Governor Hogan announced that golf is included as a safe outdoor activity and courses may reopen on May 7, 2020. All Executive Orders still in effect must be complied with. The MSGA is committed to minimizing risk of exposure and transmission of this virus to our members and golf community. As updates to our tournament and event schedule become available, we will post in the sections below. For your convenience, information from our government officials regarding golf in Maryland will also be posted below. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the MSGA staff by phone or email.
All MSGA tournament participants must review the COVID-19 Tournament Operations Guidelines prior to arriving at the event. We anticipate minor adjustments and modifications will be necessary as facility accommodations are different at each tournament venue. Click below to view the guidelines.
2020 MSGA Men’s Event Changes:
- Amateur (June 11-14) – Reformatted and moved to August 12-16. Mount Pleasant GC and Green Spring Valley HC will conduct the 36-hole stroke play qualifying portion of the championship on August 12th and 13th. Each player will play one round at Green Spring and one round at Mount Pleasant. This will allow us to have a total of 222 players competing for a chance to play in the match play portion of the championship scheduled for August 14-16 at Green Spring. Registration will open on Wednesday, July 1st for all exempt players and Wednesday, July 8th to other registrants. In order to ensure the best field possible, other registrants will be limited to players with a 3.0 index or less (measured by your latest index prior to or on 6/1/2020 of this active posting season). Please be advised that beginning Wednesday, July 8th, all remaining spots will be filled with those individuals who have the lowest handicap indexes. We understand this is not ideal and therefore cannot guarantee a spot in the Championship proper due to limited field restrictions.
- Amateur/Open Qualifiers – All four qualifiers (April 27, May 4, May 14, and May 21) are cancelled.
- Father-Son (August 10th) – Cancelled
- Junior Boys – Rescheduled for July 22-23. Registration will open on June 15th. We will not have the ability to host the 12-13 age division and the championship will consist of a limited field of 78 players.
- Open (July 6-8) – Rescheduled for August 24-26. The reformatted Championship will still be a 54-hole stoke play Championship, but will consist of 36-Holes of stroke play qualifying conducted at Country Club at Woodmore and The Cannon Club. Each player will play one round at each golf course, we will then cut to low 40 and ties for the final round at Country Club at Woodmore. The entry fee for the Championship has increased by $50 to provide carts for players during the Championship. Registration will open on Wednesday, July 1st for all exempt players and Wednesday, July 8th to other registrants. In order to ensure the best field possible, other registrants will be limited to players with a 3.0 index or less (measured by your latest index prior to or on 6/1/2020 of this active posting season). Please be advised that beginning Wednesday, July 8th, all remaining spots will be filled with those individuals who have the lowest handicap indexes. We understand this is not ideal and therefore cannot guarantee a spot in the Championship proper due to limited field restrictions.
- Pro-Amateur (July 20) – Cancelled
- State Team – Postponed until Phase 2 of reopening
- Senior Four-Ball (May 27) – Rescheduled for October 19th.
- State Team Championship – Rescheduled for October 4,10,11,17,18,24
To read the full announcements and additional details from our Executive Director, please scroll down this page to view updates by publishing date.
2020 MSGA Women’s Event Changes:
- Junior Girls Season Opener – Cancelled
- Junior Girls (July 1-2) – Postponed until August 11-12. Registration will open on June 29th. We will not have the ability to host the 9-11 age division and the championship division will be limited to players ages 12 and older.
- Mid-Amateur (June 18) – Rescheduled for September 24th.
- Poindexter Cup (June 26-28) – Postponed and trying to reschedule for July.
- State Team Championship – Rescheduled for September 12, 26, October 3 & 4.
2020 MSGA One-Day Event Changes:
- One-Day Four-Ball Stableford at Crofton (May 27) – Cancelled
- One-Day Four-Ball at Fountain Head (June 18) – Rescheduled for October 1st.
2020 USGA Event Changes:
More information is available at usga.org
- U.S. Amateur – Will be conducted without qualifying, using expanded exemption categories which will be published in the coming weeks.
- U.S. Amateur Four-Ball – Cancelled
- U.S. Girls’ Junior – Cancelled
- U.S. Junior Amateur – Cancelled
- U.S. Mid-Amateur – Cancelled
- U.S. Open – Rescheduled for September 17-20, 2020 at Winged Foot. Will be conducted without qualifying, using expanded exemption categories which will be published in the coming weeks.
- U.S. Senior Amateur – Cancelled
- U.S. Senior Open – Cancelled
- U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur – Cancelled
- U.S. Senior Women’s Open – Cancelled
- U.S. Women’s Amateur – Will be conducted without qualifying, using expanded exemption categories which will be published in the coming weeks.
- U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball – Cancelled
- U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur – Cancelled
- U.S. Women’s Open – Rescheduled for December 10-13, 2020 at Champions Golf Club. Will be conducted without qualifying, using expanded exemption categories which will be published in the coming weeks.
- 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball & U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship qualifying remains as scheduled, and entries will be released the week of July 6.
Golf Courses & Golfers:
- Before heading to the course, we recommend that golfers read the Best Practices for Businesses to Reopen – GOLF in its entirety.
