Reigning U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland is starting to have doubts he’ll be able to defend his title as scheduled.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if (the break) goes on past the PGA Championship, as well,” Woodland said. “There is just a lot going on. You can see what is happening in other countries and we’re in the beginning phase of it.
“It just looks like it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
The USGA announced Tuesday it is changing its qualifying structure for the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. Local (or first stage) qualifying in its current form has been canceled. The USGA has said it will now look to redesign the qualifying process going forward as events unfold.
Golf, Woodland said, is “on the back burner.”
“I guess the only positive we can take out of this is we complain as golfers that we don’t have enough off time and now we finally get an offseason,” he said. “I’ll spend time with the family, get my body healthy and work on some things from a technical standpoint. But the main thing right now is making sure everybody is safe and making sure my family is safe.”
