While sports leagues in the United States remain hesitant to outright cancel much of anything due to the COVID-19 pandemic, overseas we’ve already seen one major domino fall in the cancellation of this summer’s Wimbledon. It’s the first time the tennis tournament has been canceled since World War II and indicates just how seriously they are taking this and how long they expect the effects of the virus to be felt.
The next major sporting event to be held in the UK after Wimbledon would be The Open Championship at Royal St. George’s in Kent, England, but now it appears that too will be canceled, per a report from Golf Digest.
The R&A is expected to cancel the 2020 Open Championship, multiple sources tell Golf Digest. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the cancellation publicly.
The decision, which could be announced as early as Thursday, comes after the All England Club canceled the Wimbledon tennis tournament (scheduled for June 29) on Wednesday. Sources told Golf Digest last week the R&A was awaiting the decision on Wimbledon before proceeding.
The tournament was scheduled to take place from July 16-19, and, unlike the other golf majors stateside that have “postponed” without outright canceling, it will not be rescheduled. It will be interesting to see if this has any effect on whether the other three majors also make an official decision on not playing them at all or if they keep hope alive of being played at a later date.