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Golf’s Open Championship cancelled due to Covid-19 crisis

Republic Of Ireland's Shane Lowry celebrates with the Claret Jug after winning The Open Championship 2019 at Royal Portrush Golf Club.
Republic Of Ireland's Shane Lowry celebrates with the Claret Jug after winning The Open Championship 2019 at Royal Portrush Golf Club.

The 149th Open Championship has been moved to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Golf’s oldest Major will now take place at Royal St George’s next July (11-18) instead, meaning the 150th Open will now take return to St Andrews in 2022 (July 10-17).

Tickets for this year’s event will remain valid.

Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A, said, “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. We appreciate that this will be disappointing for a great many people around the world but this pandemic is severely affecting the UK and we have to act responsibly. It is the right thing to do.

“I can assure everyone that we have explored every option for playing The Open this year, but it is not going to be possible.

“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.

“In recent weeks we have been working closely with those organisations as well as Royal St George’s, St Andrews Links Trust and the other golf bodies to resolve the remaining external factors and have done so as soon as we possibly could. We are grateful to all of them for their assistance and co-operation throughout this process.

“Most of all I would like to thank our fans around the world and all of our partners for their support and understanding. At a difficult time like this we have to recognise that sport must stand aside to let people focus on keeping themselves and their families healthy and safe. We are committed to supporting our wider community in the weeks and months ahead and will do everything in our power to help golf come through this crisis.”