small and won’t disturb your swing,� he said. “Once you’ve done wireless mics in competition a few times it just becomes commonplace. We’ve got some ideas to implement during the six-week UK swing and hopefully generate some real interest.�

The PGA Tour is set to resume play in June and the European Tour in July. But when will the world ranking start counting events again?

Golf's European Tour will resume on July 22 with a run of six tournaments over six weeks in the UK, starting with the British Masters, it was announced on Thursday. The calendar has been wiped out since March due to the coronavirus pandemic but golf will return at Close House in northeast England. The season will run until December, with all tournaments played behind closed doors and subject to strict safety and testing protocols.

Keith Pelley on Thursday declined to discuss the status of the Ryder Cup or how the points system would work based on his revised tour schedule.

The European Tour plans to resume its season the last full weekend in July with six tournaments in England and Wales that will include COVID-19 testing and depend on the U.K. lifting its quarantine restrictions. It would start July 22 with the British Masters, hosted by Lee Westwood. The next five in the ''U.K. Swing'' are new tournaments the European Tour will pay for out of its tournament development fund.

The British Masters, hosted by player Lee Westwood at Close House Golf Club, will be followed by the English Open from July 30-Aug. 2 at the Marriott Forest of Arden and the English Championship from Aug 6-9 at Marriott Hanbury Manor. The Celtic Manor Resort in Newport will host back-to-back tournaments – the Celtic Classic (Aug 13-16) and the Wales Open (Aug 20-23) - before the UK Championship at The Belfry from Aug. 27-30.

The European Tour has released its plan to resume play, with the schedule set to restart in late July with six events in England and Wales.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is not ruling out having a full stadium for home football games. Barta told reporters the school is planning for several different scenarios, and one of them is opening 69,250-seat Kinnick Stadium to “as many fans as want to join us.� On Tuesday, Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard wrote in a letter to fans that he anticipated Jack Trice Stadium would host games at 50% capacity, or about 30,000 fans.

Tom Brady wasn't part of the winning team in Sunday's "The Match", but he did dominate the reaction to the charity golf event.

Two-time major champ Tony Jacklin identified former Masters champ Sergio Garcia as the "biggest underachiever" he has seen in golf.

The details certainly matter to some people.

Matthew Fitzpatrick is back in the United States after spending most of quarantine at home in England. Now, he's gearing up in self-isolation for the Tour's restart in two weeks.

Tom Brady had a lot of fun during "The Match," but he's going to stick to football moving forward.

The English Open is set to be resurrected by the European Tour as part of the five-week summer British swing that will herald the beleaguered circuit’s return after a four-month absence. The Tour will announce a partial schedule on Thursday as chief executive Keith Pelley claws back the 2020 schedule after seeing 30 tournaments cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The continuing travel restrictions inspired Pelley and his staff into a frantic race to stage a succession of back-to-back events in England and Wales, which they hope will persuade overseas members that the UK’s present two-week quarantine period is worth it. The behind-closed-doors run will tee-off at the £2 million Betfred British Masters at Close House, Newcastle, on Wednseday, July 23 before moving south to the Forest of Arden near Birmingham, then to Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire, before concluding with an unprecedented two-tournament fortnight at Celtic Manor, the Gwent venue which staged the 2010 Ryder Cup. It is believed that one of those will be classified as the Wales Open, a tournament that has not been held for six years. However, it is the English Open at Forest of Arden that will surely create most nostalgia among golf fans. The last time it was contested was at the Warwickshire layout in 2002, when Darren Clarke won his third English Open title in four years.

As the only Native American on the LPGA, Gabby Lopez tells her story and talks of her mentor, Notah Begay III.

Phil Mickelson is "open" to wearing a microphone during regular PGA Tour competition, even if it doesn't produce the same level of banter as Sunday's charity team match.

The first tee shot of the PGA Tour’s restart is still two weeks away, but players are being advised to start their preparations now.

Tom Brady had a roller-coaster experience Sunday during "The Match," and the QB shared some of his takeaways in an Instagram post.

Get your clubs ready, Steph.

Phil Mickelson thinks Michael Jordan, Bill Murray and Stephen Curry could be good for future versions of "The Match."

