Was it was the right call to cancel The Open 2020 by the R&A?

[Jeff Schley]

With the tremendous success (by all accounts) for still playing the Masters in 2020 albeit delayed til November. Was it the right decision for the R&A to cancel the 2020 even event? If not, what should they have done as this is being an arm chair quarterback exercise for sure.
It would have been great to have watched the worlds greatest on the fairways of Royal St. Georges, but it was not to be.

[Ronald Montesano]

There is a great article on the why, and I cannot find it, for the life of me. It paints such a clear picture, and has to do with school plus emergency services plus quarantine.

[Dan_Callahan]

Super easy to Monday morning quarterback the decision. Now that we've had months of PGA and European Tour events completed without incident, it seems obvious the Open could have been played. But I fully understand the decision they made when they made it. And symbolically, showing how seriously they were taking this pandemic, it was an admirable choice. After all ... at the end of the day it's just a golf tournament.

[Ben Stephens]

Heard that like Wimbledon the R+A were covered by insurance for events like a pandemic. Not 100 percent whether this is correct in regards to the R+A.

[Tommy Williamsen]

https://www.ksat.com/sports/2020/07/20/why-were-wimbledon-british-open-canceled-instead-of-postponed/

[David_Tepper]

"The major that never happened"

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-major-that-never-happened-the-backstory-behind-the-cancellation-of-the-2020-open-championship

[Mike Bodo]

Based on the information in the articles Tommy and David posted, I'd say cancellation was the right call from both a PR and financial standpoint. There was more to lose in the event being postponed and played, as opposed to what the R&A stood to gain. I'm good with this decision. I'd hate to see the 150th Open at St. Andrews have attendance restrictions, as I suspect next year's Open at Royal St. George's will. Hopefully, but July 2022 the pandemic will be completely in our rearview mirror.

[Tom_Doak]

It was the right call.


Holding the event in the fall would have required all of the players to travel internationally for a one-week event, and then try to justify not quarantining on arrival or return home.  That would have been irresponsible.


The world will keep spinning without having declared a Champion Golfer of 2020.

[Joe Zucker]

Probably the right call, but it seems weird that they played the women's Open.  Makes it seem like the decision was more financial than heath oriented because of the insurance the men's event had.

[William_G]

the 14 day quarantine is a deal breaker

[Wayne_Kozun]

the 14 day quarantine is a deal breaker

You mean the quarantine in the UK?  They allowed the women to stay in a bubble for the Scottish Womens Open and the Womens Opoen rather than require a 14 day quarantine upon entering. Surely they could have done the same for the men.

[Mark Pearce]

Super easy to Monday morning quarterback the decision. Now that we've had months of PGA and European Tour events completed without incident, it seems obvious the Open could have been played. But I fully understand the decision they made when they made it. And symbolically, showing how seriously they were taking this pandemic, it was an admirable choice. After all ... at the end of the day it's just a golf tournament.

This.

[jeffwarne]

Yes, it was the wrong decision to cancel rather than postpone.
I said it then and I say it now.

Tours worldwide played on after protocols established.If it were canceled later due to the "second wave" we're having, that would make sense as well.


A postponement  would've worked(in cooperation with the US Tour on a date).
Would've have to have been a smaller field if a fall date, reducing the field by eliminating the 12 Open Q spots and eliminating perhaps some of the spots gained through qualifying via worldwide events though the spring and summer(many of which were cancelled anyway)


It can't be all about money and an insurance policy can it?


Using hindsight,and given the roaring comeback of the pandemic, I would say many will say it was the right decision, but at the time they cancelled, rather than postponed, my opinion is that it was the wrong one.


But I'm selfishly prejudiced as it's my favorite event of the year-would've loved to see some October weather for the Open.

[Kalen Braley]

Jeff,

Given how far north most Open venues are, could they have really played a full field event in the middle of October when they only have 10 hours of daylight, vs summer at 17?  Or would they just make it a 5 day - 4 round event?

Even the Masters struggled with a much smaller field after just one weather delay.

[jeffwarne]

Jeff,

Given how far north most Open venues are, could they have really played a full field event in the middle of October when they only have 10 hours of daylight, vs summer at 17?  Or would they just make it a 5 day - 4 round event?

Even the Masters struggled with a much smaller field after just one weather delay.

No weather delays at The Open..-just weather
Would've had to trim field. No open Q's(12) They made it virtually a non Open years ago anyway(they just readded the 12 a few years back)
Then have no more Open Qualifying series spots going forward(many cancelled anyway as those early events not played)
The US Open did a similar thing, they just would've had to be more stingy with spots,and used both tees.

[Mark Chaplin]

An October Open would have seen the course virtually defenceless with minimal rough and very receptive greens.


We got 139 players around a 6600 yard course on 24th October playing 3 balls in under 4 hours. Any Open field would have been no more than 100 players.

[Tom_Doak]

the 14 day quarantine is a deal breaker

You mean the quarantine in the UK?  They allowed the women to stay in a bubble for the Scottish Womens Open and the Womens Opoen rather than require a 14 day quarantine upon entering. Surely they could have done the same for the men.

The men didn't want to stay for two weeks, there was no other event paired with The Open like there was for the women.  And considering our fine COVID response, perhaps they just wanted the Americans to stay home!  [Not that the UK is doing much better right now.]

[David_Elvins]

The men didn't want to stay for two weeks, there was no other event paired with The Open like there was for the women.

The Scottish Open was a couple of weeks after then US Open and had a pretty big purse (US$7.5mil).


That may have worked as a pairing event if they had wanted to do it??

[Tom_Doak]

The men didn't want to stay for two weeks, there was no other event paired with The Open like there was for the women.

The Scottish Open was a couple of weeks after then US Open and had a pretty big purse (US$7.5mil).


That may have worked as a pairing event if they had wanted to do it??

I can assure you that my clients, who host the Scottish Open, would have been all for that, but they were never in the discussion.  Was the European Tour even in the discussion?  Their primary concern was the Ryder Cup and look how that turned out.      I'm not sure they get to site at the grown-ups table these days. *[size=78%] [/size]






* That's a Thanksgiving joke if you are not familiar.

[Wayne_Kozun]

the 14 day quarantine is a deal breaker

You mean the quarantine in the UK?  They allowed the women to stay in a bubble for the Scottish Womens Open and the Womens Opoen rather than require a 14 day quarantine upon entering. Surely they could have done the same for the men.

The men didn't want to stay for two weeks, there was no other event paired with The Open like there was for the women.  And considering our fine COVID response, perhaps they just wanted the Americans to stay home!  [Not that the UK is doing much better right now.]

But would they have had to stay for two weeks if they bubbled? Yes the women stayed for two weeks, but I don't believe they quarantined - they were not allowed out of the hotel, other than to play golf. They could have done this with the men for one week, or 5-6 days.

[Ronald Montesano]

David Tepper found the article I referenced. Thanks for posting the link, David.

[Jeff Schley]

Going to happen with or without the fans. good news as we are quite used to seeing golf without fans and players at this point are as well I'm sure.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/30827354/the-open-set-played-2021-spectators