The inaugural season of the DP World Tour got off to a rocky start this week, as multiple golfers have been forced to pull out following the announcement that countries would be enacting flight bans to South Africa. A newly discovered variant of COVID has been linked to South Africa leading many nations, including the UK, to ground flights to and from the country.
The second round of the Joburg Open was scheduled to take place Friday morning, however news of the travel restrictions forced several international players to rethink their plans. While not every golfer from the UK withdrew, it gave pause to multitude of entrants as they considered the ramifications of potentially being unable to return home if they played out the tournament. Anyone arriving after 4 am on Saturday would be forced to stay at a designated quarantine hotel.
As a result of the flight bans, the tour reduced the tournament to 54 holes in an effort “to help non-South African resident players, caddies and tournament support staff return to their home countries.” It was also announced that the upcoming Alfred Dunhill Links Championship has been cancelled, while the South African Open has been downgraded to a local event.
The DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) was slated to kick off 3 weeks worth of events in South Africa to start its season. At last count, 15 golfers from England, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland had confirmed they would be withdrawing from the event.
South African Thriston Lawrence currently leads the tournament at -12.