After the COVID-19 pandemic halted the PGA Tour on March 12, world’s five top-ranked golfers will be part of the field when action returns with the $7.5 million Charles Schwab Cup at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, from Thursday.
World No. 1 Rory McIlory, second-ranked Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson will be around for the first competition after 13 weeks.
In fact, only two players from the top-10 bracket - Australia’s Adam Scott and England’s Tommy Fleetwood - are absent owing to travel-related quarantine rules in the US.
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Tiger Woods, ranked 11th, is also away. He has played only twice this year and in his last tournament appearance, his final-round 77 saw him tumble to the last place in the Genesis Invitational.
Resuming his battle with a troubled-back and fitness issues, Woods was impressive two weeks ago at the Champions of Charity match where he teamed up with Peyton Manning against Phil Mikelson and Tom Brady. In fact, Woods looked impressive and did not miss a single fairway.
This week’s field, usually for 120 players, is 144. Since this is the first of the five events without spectators, the PGA Tour’s methods to give the players and others a safe environment to play and function will be up for test.
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The players, caddies, Tour staff, local authorities and volunteers will undergo tests on Monday and Tuesday of the tournament week.
For now, wherever possible, the players are required to take a COVID-19 test at home or prior to departure for the event. A home test is also laced with monetary incentives should a player or a caddie test positive and require quarantine. The on-site testing will be from Saturday to Thursday each week for those moving to the next tournament venue. A player who tests positive will have to withdraw.
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