FORT WORTH, Texas – For all 148 players on the pitch at this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club, their responsibility as a golfer is what is always there in the tournament: Making more birdies than bogeys.
Their responsibility is to post the lowest possible score every day and, at the end of the week if it is the lowest score of 148 players, it is a win, check seven points, a trophy and a group of world rankings and FedExCup points.
The responsibility for the players – and the PGA Tour itself – goes much deeper than birdies and bogeys this week.
This is the first major sporting event since the COVID-19 pandemic took over our lives about three months ago, there is a responsibility to do this right, because the world is watching.
And, based on conversations with the players during Tuesday’s training round, they took that responsibility as seriously as trying to shoot 65.
“I think we need this week to go without mistakes,” Ryan Palmer said. “We have to make sure this week is great, not only for the world of sports but also for our tour. I think if we go out this week and the fans get a good show or not [COVID] kasing, I think it will be a big success for the tour, for our fans, for the sports world. ’
Jordan Spieth, who likes Palmer as a Texan, makes this event a home game, saying, “I really think that all of us as players have the responsibility for it to run very smoothly considering this is the first sport that started, and with that this other [sports] rather pay attention to how things are. ‘
The world of sports pay close attention. RBC Heritage, which will be played next week, is watching. So, also, is the Travelers Championship, which is the third PGA Tour event out of the box, and the Rocket Mortgage Championship, which will be played a week after Travelers.
Jordan SpiethGetty Images
Other sports will also be watched. The NBA and Major League Soccer will try to create “bubbles” that are similar to what the PGA Tour is trying to do here as the two leagues prepare to play at Disney World.
The PGA Tour has the opportunity to become a standard bearer for sports moving forward in this pandemic era.
Keith Argenbright, from the University of Texas Southwestern, has worked with the PGA Tour with his testing and medical plans in the Colonial, and said the event was “burning to restart professional sport in America.”
“There are several tournaments scheduled after this, Hilton Head, Hartford and Detroit, so we always know that what we do at Fort Worth will be replicated in other tournaments,” Argenbright told The Post. “We always know that golf will go before hockey and basketball, and that other sports leagues will look for golf to see how they do it.
“I think there is a lot of pressure on the tour and there is pressure on the city of Fort Worth. We want to do this right. We don’t want to disappoint the PGA tour. We don’t want to disappoint other cities or sports leagues because we turn their toes out of their gates. ’
Justin Thomas, who is a member of the PGA Tours player advisory board, said “his level of curiosity was much higher maybe the last few months’ about how this would work” because everyone had lots of questions. “
“It will be different,” Thomas said. “You can’t get into this thinking it will be normal because it isn’t. I would say 2020 is beyond a strange year, and especially in the sport it will only be different.
“If we all want to go back and play the game we like … we just have to forget the fact that it will be different and strange. But this is a good opportunity for golf to grow more and reach a better level than now.
“Hopefully, people who might not normally watch golf see that we are the best players in the world and the best in our expertise, and we can do things that are very hard to believe with golf balls. So, hopefully everyone will enjoy. ‘
