Add WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational to list of no-fans events

The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational has scrapped plans to have fans in attendance.

Tournament officials announced Thursday that the event at TPC Southwind, scheduled for July 30-Aug. 2, won’t have any spectators out of “an abundance of caution.”

As recently as June 11, executive director Darrell Smith told the Memphis Commercial Appeal they had developed a safety plan for a limited number of spectators and that he was “cautiously optimistic” about having fans on-site.

WGC-FedEx will alter exemptions to increase field size

The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational will alter its exemption criteria in order to ensure a field of 78 at its event.

• Rex Hoggard,

• Rex Hoggard,

“We ultimately felt it was best to host the event without spectators this year,” Smith said in a release.

Earlier this week, the Memorial Tournament changed its plans to allow spectators for next week’s event, citing the spiking number of COVID-19 cases.

Since the Tour restarted June 11, every event has been held without spectators. The PGA Championship, set for Aug. 6-9, has already announced it’ll be sans fans.