Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson will play in Covid-19 charity skins game

Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson played a practice round together before last year's Masters at Augusta National

Rory McIlroy will lead golf's return after a two-month hiatus in a televised charity match in Florida next week.

The world number one will play with Dustin Johnson against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Woolfe in a $4m skins game on 17 May in aid of Covid-19 charities.

With the backing of the PGA Tour this will be seen as a first tentative step since the coronavirus lockdown.

There has been no professional golf since the Players Championship was abandoned after one round on 12 March.

The PGA Tour hope to resume their schedule on 11 June at the Colonial event in Fort Worth, Texas. The first four tournaments back are intended to be played behind closed doors.

Next week's Florida match will see the four players compete for money (skin) on each hole. If a pairing wins the hole, they win the skin. If the hole is halved, the skin carries over to the next hole.

The event will also be played in the absence of spectators but will be screened live by NBC in the United States and on satellite television in the UK.

Social distancing protocols will be observed and there will be coronavirus testing to protect those on site, including TV production crews.

"It's been difficult to witness what so many are enduring over the last several weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic," said McIlroy, who is celebrating his 31st birthday on Monday and returned to the practice range last week.

"I hope we can provide some respite and entertainment for those tuning in across the globe. Dustin and I will have a lot of fun together and our games will fit well as we push to raise funds and awareness."

Golf is pushing to be one of the first sports to return and this event will invigorate that drive. By financially benefitting pandemic relief efforts, public image concerns about sport being played at a time of global crisis might be somewhat eased.

"We are excited by the safe and responsible return of live golf and the opportunity to raise significant funds for those on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic," said PGA commissioner Jay Monahan.

"Fans around the world can look forward to a unique, interactive and entertaining event that will help those in need."

A careful path needs to be trodden if the sport is to return with a reputation for societal awareness in tact. It has been reported that one million tests will need to be bought to sustain the PGA Tour events planned from June onwards.

If the world is still, as expected, battling the pandemic at that stage many will question why professional golfers and the sport's infrastructure should receive preferential testing treatment.

England's Tommy Fleetwood told The Guardian: "Morally, if they are planning on getting all these tests, I don't know if I want a test before a frontline worker."

Similar sentiments were expressed by Colin Montgomerie last week. "You do feel that somehow those million tests could be used for frontline workers more than for us," the veteran former Ryder Cup captain told The Scotsman.

"Everyone is not getting tested yet and frontline staff around the world should be tested first before we get anything."

Nevertheless, there is continuing optimism that the PGA Tour will be able to resume in June, with the European Tour looking at a resumption in late summer.

Among the continental circuit's plans are a series of behind closed door events in the UK. They could lead up to the US Open and then Ryder Cup, if that is able to be staged at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in September.

Europe's most recent captain, Thomas Bjorn, refused to be drawn on whether that match between the US and Europe might be played without spectators.

"Any sporting event behind closed doors is difficult to imagine, but it might be something we have to live with," the Dane, who has recently joined the European Tour's board of directors, told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.

"I do think that every organisation has to look at the possibilities and I know that the European Tour and the PGA of America are looking at the possibilities of doing it, like the Premier League are looking at playing football behind closed doors.

"That is our world right now, we have to look at these possibilities. If it can be done, you have to make the decision at the right time and they're not quite there with the Ryder Cup to make that decision."

Uncertainty abounds across the sporting world, but for golf the first careful steps to a return are being taken. If all goes to plan, fans will be able to see the world's best golfer in action as early as next week.