Devastating: Sources Say The John Deere Classic AKA The 5th Major Will Be Cancelled Due To Coronavirus Restrictions
ESPN- The John Deere Classic, scheduled to be the fifth tournament as part of the PGA Tour's revised schedule, will be canceled this year, sources confirmed to ESPN. The tour hopes to replace it with another event, but the long-time tournament, scheduled for July 9-12, will not be played this year due to restrictions in Illinois that by then will still limit gatherings to 50 people.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be the first event to have spectators. The first four events, starting with the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11, will be played with no spectators, with events beyond that to be determined. The PGA Tour is trying to replace the John Deere for this year only and there is some consideration to having an event at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, which is at tour headquarters.
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God fucking damn it. God fucking damn it man. According to sources the John Deere Classic AKA the 5th Major will be cancelled because of coronavirus restrictions in Illinois. Absolutely devastating news for all parties involved. I was riding such a high, too. Me and my podcast partners had just dominated/barely squeaked out a win against the 36th ranked golfer in the world at Pinehurst No. 2 and then this happens. Coronavirus is such an asshole, man. What an asshole that virus is. We already knew it was an asshole but now it's a mega asshole for cancelling one of the great golf tournaments in the whole wide world.
The reason it really hurts is because this was supposed to be our year. This supposed to be the year when the JDC and myself (self-appointed ambassador of the 5th major) rose to real prominence. This was supposed to be the year where I was gonna be able to shove it down Frankie and Riggs' throats on the podcast. Because extremely unfortunate global circumstances made it so the JDC no longer fell right before the Open Championship so there was real hope that a few top-50 golfers, if not all of them, would come to the tournament (0 for 50 on top-50 players a year ago). We no longer were getting the short end of the stick when it came to scheduling and we were ready to make the most of the opportunity.
Not to mention I had heard/made up rumors in my head that Tiger Woods would be making his way to Silvis, Illinois to try and tackle TPC Deere Run. Why not? It could've happened. You don't know. Golfers will be looking to knock off rust after a long, unexpected layoff and what better way to do it than to challenge themselves at a difficult golf course early on? I bet Tiger was just about to commit to playing in the JDC right before this news came out. I guess we'll never know. I also had dreams of Rory and Brooks and JT and every other top-10 player in the world showing up and trying to add this illustrious trophy to their trophy cases
It was going to be the first PGA Tour event to maybe try to have fans in attendance as we try to get back to some sense of normalcy in the world. Instead? TPC Deere Run will remain void of any PGA Tour event in July. It's over. Done. Finito. Fuck you coronavirus. Fuck you right to hell. What a bad, no good, terrible day for the midwest and the golf world as a whole. Please respect my privacy at this time.
PS- This tweet hurt my feelings