- The 2020 Ryder Cup has been postponed until 2021.
- The decision was made due to the inability of fans to attend the event.
- The next Ryder Cup will likely move to 2023 to be played in Rome.
The PGA of America and European Tour are expected to make a joint announcement on Wednesday that the 2020 Ryder Cup will be moved back a year to 2021. The event was scheduled to be held at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits Golf Course and the expectation is that they’ll host the rescheduled event in late September 2021. The next Ryder Cup will likely move to 2023 and is set for Rome.
The deciding factor was reportedly the inability of fans to attend the event if held as scheduled. As much as any golf event the fans add significantly to the overall vibe of the Ryder Cup. For that reason, the decision was made to push the event back to 2021. Many golfers considered the idea of a Ryder Cup without fans to be absurd such as Rory McIlroy:
“[It’s] not a Ryder Cup [without fans]. That’s from a European, going to America, knowing that I’m going to get abuse. Obviously, it would be better for Europeans to play without fans because we wouldn’t deal with some of the stuff that you have to put up with, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be a great spectacle. There would be no atmosphere. So if it came to whether they had to choose between not playing the Ryder Cup of playing it without fans, I would say just delay it a year.”
England’s Paul Casey concurred with McIlroy:
“I want a Ryder Cup with full capacity. I want it with screaming fans. I saw the headlines. … I fully support that. Even as a European, knowing how loud that would be for the American team, that’s what I want. We want to play a Ryder Cup in that environment, in that cauldron, and [postponing] is the right thing to do.”
The European media began reporting that the Ryder Cup would be postponed several weeks ago but with a number of organizations involved it took a good deal of time to work out the particulars.
