A revamped 2020 schedule will also include a unique event as the Korn Ferry Tour looks to return to action this summer.
PGA Tour officials announced Thursday that four more Korn Ferry events will be either postponed or canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But one has been added, as the developmental circuit plans to resume with a "one-off event" from June 11-14 staged on Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The course, which sits adjacent to the Stadium Course that annually hosts The Players, previously hosted what was then the Web.com Tour Championship from 2013-15.
"TPC Sawgrass is open," said Andy Pazder, the Tour's chief tournaments and competition officer. "We are taking every imaginable safety protocol and following every single health organization guideline on social distancing and so forth. Having that first event back at TPC Sawgrass is something that we're excited about and will be proud to host."
The PGA Tour's most recent schedule revisions also include adjustments to other Tour-sanctioned circuits. The Mackenzie Tour in Canada has postponed the first six events of the 2020 season and is not expected to begin until mid-July at the earliest. Further scheduling information regarding PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Series China is expected "in the coming weeks." It's also expected for PGA Tour Champions, which currently has only one event (June 5-7 American Family Insurance Championship) scheduled before mid-July.
The Korn Ferry Tour completed only six events before the 2020 season was halted because of coronavirus last month, and 12 events have since been either canceled or postponed. While Tour officials believe that they can salvage a "credible" PGA Tour season that will conclude with a Tour Championship in early September, Pazder admitted that potential decisions to extend status and eligibility into 2021 would inevitably have an impact on other affiliated circuits and could lead to the creation of a single campaign that includes both 2020 and 2021 events.
"I would say if there is a scenario where we carry eligibility from the PGA Tour over to the following season, that will likely have a profound impact on the Korn Ferry Tour eligibility system and could go as far as preventing promotions from the Korn Ferry Tour," Pazder said. "Their eligibility would then have to merge into their following season in 2021."