The European Tour and Asian Tour have announced the cancellation of the 2020 Hero Indian Open due to growing concerns about the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
The tournament was scheduled to take place from March 19-22 at DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi.
The decision was made following consultation between the Indian Golf Union,the European Tour and the Asian Tour, as well title sponsor Hero MotoCorp Ltd. The move came after the Indian government issued public health travel advisories in the interest of containing the spread of the pandemic, making it more difficult for participants and tournament officials to enter India.
“In these difficult global circumstances, we fully understand and appreciate the recent restrictions introduced in respect of travel into India," said European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley. "As these new measures now prevent many members of both Tours being able to play in the tournament, everyone involved in the staging of the Hero Indian Open felt it was the correct decision to postpone the tournament."
Everyone involved is hoping to reschedule the tournament for later in the year, but there's no definitive plan to do so at this time.
“With these new travel regulations now in place, there has been a significant impact on the ability of our members, officials and service teams of both Tours to make their entry into India for the tournament," said Asian Tour commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant.
“We will continue to take advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and local health authorities while monitoring the situation in relation to the possibility of rescheduling the event later in the year.”
This marks the third cancellation of a European Tour-sanctioned event this season due to coronavirus, joining the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and the Volvo China Open, which were both set for April. The Asian Tour schedule continues to see impacts from the spread of COVID-19 as well.
