The PGA’s best players hoping three-month layoff didn’t affect their game
On Thursday, 91 days after the PGA Tour and the rest of the sports world was thrown into turmoil, a sense of normalcy will begin to come back. Live golf will return with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
The best players in the world aren’t waiting to get back into action. The field at Colonial this week will include all top-5 players in the world rankings, including World No. 1 Rory McIlroy. It also features seven of the top-10, 16 of the top-20, and 37 of the top-50. And that doesn’t even include the likes of Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth.
The tour they’re returning to won’t look the same as it did when they left following the first round of the Players Championship on March 11. There won’t be any fans lining the course for at least the first four tournaments. Every player will be tested for COVID-19 when they arrive at a tournament site and have strict limitations on who they can interact with during a tournament week. A player who tests positive will be forced to withdraw and enter a 10-day quarantine period.
How it will all work out in the middle of a pandemic remains to be seen. But the players seem to be buying into this ‘new normal’—with some notable exceptions, like Adam Scott—and itching to return to play.
These five players were among the hottest on tour when play was halted. All of them are in the field this week and hoping that the three-month layoff didn’t cool them down.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy heads into the PGA Tour’s restart with the same distinction he had when play was halted in March: the best golfer on the planet.
McIlroy, who turned 31 during the break, has played six events on the PGA Tour this year. He’s finished in the top-5 in all of them. In his last full tournament, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was just two shots off the lead heading into Sunday before finishing in a tie for fifth after a disappointing final-round 76.
The reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year is near the top of the rankings in almost every major category. He’s second in strokes gained: tee-to-green and total strokes gained (behind Tyrrell Hatton in both categories). He’s the second-longest driver on tour, behind only Bryson DeChambeau. And he leads the tour in scoring average.
McIlroy also has experience playing in a competitive setting under the same conditions that await the field this week at Colonial. He participated in the TaylorMade Drive Relief skins game three weeks ago, earning the win with partner Dustin Johnson against the team of Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff on an empty course at Seminole.
“It’s going to be different. It’s going to be different for a while,” he said after the event. “We’re just going to have to get used to it.”
McIlroy was arguably the player most affected by the PGA Tour’s three-month-long layoff. Not only was he the hottest player, he wasn’t able to defend his title at the Players Championship. He wasn’t able to chase his first Green Jacket and complete the career Grand Slam. And he’s heading into unfamiliar territory this week: McIlroy has never played in the Charles Schwab Challenge before.
But, if his play before the break was any indication, it won’t be long before he starts getting into contention once again.