VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — The European Open has been pushed back two days and will become a 54-hole event next week because of pandemic-related travel restrictions, the European Tour said Thursday.
The tournament in Hamburg, Germany, was scheduled to start on June 3 and take place over 72 holes but it will now start on June 5 and be a Saturday-to-Monday event.
The change has been made as a result of the German government’s decision last week to place the U.K. on its travel “red list.” That means almost a third of the scheduled 156-player field — along with a similar number of caddies and a significant number of European Tour staff — would have been unable to enter Germany without observing a mandatory quarantine period if they had not been outside the UK for a minimum of 10 days.
The vast majority of those people affected can now spend that requisite time outside the U.K. both during and after this week’s Made in Himmerland tournament in Denmark before crossing the border into Germany on June 4.
“The significant travel changes announced last week meant it was simply impossible for us to start the Porsche European Open as intended a week today without unacceptably damaging the field and the integrity of the tournament," said Keith Pelley, the tour's chief executive. “This is another wonderful example of everybody working together pragmatically to find a solution.”
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