[Joel_Stewart]

A number of media companies are reporting the R&A will announce the championship at Royal St. George's will be cancelled.  The economic impact on the region will be significant.  This comes on top of the news that Wimbledon was cancelled.

[Pat Burke]

A number of media companies are reporting the R&A will announce the championship at Royal St. George's will be cancelled.  The economic impact on the region will be significant.  This comes on top of the news that Wimbledon was cancelled.

Read they are well insured and had to make decision by a certain time.
Good business decision it seems?

[Pete_Pittock]

Next year still at Royal St. Georges

[James Reader]

I’d be surprised if an insurance policy was forcing them to make a cancellation decision by a certain time - wouldn’t make sense from an insurer perspective.  Possibly more likely (if the rumours are true) that they were at a point of having to commit to spend that wouldn’t be recoverable from insurance if they subsequently had to cancel?  Or they’ve just got to the point where its obvious that it’s not going to be possible to hold a major sporting event in the UK in July.  That seems to be a very reasonable conclusion to me, unfortunately.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I’d be surprised if an insurance policy was forcing them to make a cancellation decision by a certain time - wouldn’t make sense from an insurer perspective.  Possibly more likely (if the rumours are true) that they were at a point of having to commit to spend that wouldn’t be recoverable from insurance if they subsequently had to cancel?  Or they’ve just got to the point where its obvious that it’s not going to be possible to hold a major sporting event in the UK in July.  That seems to be a very reasonable conclusion to me, unfortunately.

I think you are spot on.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Next year still at Royal St. Georges

I reckon St Andrews still then 2024 for RSG

[Tony_Muldoon]

Statement just released



Thursday 2 April 2020


In light of recent media speculation, we would like to clarify the position regarding The 149thOpen.Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “We are continuing to work through our options for The Open this year, including postponement. Due to a range of external factors, that process is taking some time to resolve. We are well aware of the importance of being able to give clear guidance to fans, players and everyone involved and are working to resolve this as soon as we can. We will give a further update as soon as we are in a position to do so and thank everyone for their support and understanding in this challenging situation.”

[Ronald Montesano]

Still crickets from the USGA. I expect a Friday news dump tomorrow.


https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2020/04/usga-championships-covid-19-updates-.html#returnable

[Joel_Stewart]

Sorry I posted this. Even I'm susceptible to bad reporting by Golf Digest.

[Pete_Pittock]

Joel,
you can always change the thread title

[Greg Gilson]

I thought is was April 1 story?

[Tim Leahy]

Can golf be played in October or November in Scotland or England weather wise if they were to postpone the British Open?

[David_Tepper]

Tim -

Golf can be played, but the daylight hours start growing short that time of the year.

DT

[Matt_Cohn]

(oops)

[David_Tepper]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/02/lack-of-inevitable-open-postponment-shows-just-how-loud-money-talks-for-ra

[A.G._Crockett]

I’d be surprised if an insurance policy was forcing them to make a cancellation decision by a certain time - wouldn’t make sense from an insurer perspective.  Possibly more likely (if the rumours are true) that they were at a point of having to commit to spend that wouldn’t be recoverable from insurance if they subsequently had to cancel?  Or they’ve just got to the point where its obvious that it’s not going to be possible to hold a major sporting event in the UK in July.  That seems to be a very reasonable conclusion to me, unfortunately.

It is my understanding from what I have read about both Wimbledon and the Open that there was in fact a "drop dead" date in play for an insurance claim.

[Philip Gawith]

One thing you can be pretty sure of is that if it is cancelled this year then it will not be at St Andrews next year. The R&A want to host the 150th Open at the Old Course, not the 149th.


Philip

[Adrian_Stiff]

One thing you can be pretty sure of is that if it is cancelled this year then it will not be at St Andrews next year. The R&A want to host the 150th Open at the Old Course, not the 149th.


Philip

Not sure that is a given. I think that would be the preferred option, RSG is a BIG earner too. Courses, hotels, logistics for these events take time to sort and book. People would have made plans, bookings. It might not be that easy to just budge up a year. It is a bit like missing a flight, you might not just hop on the next one, it is booked. The principle will be that they will want to just shift a year but I think the delay in the announcement is due to the fact they have not fixed it yet. The clubs involved will have other championships and commitments. I heard they were trying for Portrush in 2024, the next gap might be 2024 or 2025. I think it could go either way, in the past if they missed a year after schedule they just did not go their next. Birkdale was getting the 1940 Open, it was 1954 when they ended up with their debut. Deal lost out a few times, it could have got 4 or 5 Opens if not for some cruel weather or events.

[Mark Chaplin]

If Rob McGuirk at Princes or the Bell in Sandwich accept a booking tomorrow for 5 rooms for the third week in July next year, it would be safe to assume the Open is going to St Andrews, if those rooms are block off there’s a chance it will be in east Kent!

[Enno Gerdes]

It's now official, the 2020 Open has been cancelled: https://www.theopen.com/latest/2020/04/theopencancellation2020


The 2021 Open will be held at RSG, 2022 at St. Andrews. On the positive side, that gives me another year to look forward to my first ever visit to the Open.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Back to the Original Thread Title.  Email just received.






The R&A has decided to cancel The Open in 2020 due to the current Covid-19 pandemic and the Championship will next be played at Royal St George’s in 2021.
[/color]
[/color]The Open was due to be played in Kent from 12-19 July but it has been necessary to cancel the Championship based on guidance from the UK Government, the health authorities, public services and The R&A’s advisers. This is the first time since the Second World War that golf’s original Championship, first played in 1860, has been cancelled.
[/color]
[/color]The 149th Open will be played at Royal St George’s from 11-18 July 2021.
[/color]The 150th Open will be played at St Andrews from 10-17 July 2022.
[/color]
[/color]As a result, we would like to confirm that all ticket, hospitality and car park purchases for The 149th Open will be automatically transferred over to the new dates of Sunday 11 July – Sunday 18 July 2021 and your place at Royal St George’s is now secured.
[/color]
[/color]Please note that you are entitled to a full refund of the cost of your ticket(s) under the terms and conditions of purchase.  If you no longer wish to, or are unable to, attend The 149th Open on these new dates for any reason, we will cancel your booking and provide a full refund.
[/color]
[/color]We will be accepting refund requests between Friday 1 May 2020 and Tuesday 30 June 2020.  We will endeavour to process your refund within 30 working days of receiving your request.  We will email you again in due course with further details of how to request your refund.
[/color]Our staff are currently working from home, all ticket related communications should be sent to Tickets@TheOpen.com and all hospitality related communications to Hospitality@TheOpen.com.  If you need to speak to someone over the phone, please leave your telephone number, along with your international dialling code, and a member of the team will contact you in due course.

[Tom_Doak]

If Rob McGuirk at Princes or the Bell in Sandwich accept a booking tomorrow for 5 rooms for the third week in July next year, it would be safe to assume the Open is going to St Andrews, if those rooms are block off there’s a chance it will be in east Kent!

Did you test your theory?


It seems pretty obvious from the events of this weekend that GOLF DIGEST had heard what had been agreed by the Powers That Be, but jumped the gun on reporting it.  I wonder if they'll be in the doghouse for it?

[Mark Chaplin]

Tom to be fair the only thing Golf Digest got right was the Open would be cancelled in 2020, it didn’t take a scientist to work that one out. There’s too little light and too greater risk on weather after mid September.


GD said it would go straight to St Andrews in 2021, that was completely wrong. They took an educated guess and got it wrong.


I didn’t get around to testing my theory!

[Tony_Muldoon]

By cancelling they can still have RSG next year and the 150th at TOC in 2022.
However that makes a return there in 2025 less likely and so St Andrews could be the big financial loser if it misses one of its traditional 5 year slots.


The town will be listening carefully to hear who gets 2025.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Troon was getting 2023, but it has not yet been inked for 2024. A lot of talk Portrush was getting 2024. I would think those two would the 2024 and 2025 slots. Perhaps the R & A will move toward the 2s and 7s that gives them the 150th-155th-160th Opens. None of this is good for Turnberry and I can't understand why.

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