- We Are Golf has developed national protocols for opening of golf courses called Back2Golf and submitted the document to the CDC for approval. These protocols cover all 3 phases of the COVID-19 recovery plan. To view the complete Back2Golf overview, guidelines, and playbook click HERE.
- MSGA Executive Director, Bill Smith, is a member of the Maryland Recovery Sports Advisory Committee, which submitted its report on all sports/COVID-19 impacts to Governor Hogan on May 1, 2020. The report recommended golf opening be in Phase 1 the Governor’s opening of Maryland businesses. The Committee will also include Back2Golf in the report when it is approved by CDC.
- The Maryland Golf Council addressed a letter to Governor Hogan on April 17, 2020 requesting that as he chooses safe businesses to reopen, golf be included among those activities that are allowed, like our neighbors in Delaware, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Maryland Golf Council represents over 200 small business golf facilities, and over 300,000 golfers in Maryland. The golf industry would like to be part of the solution as life slowly gets back to normal. The physical activity and mental wellness golf provides can improve the moods and reduce anxiety for many residents in our state.
View the Letter
Resources:
- Maryland Department of Health
- National Golf Foundation COVID-19 Resource Center
- Rules & Handicapping Guidance During COVID-19
- WEAREGOLF – COVID-19 Updates
- Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA)- COVID-19 Pandemic Resources
- Club Management Association of America (CMAA) – Coronavirus and Pandemic Viruses
- National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) – Coronavirus and Your Golf Business
- Learn to make your own face mask in 45 seconds
To read the complete text of the various updates posted by the MSGA, please continue reading below.
Update as of May 22, 2020
- Pro-Amateur Championship at Piney Branch on July 20th
- Father-Son Championship at Montgomery Country Club on August 10th
Update as of April 21, 2020
Given the unprecedented nature and uncertainty caused by the continually evolving COVID-19 pandemic, we are now prepared to announce several additional changes to our 2020 championship season. First is a list of the changes approved by the Board of Directors as of April 16, 2020. Following the list is a brief explanation of how we might move forward.
- The four qualifiers scheduled on April 27, May 4, May 14, and May 21 are canceled.
- One-day scheduled for May 27 at Crofton CC is canceled.
- Junior Girls Season Opener is canceled.
- Men’s State Team Matches have now been postponed until later in the year. Dates TBD.
- Senior Four-Ball scheduled for May 27 at Bethesda is postponed. Date TBD.
- Women’s State Team Matches postponed till fall. Dates TBD.
- Men’s Senior Amateur moved to September 8-9 at Chartwell Golf & Country Club
The canceling of the four Amateur/Open Qualifiers obviously changes how these two events will be conducted. The Tournament & Competitions Committee is studying options for possible dates other than the original schedule dates of the Amateur & Open as well as how the field would be constructed, but with almost weekly changes in COVID-19 status it is impossible to provide any concrete details at this time.
Please check the dashboard frequently to stay informed on additional updates. We will attempt to update the dashboard on a daily basis any news related to golf in Maryland including our revised schedule updates and any changes to formats of events. We will also announce any major schedule changes via email & social media in addition to the dashboard. The MSGA thanks its member clubs and golfers for their patience and their efforts to implement the CDC guidelines and Governor Hogan’s Executive orders that will hopefully get us back on the golf courses sooner than later.
Update as of March 27, 2020
Given ongoing CDC guidance and the ever-changing dynamics of the Coronavirus pandemic, the MSGA has decided to temporarily suspend all registration for events. We will continue to monitor the situation and re-open registration as soon as possible.
MSGA Event Updates:
Men’s State Team Championship – Postponed to May 16,17,23,24,30,31
Women’s Division Rules Seminar – April 27th – CANCELLED
Women’s State Team Championship – Postponed until late summer or fall, with dates to be announced in the coming weeks.
Update as of March 13, 2020
At this time, all MSGA events in March including the Rules Workshop scheduled for March 23 at Norbeck CC are postponed. The Women’s Rules Seminar scheduled for April 27 at Argyle has been cancelled. Our first tournament competition is the Men’s State Team Matches scheduled to begin on April 4, 2020. We feel it is everyone’s best interest to delay the start of the Men’s State Team matches by two (2) weeks. The first round is rescheduled for Saturday, April 18, followed by matches on April 19, 25, 26, May 2 and the Finals on Sunday, May 3, 2020. As of today, we have not made any decisions to alter the balance of our tournament schedule. We will continue monitoring announcements and developments and will follow recommended guidelines provided by local, state, and national health authorities.
We encourage all member clubs, members, and players to do the same and to follow sound, basic hygiene including:
- Frequent washing of hands (for at least 20 seconds)
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
- Cover your mouth when sneezing/coughing
- Maximize your space between each other
- Refrain from hand-shakes (only until this is over)
We urge our clubs to use disinfecting wipes to clean the surfaces of frequent contact points such as cart steering wheels, door knobs, drinking fountains, bar tops and rails, etc.
If you registered for an event but are not feeling up to par, please withdraw from the event, and we will refund your registration fee in full without any handling fee. Ultimately, you will always be the best judge of your own health and well-being, but please also consider the impact to others.
We will continue to keep our clubs, members, and players updated via our website and/or email. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the MSGA by phone or email. (410-653-5300, knewland@msga.org)
Bill Smith
Executive Director