PGA Tour: Matt Wallace predicts safe return to action in United States
The PGA Tour issued a comprehensive health and safety guide for players and caddies on Wednesday, ahead of resumption of competitive golf next month
Thursday 14 May 2020 18:07, UK
Matt Wallace believes the PGA Tour will do everything to ensure player safety when competitive golf resumes in Texas next month, although he does have concerns over quarantine guidelines.
New guidelines announced by the PGA Tour this week, which Wallace refers to as "bedtime reading", stated that players would have to self-quarantine for 14 days if they test positive for Covid-19 while also detailing how players will be tested at home before even travelling to an event, and upon arrival in a host city will undergo four stages of screening; a questionnaire, temperature reading, nasal swab or saliva test and an antibody test.
The Tour's expectation is that all players, caddies and officials will stay in the same hotel, and perhaps even travel together on chartered flights.
"I've got trust in the PGA Tour that they're sending us out there when it's safe. I think it will work. Will it drive some players and caddies crazy? Absolutely," Wallace told Sky Sports News.
"People want to do their own thing and on the European Tour, it's a little bit different because a lot of players already do get the same flight. Over here on the PGA Tour, a lot of people do their own thing."
But Wallace did express concerns over the self-quarantine regulations should a player test positive, and he added: "When I saw that, that put me off straight away I thought 'wow, I hope I don't test positive because I know there are some people who have the coronavirus but don't show symptoms.
"So I keep thinking to myself 'am I one of those people?'. But I did also see that if it's safe for you to drive you can, so hopefully I wouldn't be too far away and I could drive back and self-isolate at home."
Like four of the world's top five golfers - Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson - Wallace lives in Jupiter, Florida. But with the first four events of the revised PGA Tour schedule, all of which he intends to take part in, being played in Texas, Carolina, Connecticut and Michigan, the world No 43 could face some long drives home.
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Wallace has spoken to several golfers, including fellow countryman Matt Fitzpatrick, about sharing private jets between events, but has his concerns.
"Would it be better for us to not have to go to airports, which will be healthier and safer for us? I've also spoken with my team and my managers and it might even be safer to go with this charter flight because everyone on board will be tested and clean."
Only those deemed 'essential' - approximately 1100 people at any given event - will be allowed on-site, with 400 of them undergoing tests. Family, agents and managers will not be allowed on-site, but coaches will, provided they follow the social distancing guidelines of staying six feet apart.
"I was quite surprised that you can bring a member of your support team with you, which I didn't think they were going to do, but with testing amounts that they've got that's great. The PGA Tour are doing everything they can."
The document also lays out some mid-round logistics which Wallace admits will take some getting used to. Players and caddies must make 'every effort' to socially distance during rounds, with players encouraged to remove and replace their own clubs from their bags. Caddies will be allowed to rake bunkers and touch flagsticks, but must clean them after use. All flags and flagsticks, cup liners and rakes will be disinfected before a day's play, and each tee box and green will have sanitiser stations.
"I was speaking to Eddie Pepperell and he said 'does that mean we have to go and pick up our own clubs when we throw them?!' We'll have to get used to doing that, it's going to be new for everybody but I'm looking forward to getting back to competing and if that means I have to stay six feet away from my caddie, then that's the way we'll have to go."
The first four events back, at least, will be played behind closed doors. In this regard, Wallace may have somewhat of an advantage over many of his competitors; less than four years ago he was playing on the Alps Tour to tiny crowds.
"There'll be more fans on the Alps Tour than there will be on the PGA Tour! We get used to the crowds being there and it's their energy that makes us nervous. I'll be really interested to see if I get nervous on the 1st or the 18th tee with no one around. I enjoy people watching me, because then my intensity levels go up and I focus more. I'm going to have to bring that myself.
"It'll be strange for that first person lifting that trophy with not many people around or holing the winning putt with no one clapping him, but fingers crossed that'll be me and I'll be waving to nobody!"
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He admits, however, it's one thing having no fans at PGA Tour events and quite another having no fans at a Ryder Cup. In recent weeks the world's top three players, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, have all urged the governing bodies to postpone this year's tournament should it prove impossible to allow spectators. But European captain Padraig Harrington and stalwart Ian Poulter have both argued for it to go ahead as planned in late September.
So, play or postpone?
"It depends if I'm in the team!" laughs Wallace. "If I get in it, I'll play it. If I don't get in it then let's postpone it and give me another chance next year!"
"I just take it from the people who have played in it. Rory and Brooks have both spoken about it, and they're saying without the crowds there is no Ryder Cup because the crowds are the people that make it. It would just be weird on that first tee. I was watching a rerun of the last Ryder Cup and everyone was clapping and cheering. I was trying to imagine being there without that and it would just be boring."
"If I'm in it, I'll play. I'll play for Europe, I'll play for the fans watching at home, I'd try and win my points as much as anything. But I'd love it if the crowds could be there as well."
But Wallace hasn't spoken to captain Harrington. "I'm not playing well enough for him to chat to me!" he jokes.
