LPGA Tour to resume with plenty of testing, maybe some fans

LPGA Tour is ready to get back to work for first time in nearly six months with a plan that includes saliva testing for coronavirus and illusions rest of year will go smoothly.

LPGA Tour was last played on Feb. 16 when Inbee Park won Women's Australian Open. Three tournaments in Asia were halted, and n COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports.

Four of five majors were moved to later in year — Evian Championship in France was canceled — and tour already has lost 13 tournaments. Some of those canceled events, in a show of support for tour, have pitched in financially to help those that can play.

“I fully believe we'll lose ar event or two or three along way,” Commissioner Mike Whan said Wednesday. “I couldn't really tell you which ones, but it would be probably naive of me to think we are just going to roll through our season and roll through different countries and be able to play exactly as we have slated.

“But I'm excited about what we have.”

Whan and his staff have been in constant contact with PGA Tour, w in its sixth week back.

LPGA Tour is to resume July 31 with LPGA Drive On Championship, a one-time event with a $1 million purse at Inverness Club in Toledo, site of next year's Solheim Cup. It's where Paul Azinger won PGA Championship in 1993.

Marathon Classic follows in nearby Sylvania, and Whan hopes by end of week to learn wher it will have fans. Memorial on PGA Tour was supposed to be first golf tournament with fans, a plan that was scrapped two weeks ago as cases spiked and players weren't comfortable with widening bubble.

Whan said Marathon Classic would have a small footprint — more than 2,000 fans — and two pro-ams (one on a different course) in which all amateurs would be subject to testing.

Players, caddies and essential staff would have a saliva test a week before tournament, and ar when y arrive, along with rmal screening and health questionnaires. turnaround won't be as quick as it is on PGA Tour, which has a mobile lab on site. LPGA said a player tested Monday would get result back by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

In meantime, medical advisers said players would be fine to practice on course, keeping ir distance, while waiting on results.

Cambia Health Solutions, a corporate sponsor, is providing branded masks. tour plans to anunce additional partners with or health resources.

Players who test positive will be given a $5,000 stipend during self-isolation. That compares with $75,000 for PGA Tour players who test positive. Whan said goal was t to supplement income on lost opportunity from t playing, but to cover any costs associated with a positive test.

And he fully expects re to be positive tests.

“It is strange to get started in a time in which we kw we’re going to have positive results matter what we build,” he said. “It won’t be anybody’s fault. But positive results happen, so spending as much time as we are on what happens when y are positive is a strange time as a commissioner. But we are trying to make sure that we’ve built all resources that y would need or we would need in going through se things.”

He also said caddies would be optional for rest of year, though Whan expects most players to keep someone on bag. It was ar example of giving players an option in terms of guarding ir health.

After two weeks in Ohio, LPGA heads to Scotland for Ladies Scottish Open at Renaissance Club and year's first major, Women's British Open at Royal Troon, before returning to Arkansas. After a week off comes second major, ANA Inspiration in California desert from Sept. 10-13.

He said some players are er to play, while ors are cautious. Some international players might wait for Scotland.

“It should be a busy first five weeks, and an exciting time for players to come back on board,” Whan said. “Start, don't start, play a major, don't play a major. re's a lot of options here in just se first five weeks of our restart.”

Im credits: AP