Former Ryder Cup winning captain Paul McGinley believes it’s looking ‘increasingly likely’ the 2020 tournament will be called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Irishman, who led Europe to a 16.5-11.5 victory at Gleneagles in 2014, believes the government will be taking no risks as they continue to tackle the UK’s worst public health crisis for a generation.
“It’s increasingly looking like it’s going to be behind closed doors or postponed,” he told the Weekend Sports Breakfast.
“We need to get our heads around the fact that in the short term governments are going to be very cautious.
“They don’t want to run the risk of a second or third wave of this virus coming through, so I can’t see them lifting all restrictions over the next few months.
“I think they are going to be very conservative in their approach initially [coming out of lockdown], and one of the ways in doing that is stopping forty or fifty thousand people coming together for a football or rugby match, or the Ryder Cup for instance.”
And McGinley believes the global health crisis could even result in golf being abandoned for the rest of this year, let alone the 43rd edition of the prestigious tournament.
“It’s a reality we’re all facing at this stage,” he admitted.
“Once we do come out of lockdown, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later, it’s highly likely the government will be putting some strong regulations in place.
Superb from Glen Johnson and his friends, who are paying the wages of staff at his local golf club
“This will especially be the case regarding social distancing, international travel and mass crowds.
“I believe that will be the interim point, before we get to a vaccine or some way of dealing with it other than a lockdown.
“That may put the Ryder Cup and the other Championships on the back foot for quite a while. You have to think to yourself: a.) Do you postpone it until next year? b.) Do you do it behind closed doors? c.) Fingers crossed and just hope for the best.
“Unless there’s a vaccine and a miracle cure found in the next two or three months, I think it’s very doubtful we’ll have masses of crowds gathering again in September.”
