Next week, the future of this year’s Ryder Cup will be determined. While most other major sporting events have reduced their losses and postponed until 2021, the biggest golf team event has taken place, waiting to see whether the contest in the Whistling Strait, near Sheboygan, Wis., From September 22-27, can still continue up front.

That doesn’t look good.

Three of the four golf tournaments – Masters, PGA Championships and US Open – have been postponed, while the remaining, British Open Championships, have been canceled. Of course, most of the players who will be involved in the Whistling Strait prefer it to happen next year, especially if the fans can’t be there to watch it. “The Ryder Cup without fans is not the Ryder Cup,” said world No.1 Rory McIlroy during the Instagram Live event in April.

Meanwhile, many players also jeopardize the tournament with careless behavior. Playing outdoors in large open spaces with little or no physical contact and enough space to keep socially distanced, golf should theoretically be the best pandemic-proof sport. But, in reality, the game is about backslaps and bonhomies, and players and caddies have difficulty adjusting their behavior, not least because most are multimillionaires who aren’t used to being told what to do. Watch every coverage of the weekly tournament and you will see the players on the training ground working with their coaches unprotected. When Daniel Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 14 – the first PGA Tour event since it started again on June 11 – his immediate reaction was to hug his caddy.

Maybe as a result, many players who are positive using COVID-19 or showing symptoms of a virus, have quit the Tour. At the Travelers Championship last week in Connecticut, for example, there were seven withdrawals, including a four-time top winner, Brooks Koepka, who pulled out because his caddy was positive. Rocket Mortgage Classic this weekend in Detroit has seen further withdrawals because Harry English, Dylan Frittelli and Chad Campbell have all tested positive. In the past two weeks, there have been six positive tests among the players, as well as some for caddies too.

Last week, the Ryder Cup player Justin Thomas told Golf.com his colleagues get “a little lazy” in their approach to security and regulation issues.

At the same time, the PGA Tour has gone beyond and in an effort to ensure pro golf can still be played safely. They have helped players rent secure accommodation for tournaments and rent planes to transport competitors across the country. Even media members were given saliva and temperature tests when they arrived to cover the event.

Last week, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan issued directions to the players, reminding them that “failure to comply with our safety protocol will result in disciplinary action.” But, in fact, there is little that Tour can do to keep an eye on the pros of the track. They cannot determine which gym players are used (even though they have used an official mobile gym for them) nor can they determine what restaurant they eat or the bar where they drink. Simply put, this is a matter of trust.

As it happens, it is very unlikely this tournament will continue, which will be a huge disappointment not only for golf fans but for all Americans and Europeans, who together have lost more than 300,000 people due to COVID-19. The Ryder Cup, however, is not about collecting great prizes – it’s about showing national pride. It’s a shame the players can’t focus on that and make the tournament a success rather than putting their own selfish habits first.

Gavin Newsham is a British sports writer and winner of the National Sporting Club Best New Writer award for his first book, “Letting Big Dogs Eat, “Biography of golfer John Daly