Illinois' annual PGA Tour event canceled
Illinois won't have its longest-standing PGA Tour stop this year. The John Deere Classic was canceled Thursday.
The JDC, the only PGA Tour event held annually in the state, was to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a July 6 to 12 playing of the $6.2 million championship at TPC Deere Run in Silvis near the Quad Cities. It was to be the first PGA Tour event to allow spectators since tournament play was stopped March 12 after the first round of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
Tournament play will resume June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Concerns over the coronavirus pandemic had led to the immediate cancellations of the next six tournaments on the schedule after The Players. The Schwab Challenge was moved from May 21.
"Because of the ongoing health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic the difficult decision was made to cancel," said Clair Peterson, the JDC tournament director. "While we considered several alternatives, this was the choice that made the most sense for our guests, the players and the Quad Cities community at large."
"We know this announcement will come as a disappointment to the Quad Cities area and to the broader golf community," said Mara Downing, John Deere's vice president of global brand and communications.
She said the tourney's 50th anniversary will be celebrated in 2021.
The JDC has proved a successful fundraiser with its Birdies for Charity program that has benefitted a variety of organizations. Last year's tournament raised $13.8 million for 543 local and regional charities. That brought the tourney's all-time total to $120 million since its first playing in 1971.
Ninety-one percent of the charity money raised has come since John Deere assumed title sponsorship of the event in 1998. Peterson said the participating organizations will receive a 5 percent bonus over what they raised for this year's event.
"Thanks to John Deere's ongoing support, we are able to promise a bonus, even though we are not having the tournament," Peterson said.
One PGA Tour event in Illinois, the BMW Championship, remains on the schedule. The FedEx Cup Playoff event is Aug. 27 to 30 at Olympia Fields Country Club.
The JDC cancellation was the first since PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced a greatly revised schedule to finish out 2020.
Now the Memorial tournament, July 16 to 19 at Ohio's Muirfield Village course, figures to be the first PGA Tour event to welcome spectators since the pandemic began. The Memorial also was postponed earlier and moved into the July dates after the British Open was canceled.
The PGA Tour's alternate circuit, the Korn Ferry Tour, reopens play June 11 on the Dye Course in Ponte Vedra. That tour has two Illinois tournaments - the Lincoln Land Classic Sept. 3 to 6 at Panther Creek in Springfield, and the Evans Scholars Invitational the following week at a Chicago area course to be determined.
The Evans Scholars event, put on by the Western Golf Association, was originally May 21 to 24 at The Glen Club in Glenview, before being postponed. The Glen Club has schedule conflicts with the September dates, forcing the tourney to find a new home course.