Phil Mickelson has many ideas on how to make 'The Match' with Tiger Woods an annual fundraising event showcasing young golfers and other athletes.

Who is the greatest golfer of all time? Is it the game-changing Woods and his 15 major championships or is it the legend Jack Nicklaus and his potentially-insurmountable 18 majors?

Gareth Bale just wants to play golf on his down time like Steph Curry.

Now we know what Phil Mickelson is thinking over the most difficult of pitch shots.

The core of the PGA Tour’s plan to return was always about testing, but it's a fine line to walk. In two weeks, at the Charles Schwab Challenge, we’ll find out if it will be enough.

Harry Diamond, Rory McIlroy’s caddie, is just one of several British bagmen resigned to spending up to eight of the next 13 weeks in quarantine in order to appear at the PGA Tour’s forthcoming restart. Diamond arrived in Florida at the weekend to start to fulfil the segregated fortnight required to make him eligible to work for the world No 1 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas, the first event back after a three-month hiatus on June 11. McIlroy is also due to play at the following RBC Heritage in South Carolina and the Travelers Championship in Connecticut. Diamond will then travel back to Belfast to be with wife Claire and their baby daughter and under UK rules will have to fulfil another two weeks locked away. After that, Diamond might travel immediately back to the States to undertake yet another fortnight’s seclusion ahead of the WGC tournament in Memphis and then the USPGA in San Francisco, before returning to the UK for what would be another two weeks of quarantine. At least Diamond is holed-up in some comfort. "We have a guest house here [in Jupiter] that Harry can quarantine in and make sure he does all the necessary things," McIlroy told BBC Sport. "The only tough thing is he has to come over and quarantine here for two weeks and then it looks like he will have to quarantine for two weeks on the other side as well. So for a three-tournament stretch it is actually seven for him, but hopefully some of those rules could be lifted between now and then." Sam Haywood is another praying that the regulations will be eased. Danny Willett’s right-hand man checked into an Orlando hotel on Sunday. “I’ve got my X-Box and Fifa so I’ll be ok,� Haywood said. “I am going to stay here for a week until I’ve done two negative [Covid-19] tests and then I’ll stay with Danny [at his Orlando residence]. I didn’t want to catch something flying over and pass it on to Danny and his family. It’ll be three weeks playing with Danny and then two weeks in quarantine back in the UK and then go straight to Memphis and… well, hopefully, the rules will be changed in that time.� Jonny Bell, who caddies for Tom Lewis, and Dave McNeilly, who has been rehired by Matt Wallace, are in the same boat, but Billy Foster has elected against it. With Matt Fitzpatrick’s blessing, the 56-year-old will remain in England with a view to going over in late July. Fitzpatrick, himself, is quarantining in West Palm Beach, having flown over on Saturday, hours after receiving a visa and the results of his negative test. Meanwhile, McIlroy has reiterated his belief that the Ryder Cup will not be played behind closed doors in September but will instead be postponed a year. "The players are the ones that make the Ryder Cup and if they are not on board with it and don't want to play then there is no Ryder Cup,� McIlroy said. "I see it being pushed back until 2021 and, honestly, I think that will be the right call."

The runner-up at the U.S. Amateur last summer, John Augenstein’s plan was to play in the Masters, finish out his senior season at Vanderbilt, play the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and then turn pro. Instead of turning pro, Augenstein is heading back to Vanderbilt for a fifth year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “My four years at Vanderbilt were everything and more than what I dreamed they would be,� Augenstein said in a statement released by the school.

Tiger Woods looked pretty good in last Sunday's exhibition. But when will we see him in real competition on the PGA Tour?

A PGA Tour return without fans on-site doesn’t have to mean less entertainment. Charles Barkley says: Mic up the players.

New York (AFP) - World number one golfer Rory McIlroy, NBA All-Star Gordon Hayward and six-time Olympic track champion Allyson Felix are among the sports stars set for a made-for-television spinning class to air Saturday.

Millions of viewers watch Tom Brady and Peyton Manning play golf with Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods on Sunday, setting a ratings record in the process.

Rory McIlroy said Tuesday that the “majority of players� would like to see the Ryder Cup postponed until 2021.

Rory McIlroy will have his trusty caddie on the bag when he resumes his PGA Tour season next month at Colonial.