By Rahul Banerji
With cases in the Bahamas still surging and worldwide travel restrictions in place, the Hero World Challenge to be played at Albany near Nassau has been cancelled.
Though in terms of numbers the total on the island chain off the Florida coast is small, virus-tracker sites show them at their highest yet and rising.
The Hero World Challenge falls in the wraparound season of the PGA Tour.
On Tuesday, pgatour.com put out the following message, also quoting tournament host Tiger Woods’ foundation.
“Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and associated travel restrictions, Tiger Woods’ TGR Foundation announced on social channels today the cancellation of this season’s Hero World Challenge at Albany, Bahamas.
“The unofficial 18-player event was to have taken place from December 3 to 6.
“Henrik Stenson was the defending champion at the Hero, where recent winners also include Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth.
“Woods’ five Hero victories and five runner-up finishes came when the tournament was held at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, which is hosting the Zozo Championship @ Sherwood this week.”
TGR Foundation statement
“Given the current global restrictions and ongoing developments resulting from Covid-19, the 2020 Hero World Challenge will not be played this year,” the TGR Foundation added.
“This decision was made with the health and well-being of all tournament constituents and the Albany community in mind.
“We look forward to hosting 18 of the top players in the world and welcoming tournament guests to Albany, Bahamas next year.
“Updates on the 2021 event will be made at HeroWorldChallenge.com and @TGRLiveEvents social channels.
The now-cancelled edition of the Hero World Challenge would have been the seventh one. Speith won the inaugural event in Orlando, Florida in 2015, before it was shifted to Albany, near Nassau.
Subsequent winners after Hero MotoCorp came on board as event sponsor include Watson (2016), Hideki Matsuyama (2017), Fowler (2018), Rahm (2019) and Stenson (2020).
Also read: PGA Tour’s 2020-21 ‘super season’ to feature 50 events
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