The Tour announced late last week it has chosen June 11 for a restart to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Fort Worth with the first four events, including the RBC Heritage, Travelers Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic – to go ahead without spectators.
Therein lies Koepka’s somewhat concern. Joining Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast last week, Koepka spoke about the uncomfortable expectations he has for the Tour restart.
While they will all miss the support and noise the crowds bring, there’s more than a few times in any tournament that a player will get the benefit of a fortuitous bounce landing an errant shot into the crowd as well as crowd support in locating a ‘lost’ ball.
“I think it’s going to be weird; I think it’s going to be awful without fans, I really do,” Koepka said. “How weird is it going to be watching on TV? As a player, it’s going to be super weird, but I guess watching on TV it wouldn’t be that much different.
“I guess it’s the one sport that can kind of come back a little bit earlier than every other sport because we are outdoors — that is the good thing. We really don’t have to touch the same ball, touch the same clubs. You really don’t have to touch anybody while you’re out there, so hopefully we come back soon.”
Koepka said certain issues may arise from only having a handful of people on every hole, and not necessarily know where the balls are going to be landing.
“Every once in a while, we just hit some foul balls and the fans kind of help you find it,” Koepka said. “I mean, guys are going to lose balls because of that.”
“The energy that the fans bring, that’s what we all live for, we all strive for; it’s going to be so weird,” Koepka said. “You want to play coming down the stretch and have everyone cheering for you. Imagine this: you sink the putt on the last hole and no one’s clapping. You’re just there by yourself, and you’re like ‘yes!’ Just you, your caddie and just silence.”
While it will undoubtedly be a bit of culture shock for both players and fans remotely, it’s hard to argue that so long as proper precautions are taken, we would all love to see professional golf being played again.
Enter the REAL WORLD, fancy having to look for your own ball.
What about those 4th round 18th hole par 5 holes when the player is leading by one, intentionally goes for the green in 2 and ricocheting into a spectator pavilion after firing away from a penalty area and being able to drop in a cozy drop zone.