Report: PGA TOUR to Return on June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial

The PGA TOUR is planning a return to competition on June 11, according to a Golf Digest report, the first U.S.-based major professional sports league to announce such a move since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the PGA TOUR calendar still shows the Charles Schwab Challenge on the calendar for next month, it’s been rumored for a few weeks that the schedule would be pushed back. The report states that competitive events would return three weeks later, with the tournament at Colonial CC still first in line.

It is expected that no spectators will be in attendance for the return event, if not others.

The calendar lists a “Potential PGA TOUR Tournament” the following week, in the slot vacated by the U.S. Open after it was moved to September. According to the report, the RBC Heritage, which was originally slated for this week, in its usual spot after the Masters, will instead be played beginning June 18.

The remainder of the schedule that hasn’t been released yet would be: Travelers Championship (June 25-28), Rocket Mortgage Classic (July 2-5), John Deere Classic (July 9-12), Memorial Tournament (July 16-19), 3M Open (July 23-26), WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational (July 30-Aug. 2) and the opposite-field Barracuda Championship (July 30-Aug. 2).

These events would join a later portion of the schedule which was already announced last week: PGA Championship (Aug. 6-9), Wyndham Championship (Aug. 13-16), The Northern Trust (Aug. 20-23), BMW Championship (Aug. 27-30), Tour Championship (Sept. 4-7), U.S. Open (Sept. 17-20), Ryder Cup (Sept. 25-27) and the Masters (Nov. 12-15).

Earlier Tuesday, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh told SiriusXM PGA TOUR that the organization’s plan is to hold the PGA Championship as usual during that first week of Aug. at TPC Harding Park, but Plan B would be to hold it there without fans in attendance.

Last month, just hours after the NBA suspended its season when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, the PGA TOUR went ahead with the first round of The Players Championship as planned, with spectators on site, only to cancel that event and suspend its season after the opening round.

While there are some professional mini-tour events being played at this time, no major professional golf tour has announced plans to return from a suspended season.