Yahoo News Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
The Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods’ annual charity tournament, won’t take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PGA Tour announced on Monday afternoon.
The Hero World Challenge was set to take place from Dec. 3-6 at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas. The 18-man tournament, which isn’t an official PGA Tour event, benefits Woods’ foundation.
“Given the current global restrictions and ongoing developments resulting from COVID-19, the 2020 Hero World Challenge will not be played this year,” the Tour said in a statement. “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.”
According to ESPN, Woods’ agent said they had discussed moving the tournament to Florida this year, as traveling internationally during the coronavirus pandemic was one of the biggest issues they had faced. A contingent of Hero MotoCorp executives and guests, however, were planning to travel from the company’s headquarters in India regardless, per the report — meaning a relocation to the United States wouldn’t solve that problem.
[ Coronavirus: How the sports world is responding to the pandemic ]
The Hero World Challenge is just the second tournament to be canceled on Tour since the season resumed after the coronavirus hiatus, joining the John Deere Classic. The British Open also opted to cancel this season, the only one of the four major championships to do so.
The Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico is also scheduled for that weekend, the second-to-last event of 2020.
There have been more than 8.2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Monday night, according to The New York Times, and more than 220,000 deaths attributed to it. The country has averaged more than 56,000 new cases a day over the past week, nearly 20,000 more than it was averaging a month ago.
More from Yahoo Sports:
