The U.S. Open, Masters and PGA Championship have been rescheduled, while the British Open has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

What a day in the world of golf.

The United States Golf Association announced on Monday that the 120th U.S. Open will be postponed to the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 120th U.S. Open has been postponed and is now rescheduled for Sept. 17-20, 2020, at Winged Foot Golf Club.

— USGA (@USGA) April 6, 2020

On the same day, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – The R&A – announced that the British Open will be canceled for 2020.

It is with a heavy heart that we have to cancel The Open for the first time since WWII. We appreciate that this will be disappointing for a great many people but we have to act responsibly during this pandemic and it is the right thing to do.
Statement: https://t.co/brJfuOZSFP pic.twitter.com/iizOupOk4m

— The Open (@TheOpen) April 6, 2020

The U.S. Open represents the third of the four annual major golf championships, and was originally scheduled for June 18-21 at Winged Foot Gold Club in Mamaroneck, New York. The location will remain the same, but the tournament will now take place in the fall.

In a press release, USGA CEO Mike Davis thanked Winged Foot for its flexibility and other major tournaments for their cooperation:

“We are hopeful that postponing the championship will offer us the opportunity to mitigate health and safety issues while still providing us with the best opportunity to conduct the U.S. Open this year…We are incredibly thankful to the membership and staff at Winged Foot for their flexibility and support. We are also grateful for the wonderful collaboration among the professional tours and other majors in working through a complicated schedule.”

Just days ago, on April 3, the USGA announced that the 75th U.S. Women’s Open would be postponed to Dec. 10-13. It will be held at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.

The 2020 U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club has been postponed to December.

— USGA (@USGA) April 3, 2020

The USGA also announced that the 41st Senior U.S. Open and the 3rd U.S. Senior Women’s Open are canceled for 2020. The 41st U.S. Senior Open will now take place July 8-11, 2021, at Omaha Country Club in Omaha, Nebraska. The 3rd U.S. Senior Women’s Open has yet to be rescheduled.

We also received news Monday that the Masters Tournament and the PGA Championship – the two other golf majors – officially have new dates.

Statement from Chairman Ridley:

“We have identified Nov 9-15 as the intended dates to host the 2020 Masters. We hope the anticipation of staging the Tournament brings a moment of joy to the Augusta community and those who love the game.”

Full details at https://t.co/rSr9YUhCX2 pic.twitter.com/1lVmbq8jzJ

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 6, 2020

We have new dates for the 2020 PGA Championship, provided we have clearance from public health authorities. #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/pfFDeDUoHh

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) April 6, 2020

With Monday’s across the board announcements, all four major golf tournaments have officially been postponed or canceled for 2020 due to the coronavirus.

• The 84th Master’s Tournament was scheduled to take place April 9-12 at Augusta National Gold Club. It will now be held November 12-15.
• The 102nd PGA Championship was scheduled to take place May 11-17 at TPC Harding Park. It will now be held August 3-9.
• The 12oth U.S. Open was scheduled for June 18-21 at Winged Foot Golf Club. It will now be held Sept. 17-20.
• The 149th British Open was scheduled to take place July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s Golf Club. It was canceled on Monday.

In a statement, CEO of The R&A Martin Slumbers said that the organization explored all options to play the British Open, but that holding the tournament was not feasible, based on the recommendation of the U.K. government:

“There are many different considerations that go into organising a major sporting event of this scale. We rely on the support of the emergency services, local authorities and a range of other organisations to stage the Championship and it would be unreasonable to place any additional demands on them when they have far more urgent priorities to deal with.

The U.K. has been one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus, reporting nearly 5,000 deaths as of Sunday.

“Our absolute priority is to protect the health and safety of the fans, players, officials, volunteers and staff involved in The Open. We care deeply about this historic Championship and have made this decision with a heavy heart.” Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A

— The Open (@TheOpen) April 6, 2020

Defending British Open champion Shane Lowry weighed in on the cancellation of the event he last won:

Obviously im disappointed that I won’t get to defend the Open championship this year but I feel the RandA have made the right decisions based on people’s health and safety. See you all in Royal St George’s in 2021 pic.twitter.com/zr7uS80lgH

— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) April 6, 2020

Graeme McDowell, winner of the 2010 U.S. Open, probably put it best:

The impossible jigsaw starts to come together……. https://t.co/3D84v840gp

— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) April 6, 2020

All schedule updates can be reviewed here:

The leading organizations in the sport have collaborated to announce a revised golf calendar for 2020. https://t.co/3tisvHhZ0D

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 6, 2020