(Reuters) – This year’s Ryder Cup will be postponed to 2021 and next year’s Presidents Cup will also be moved back by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN reported on Tuesday.
The biennial Ryder Cup, which pits a U.S. team against Europe, was scheduled to take place from Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin but will instead be played in the same time frame next year.
The 2022 event to be held in Rome would also be pushed back by a year, ESPN reported citing a source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
ESPN said an official announcement would be released later on Wednesday. The PGA Tour and PGA of America did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
With fans unlikely to be able to attend the Ryder Cup if it went ahead this year, several prominent players, including world number one Rory McIlroy, had urged officials to postpone it.
The Presidents Cup, a clash between the United States and an Internationals team minus Europe, had been scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina next year but had been moved to 2022, the report said.
The events will then continue to alternate every other year.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
