International Golf Events Ryder Cup And Presidents Cup Postponed Due To The Pandemic

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Tiger Woods tees off at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France. The biennial tournament, previously scheduled for this year, has been postponed to 2021. / Getty Images

Two major international golf competitions, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, have announced that they are postponing their event dates by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organizers say they rescheduled the Ryder Cup because it was not clear fans would be able to attend safely this year.

The Ryder Cup, a biennial competition that pits top U.S. golfers against some of the best from Europe, was initially left unchanged as golf's four major tournaments were canceled or postponed.

However, organizers announced on Wednesday that the Ryder Cup will be held in September 2021 instead of the initially scheduled 2020 date. It is the first such rescheduling of the event since Sept. 11. Before that, it hadn't been rescheduled or canceled since World War II.

The event will still be held at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Sheboygan County, Wis.

"It became clear that as of today, our medical experts and the public authorities in Wisconsin could not give us certainty that conducting an event responsibly with thousands of spectators in September would be possible," PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said in the statement. "Given that uncertainty, we knew rescheduling was the right call."

That shift led to the rescheduling of the Presidents Cup, a tournament that features a U.S. team competing against a non-European international team.

The Presidents Cup has traditionally taken place in between years when the Ryder Cup occurs. It was initially slated for the fall 2021 in Charlotte, N.C., but will be pushed to 2022.

As of now, three of the four major tournaments — the U.S. Open, the Masters, and the PGA Championship — have been rescheduled for later this year. The 2020 British Open was canceled.

Organizers said that people who bought tickets for the 2020 Ryder Cup will be able to obtain tickets for the new date or will be eligible for a refund.

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