The return of the Blue Bay LPGA to the tour’s schedule will have to wait another year. According to a report from Golfweek, the tournament has been canceled for 2020 due to concerns over the coronavirus.
The Blue Bay LPGA, which debuted in 2014, wasn’t played in 2019 due to the tour’s decision to move the event from the fall to the spring portion of the schedule. It was slated to be played in March 5-8, but the outbreak of the coronavirus, a respiratory illness, appears to have forced the tour to hold off on the event for the safety of the players, tournament officials and volunteers. At the time of publishing this article, the New York Times reported that there have been more than 7,700 cases of the coronavirus, and 170 deaths.
The most-affected area has been China’s Hubei province, which is 1,000 miles north of the Hainan province, where the Blue Bay LPGA was scheduled to be played. However, flights in and out of China has been greatly impacted, making travel to the country increasingly difficult.
Golf Digest reached out to the LPGA for comment but had not yet gotten a response.