George Floyd: PGA Tour to honour black American who died in police custody
- Published
The 18th green at Colonial Country Club
Charles Schwab Challenge - return of the PGA Tour |
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Dates: 11-14 June Venue: Fort Worth, Texas |
Coverage: BBC Sport will have live coverage of all four days with commentary on BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra and text updates on the BBC Sport website |
A minute's silence will be held during each round of this week's PGA Tour event in Texas to honour George Floyd, a black American man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck.
The silence will be observed at 08:46 (14:46 BST), with the tee left free, because eight minutes and 46 seconds is the length of time Floyd was filmed pinned under the officer's knee.
The PGA Tour said it was "amplifying the voices and efforts under way to end systemic issues of racial and social injustices impacting our country".
Floyd's funeral took place in Houston, Texas on Tuesday. His death has led to protests in many major cities across the US and the rest of the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
No players will arrive on the first tee at 08:46 and those already out on the course will be asked to to "pause for reflection as a demonstration of support for the Tour's commitment to addressing racial and social injustices".
The Charles Schwab Challenge starts on Thursday, 11 June and is the first PGA Tour event since the coronavirus pandemic halted the Players Championship after one round on 12 March.
It is the first of five tournaments that will be played without spectators.
The top three in the world, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm of Spain and American Brooks Koepka, have been drawn together for the first two days.
They will tee-off at 19:06 BST on Thursday and you will be able to follow their progress with commentary on BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra and text updates via the BBC Sport website.
The elite field features 15 of the world's top 20 with notable absentees being 15-time major winner Tiger Woods, who is continuing to get his game in shape after recovering from back problems, and England's Tommy Fleetwood, who has opted not to travel because of concerns about quarantine rules.
World number four Justin Thomas accepts the "atmosphere will definitely be different" without any fans.
And he says it's "going to be weird" playing again. "You're going to see definitely a wide variety of scores, not just because of the golf course but just to see who used their time well or not," said the American.
"I sometimes feel rusty after two, three weeks off, let alone four months.
"It's going to be weird for everybody, so I'm just going to hopefully try to get back into that as quick as I can."