(Reuters) – Next month’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio will be the first on the PGA Tour’s revamped schedule to allow spectators amid the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers announced on Friday.
“Thanks to state approval and support from the PGA Tour, patrons will be permitted to attend the 45th edition of the Memorial,” the tournament, hosted by 18-times major champion Jack Nicklaus, wrote on Twitter.
The Memorial, which will follow five spectator-free events on the PGA Tour, also said it will issue more details soon for the July 16-19 event at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, while announcing the re-opening of state casinos and amusements parks in two weeks’, said safety plans for the Memorial Tournament were received and approved.
“These sectors have come up with plans that reduce the number of people, provide for sanitation, and in some cases, provide for one-way traffic,” DeWine wrote on Twitter.
“They are elaborate plans that we believe are consistent with protecting the public.”
A week before the Memorial, Muirfield will host a tournament that will replace the Illinois-based John Deere Classic that was cancelled due to state-related challenges regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be closed to the general public.
The PGA Tour, which shut down in mid-March due to the novel coronavirus, returns to action next week at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth Texas.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)
