Australian Open golf tournament canceled for 2nd year due to Covid-19

Sydney, Australia, Oct 14 (EFE).- The men’s and women’s Australian Open golf tournaments will not be held for the second consecutive year due to the “havoc” wreaked on international golf by Covid-19, Golf Australia announced on Thursday.

“The international element means shifting quarantine and travel restrictions wreak havoc on planning and, with our marquee players living abroad, the challenge is even greater,” Golf Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland said in a statement, adding that “the decision has not been made lightly.”

“The pressure and risk on host venues and organizers is also high – these are small businesses who have already faced huge disruption due to the pandemic,” he said, in reference to the cancellation of the major golf events in Australia.

The men’s Australian Open was scheduled to take place in November in Sydney and the women’s event in February 2022 in Adelaide.

Golf Australia said that it would begin planning for a return of the two Opens in the 2022-23 summer of golf.

Australia, which has previously also been forced to cancel other sporting events, expects to begin gradually reopening its borders from November.

It had closed its borders in March 2020.

In February this year, the Australian authorities forced participants of the Australian Open tennis tournament to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The Australian government has said that it will begin reopening the economy once 70 percent of the target population has been fully vaccinated.

The country, which has recorded about 133,000 infections and 1,500 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, has already fully vaccinated more than 65 percent of its target population and administered the first dose to 85 percent.

Melbourne, the country second most populated city, is still under lockdown, while Sydney exited lockdown earlier this week after almost four months of confinement. EFE

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