It should’ve been around this time that Scotland’s Sandy Lyle was preparing to arrive at Augusta for the 40th anniversary of his maiden Masters appearance.
Instead, the double major winner is staying safe indoors in the north of Scotland with his wife and family.
As each week passes in this Coronavirus uncertain world, we see more and more tournaments either postponed or cancelled.
Earlier this week, we learnt the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open in Toronto has been cancelled with defending champ, Rory McIlroy now needing to wait to June 2021 before his title defence while now we learn the U.S. Women’s Open is being moved from June to December over two courses in Houston, Texas.
Next to be postponed will be the men’s U.S. Open also originally to be held in June at Winged Foot on New York’s Long Island, now to be played much later in the year.
It was Lyle who captured a first Major in winning the 1985 Open at Royal St. George’s but at now aged 62 he’s undecided if he will attend the 149th Open given being over-60 he is no longer eligible to tee-up in golf’s oldest major.
And while the very proud Scot is currently sidelined with the Masters postponed to a likely November date, Lyle may not have to worry whether or not he does head south to Kent given the increasing uncertainty if The Open will take place from 16 – 19 July.
The R&A is known to be in continuing crisis talks with those administering the three other majors along with the European and PGA Tour should golf’s oldest major be postponed.
It’s becoming a logistical nightmare as Lyle agrees.
“I think the whole world is hurting that badly that we maybe ought to give the Major season a miss,” he said.
“It could be an awful lot of cramming event-wise. We ought to almost delete the year and make sure everyone is healthy and all the problems are ironed out.
“This isn’t going to go away in a couple of months. This is here to stay for quite a while. The country is going to take quite a while to get back into a normal routine.”
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