Asia swing unlikely as PGA Tour weighs going to western US

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — PGA Tour first started going to Asia in 2009 with HSBC Champions, a World Golf Championship. Since n, it added events in Malaysia and South Korea, and n Malaysia gave way to Zozo Championship in Japan, which Tiger Woods won last year.

This strange year of COVID-19 pandemic is likely to mean Asia swing at all.

China anunced last week it was canceling all sporting events for rest of 2020 except for trials related to 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. HSBC Champions is said to have little interest in moving, mainly because acronym stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. It’s all about market it serves.

As for or Asia events?

tour has begun exploring idea of moving each to western part of United States for this fall only.

Even if coronavirus situation is stable in Asia by fall, it’s unlikely many of top players would build a trip to Far East into ir schedules just a few weeks before Masters on v. 12-15.

Any move was described as being a long way off.

Two people aware of talks said one possibility for Zozo Championship was Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. That’s where Woods previously held his World Challenge in December, and it was recently site of a PGA Tour Champions event.

CJ Cup in South Korea is scheduled for week after Las Vegas, leading to speculation PGA Tour would look into staying in Vegas for two weeks.

people spoke to Associated Press on condition of anymity because discussions are in early sts, and or sites are under consideration depending on title sponsors.

Asia Swing last year had quite a trio of winners — Justin Thomas (CJ Cup), Woods (Zozo) and Rory McIlroy (HSBC).

LIPSKY’S PAYOFF

It started with a 68 in final round in South Africa to win Dunhill Championship at end of 2018. David Lipsky wouldn’t have guessed n how that would parlay into his best shot at finally getting a PGA Tour card.

Dunhill was a co-sanctioned European Tour event, which put him in top 10 in Race to Dubai. That made him eligible for Mexico Championship, where he birdied three of his last four holes to tie for 10th. And that led to Lipsky finishing equivalent of top 200 in FedEx Cup, giving him conditional status on Korn Ferry Tour.

He already had won twice on European Tour. He won on Asian Tour in his first year after graduating from rthwestern.

“I was exempt on European Tour, so my goal was always to treat this year as a gamble to see what I can do on Korn Ferry,” Lipsky said in a phone interview. “It was sort of an opportunity I felt I had to take.”

He played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on European Tour to start year, and n flew 30 hours to Panama for a Korn Ferry Tour event and tied for 10th, giving him better status. And n COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf. Lipsky stuck with Korn Ferry Tour and made it pay off last week.

He tied course record with a 62 on Saturday, closed with a 66 and won TPC San Antonio Challenge at Oaks. That moved him to . 11 in points race. Because of shorter season brought on by pandemic, he can’t earn a PGA Tour card this year.

But he has three events left to finish in top five and earn a spot in U.S. Open. Being among top 10 in points at end of season at least can get him into opposite-field PGA Tour events, and it will go a long way toward a PGA Tour card for fall of 2021.

Lipsky reached final st of Q-school in 2012 — last time it awarded PGA Tour cards — and finished poorly. By n, he had already won on Asian Tour. Two years later, he won European Masters in Switzerland (Brooks Koepka finished one shot out of playoff).

He did try Web.com Tour in 2013 after Q-school, finding limited success over five months, and at that point he was enthralled by playing in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia instead of Midland, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas.

“I spent all of 2012 traveling world,” he said. “To go to some of se places in U.S. ... I didn’t have too many friends on tour at time. It was a hard year for me. And my game wasn’t as good as it is w. ... Honestly, as much as I want to play PGA Tour, I wouldn’t have traded my career for anything with places I’ve been and people I’ve met.”

Lipsky, who turned 32 on Tuesday, wants to see what he can get done over next two months. He will head back to Europe in September for BMW PGA Championship and back end of schedule.

INTERNATIONAL TOURS

PGA Tour’s feeder circuits in Canada, China and Latin America have been canceled for year because of COVID-19. Those players w at least get a chance to compete, as international tours have an eight-tournament series in South.

tour has signed up LOCALiQ, its official partner for digital marketing services, to sponsor series. It will feature seven 54-hole tournaments on golf courses in Georgia, Alabama and Florida, with a 72-hole final event. winner of last event and top two players on a points list will receive an exemption into a PGA Tour event next year, with or perks to be anunced later.

“We have so many gifted, hard-working players who were anxious to play this season on ir respective tours before effects of COVID-19 caused us to change our plans,” said Rob Oh, tour’s senior vice president of international tours.

Each event will have a 144-man field play for a $100,000 purse paying $16,000 to winner. It starts first week in August and ends last week in October.

EUROPEAN TOUR

Portugal Open returns to European Tour schedule as an event that also counts toward Challenge Tour. It is scheduled for Sept. 17-20, same week as U.S. Open. It’s part of European Tour strategy this year dictated by COVID-19 pandemic to keep tournaments in same region as often as possible.

This is second straight week of a tournament in Austria.

What follows is six consecutive weeks in U.K., starting with British Masters.

Portugal Open will be three-week finale of “Iberian Swing,” which starts with Andalucia Masters on Sept. 3-6, n Portugal Masters and Portugal Open.

Meanwhile, Kenya Open is w rescheduled for v. 12-15, same week as Masters. It was scheduled for March 12-15, next in line until pandemic shut down golf.

DIVOTS

Chase Seiffert got into Workday Charity Open when K.J. Choi withdrew. He closed with a 67 to finish alone in fourth. It was his best finish on PGA Tour and moved him to . 109 in FedEx Cup standings with five weeks remaining before top 125 qualify for postseason. ... Jason Day has never finished in top 10 in 11 starts at Memorial. He tied for seventh in Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Vill. ... Rickie Fowler had 16 consecutive rounds at par or better on Muirfield Vill until his 73 in final round.

STAT OF WEEK

Justin Thomas has finished in top 10 or missed cut in nine tournaments he has played this year.

FINAL WORD

“It almost felt like a practice round.” — Gary Woodland on final round of Workday Charity Open, kwing Memorial would start four days later on same course.