The Players Championship CANCELLED

The PGA Tour has announced that The Players Championship has been cancelled and no events will be played up until the Valero Texas Open.

The Tour's commissioner Jay Monahan had originally made a statement during the opening round, confirming that the event would go ahead without spectators, but it seems the threat is too serious for the event to continue.

The new statement, released by the PGA Tour late last night reads:

It is with regret that we are announcing the cancellation of THE PLAYERS Championship.

We have also decided to cancel all PGA TOUR events – across all of our Tours – in the coming weeks, through the Valero Texas Open. 

We have pledged from the start to be responsible, thoughtful and transparent with our decision process. We did everything possible to create a safe environment for our players in order to continue the event throughout the weekend, and we were endeavoring to give our fans a much-needed respite from the current climate.  But at this point – and as the situation continues to rapidly change – the right thing to do for our players and our fans is to pause.

Hideki Matsuyama shot a nine-under par opening round to take a two-shot lead after round one at TPC Sawgrass, in what is widely regarded as golf's 'fifth major' where the winner was set to take home a whopping $2.7 million.

Rory McIlroy was looking to become the first player to successfully defend the title after, although his level-par opening round had left him nine shots off the lead.

With President Trump closing the US borders, it seems the world's leaders are planning for a complete lockdown and as important as The Players Championship is, the health and safety of players, spectators, officials and staff must be the Tour's number one priority.

The PGA Tour will be taking further questions later on Friday.

On Wednesday's practice round, Tommy Fleetwood made an ace at the famous par-3 17th...

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Hole-in-one for @officialtommyfleetwood on 17! And we’re barely getting started. #LiveUnderPar

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour) on Mar 11, 2020 at 2:51pm PDT