"The situation continued to escalate and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, and not if, we would need to call it a day"
Friday 13 March 2020 13:15, UK
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has defended the decision to attempt to complete The Players Championship before bowing to inevitability by cancelling the tournament.
With concerns over the coronavirus pandemic which has prompted a virtual lockdown on all professional sport in the United States, the PGA Tour attracted criticism for playing on while imposing a ban on spectators for the next three weeks.
But Monahan was forced to change direction a few hours after the first day's play at TPC Sawgrass, and all PGA Tour activity has now been cancelled up to the Masters next month.
"I'm a fighter, I wanted to fight for our players and our fans and for this Tour to show how golf can unify and inspire," said Monahan as he faced the media on Friday morning.
"But as the situation continued to escalate and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, and not if, we would need to call it a day.
"We took all the steps to make certain that, if we were playing today, we were playing in a safe environment. We had minimised the number of people that were going to be out here, and we weren't going to have more than 250 people in any one location. And we, along with Andy Carroll, the head tournament chairman, had taken all the right steps.
"But when we got to late in the day and players came off the golf course, and to some of the questions that we received here, particularly from international players who were trying to figure out what they do with their family, how they get home, how they get their families here, and just uncertainty for a number of players generally.
"Even though we feel like we have a safe environment and we've done all the right things, we can't proceed, and it's not right to proceed. Our goal now is to focus on a plan for the near and long-term and maintain the strength we've built through our organisation over the past 51 years, and I'm confident we'll do exactly that."
Monahan also revealed that the widespread concern among the players in the field at Sawgrass was a major factor in the decision to cancel "our Super Bowl", while the closure of two Florida theme parks proved to be the final straw.
"Ultimately there were some players that were concerned, and that's something that we took into consideration and took very seriously," added Monahan, who insisted he was not aware of any players or caddies who had been tested for coronavirus.
"But there are a number of factors. You know, this is our Super Bowl. This is the biggest event of the year for us, and we're here and we're playing it. Unlike a lot of other decisions that are being made, they're being made in the weeks to come. And we just felt like, you know what, given all those factors, it was time to move on.
"We're talking about The Players Championship, but we're also talking about a number of events going forward, so when you looked to that moment in time where you have two theme parks that are located between Jacksonville and Tampa cancel, to me that really was the thing that was the final thing that drove the decision."
