The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed to 2021, with the coronavirus pandemic forcing organizers and the International Olympic Committee to push back the Olympics dates.
On March 30, the International Olympic Committee announced the rescheduled dates for the Games will basically be one year later than the original dates. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will now be held from July 23, 2021 to Aug. 8, 2021.
The 2020 Olympics were originally scheduled to run from July 24, 2020 to Aug. 9, 2020.
What's unclear at this point is how golf might change its qualifying criteria to accommodate the additional year between the original dates for the Games and the new ones. The original cutoff dates for Olympic golf tournament qualification was June 22, 2020 for men and June 29, 2020 for women -- as the women's tournament was set to follow the men's event. The decision likely revolves around how much professional golf is played between now and the original cutoff dates.
With all major professional golf tours on pause until at least late May, there may only be as much as a month's worth of tournaments for players to move up the Official World Golf Ranking or Rolex Women's World Golf Ranking to earn one of the 60 spots in each the men's and women's tournaments. Both rankings have been paused and held in place until pro golf resumes, freezing the rankings -- and thus the qualifiers for both tournaments -- for the time being.
In a statement, the International Golf Federation said, "The IGF commends the IOC and Tokyo 2020 for the swiftness of this decision to announce the new dates for the staging the Olympic Games from 23 July – 8 August 2021.
"The IGF believes these dates provide the best opportunity for our athletes to compete in a safe environment as well as enabling the Games to fit into the golf calendar for 2021, thus ensuring the best possible field for the Olympic Games.
"We look forward to working with Tokyo 2020."
