As part of the widespread changes to the professional golf schedule announced Monday, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur will not be held in 2020.
That came in addition to the Masters being tentatively rescheduled for the week of November 9-15. The Women’s Amateur was held for the first time on the Wednesday-Saturday of the Masters in 2019, but Augusta National made it clear that there were too many obstacles in place to change this year’s date.
“Ultimately, the many scheduling challenges with NCAA tournaments, the World Amateur Team Championships, the LPGA Q-Series and other events when women’s amateur golf resumes led to this decision,” ANGC Chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement.
The Women’s Amateur is a particularly interesting event in that many of its qualifying competitors would turn professional in the six months that follow the event. What will those prospective pros do now?
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Ridley noted that any competitor invited to the 2020 event would be invited back for the 2021 playing of the event, on the condition that they are still an amateur golfer.
Thankfully for those collegiate upperclassmen, the NCAA recently announced that spring sport athletes would be given a fifth year of eligibility as their championship season was cut short due to the spread of the coronavirus. If they’d like to continue their amateur careers on the collegiate level, the ANWA will be there waiting for them. For those who intend on turning pro in 2020, they will not be getting the Augusta National experience they planned.
The Drive, Chip and Putt competition, typically held the Sunday prior to the Masters, has been dealt a similar fate. The 2020 event will not be held, but competitors who qualified will still be able to compete in 2021, and in the same age bracket for which they qualified, regardless of their age at the time of the 2021 competition.
Further updates on the playing of the 84th Masters can be expected in the next few months.
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