Playing in the Bubble

Playing in the Bubble

 

Adam Scott

 

PGA TOUR have just announced that Adam Scott has withdrawn from this week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD after testing positive for COVID-19.

 

“While it’s difficult news to receive – as I really looked forward to playing this week – my focus now is on recovery for the final stretch of the fall,” said Scott.

 

All the tours are having to operate under strict guidelines, however several players including Dustin Johnson, Carlota Ciganda and Alex Levy, along with their caddies have been forced to isolate.

 

European Tour Bubble

 

 

For exactly one-quarter of this year like no other, the European Tour has been hosting post-lockdown tournaments. And things have not been easy for golf’s second-biggest circuit. 

 

With the exception of last month’s Scottish Open and the BMW PGA Championship, both $7 million Rolex Series events, the prize money available to players has dropped markedly. In turn and across the board, the stature of fields has fallen commensurately.

 

Still, at least one positive aspect has stood out amidst any negativity. If COVID-19 test results are our guide, the European Tour’s “bubble” system—in which players are required to travel solely between the course and hotel during tournament week and eat with only designated “buddies” at specific locations—has been hugely successful. 

 

Only one player, Frenchman Alex Levy, has so far been the subject of a positive result. And only John Catlin, subsequently a two-time tournament winner, has been caught violating the prescribed protocol. The American was ejected from the bubble surrounding the English Championship and forced to withdraw from the tournament in August when he visited a local restaurant.

 

Nutritionist Graham Close has been advising the designated hotels on their menus. And players have the option of withdrawing from events at the last minute, with no threat of financial penalty. Given a ripcord they can pull, any feeling of being “trapped” is mitigated.

 

PGA Stars are not Sheep

 

Christina Kim

 

The bubble is of course a noble idea, where players and caddies plus officials — the essential workers of the PGA Tour — in a germless chamber where there are only scores on scorecards and live action for untold millions of home viewers craving it.

 

But as we are almost getting used to this unprecedented run of spectator-free golf on the PGA Tour, one thing is clear: there is no bubble.

The players are staying here and there and the caddies are, too. That is, in the four Tour-designated official hotels and in other accommodations, too. 

 

They’re eating … wherever. They traveled here in their own cars, on commercial flights, in private planes. They’re not sheep. Professional golfers are funny. They may look and sound like conformists, and it is a well-honed act.

 

However, the PGA Tour has had a number of cases reported which is perhaps not unusual considering the number of daily cases in the States.

 

LPGA Testing 

 

 

It has always taken a deft putting stroke, nerves of steel and an aggressive nature on the course to earn a berth to the LPGA’s ANA Inspiration.

 

However, this year, it also takes two negative COVID-19 tests, a color-coded wrist band and a pledge not to dine out during tournament week.

 

Since the LPGA returned to play in July after a five-month stoppage because of the coronavirus pandemic, the tour has tried to build their own so-called bubble around each tournament. 

 

But no two bubbles, even the one being crafted at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, for the ANA Inspiration, have been exactly the same.

 

“We’ve had to deal with local regulations everywhere we have gone,” said Christina Lance, senior manager of tour media for the LPGA. “Every place is different.”

 

At Mission Hills, LPGA players, caddies and other designated essential personnel will deal with two levels of safety protocols and security, including having no spectators on the course. While the ANA Inspiration bubble is not a lockdown bubble, dictating specifically where players can stay or eat, it does require testing and strict health monitoring.

 

“You can almost look at it as inside the bubble and outside the bubble,” said Alyssa Randolph, the tournament manager for the ANA Inspiration, an LPGA major being played for the 49th consecutive year at Mission Hills. “If you are going to be close to a player, if your job requires you to be close to a player, you have to be tested at the LPGA testing site and then you are inside the bubble. But you still have to stay social distanced, wear a face covering, have all of those COVID measures.”

 

Bottom line is that all the main tours cannot afford to disappoint their major sponsors or to renegade on the lucrative broadcasting contracts. 

 

Really the only winners are us the viewers, as we at least get to enjoy some excellent golf from our sitting rooms. 

 

Personally, it is actually quite refreshing not to have to put up with some idiot shouting out “In the hole!!!”

 

Written by Mike Bridge    Editor Golf in Thailand