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Former Caldwell County High School standout Emma Talley and the LPGA Tour are now targeting a mid-July return to action.
Talley was a three-time state golf champion at Caldwell and won an NCAA individual championship while at the University of Alabama.
The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Arkansas, was originally scheduled to be the next event on the LPGA Tour June 19-21. But that tournament has been moved to Aug. 28-30.
The LPGA Tour now plans to return July 15-18 with the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Midland, Michigan.
“One thing that has become clear is that there will be no ‘opening bell’ regarding a return to safe play in this new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. “To be honest, being ‘first’ has never been the goal when it comes to returning to play in this new normal. We have built a schedule that we think is as safe as possible given what we know about travel bans, testing availability, and delivering events that our sponsors and our athletes will be excited to attend.
“While July seems like a long way away, we are certainly aware that restarting our season in Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey will require a continued improvement in the situation in each of those states.”
Numerous changes have been made to the LPGA schedule for 2020, with the tour still looking to offer as full a slate of events as posssible. However, five more events have been canceled for 2020 but will return to the tour schedule in 2021.
The LPGA also announced increases to the purses of numerous 2020 tournaments, bringing the total available purse remaining for the year to more than $56 million, with players competing for an average of nearly $2.7 million per event.
Talley is 92nd on the tour money list this season with $9,739.
