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Louisiana Open cancelled amid COVID-19 pandemic

Vince Covello opens with 63 to lead Chitimacha Louisiana Open
Posted at 3:04 PM, Mar 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-13 16:04:04-04

The Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS, Acadiana’s premier professional sports event and a fixture on the local sports calendar for 28 years, has been cancelled as part of the PGA Tour’s full cancellation of its events across all tours through at least the first weekend of April.

The PGA Tour announced late Thursday evening that it was suspending tournament operations for the next three events on the PGA Tour schedule, and that events on all other Tours under the PGA Tour umbrella would also be cancelled. That came after an earlier Thursday announcement that Tour events would be held as scheduled but without fans in attendance due to the public health threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

“As the situation continued to escalate and there seemed to be more unknowns,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Friday morning, “it ultimately became a matter of when, and not if, we would need to call it a day.”

Louisiana Open tournament director Danny Jones said Friday he had hoped to play the March 19-22 event at Le Triomphe Golf & Country Club under those PGA Tour guidelines, without fans.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” Jones said, “but we fully support the decisions made by the PGA Tour. The health and safety of the players, the staff, the volunteers, the fans and everyone associated with the Tour and the Louisiana Open is always going to be our top priority.”

The Open had cancelled all of its lead-in events on Thursday, including the Cypress Bayou Casino & Hotel $1 Million Hole-in-One Shootout finals on Sunday, the Tournament Kick-Off Bash sponsored by Cypress Bayou Casino on Monday, the FCA Junior GameDay sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and the Eat Lafayette Taste of the South on Tuesday, and both the First National Bank of Jeanerette and the Dwight Andrus Insurance pro-ams on Wednesday.

Championship play had been scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 19, over the 7,061-yard par-71 Le Triomphe layout, with the final round set for Sunday, March 22. A field of 144 professionals was set to compete for a tournament-record $600,000 purse with $108,000 going to the winner with the full 72 holes.

“This is a tough situation for everyone involved,” Jones said. “But as we have always tried to do, we will continue to do what is in the best interest of our community. We thank everyone for their understanding.”

The Louisiana Open is one of only three PGA Tour-sanctioned events in Louisiana along with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans – which as of now is still scheduled April 23-26 at TPC Louisiana in Avondale – and the newly-created Lake Charles Championship which was scheduled March 26-29 and is also cancelled.

Jones said that all tournament sponsors will have the option of taking a refund or rolling their sponsorship into the 2021 tournament when the Louisiana Open will celebrate its 30th year as one of the oldest events on the Korn Ferry Tour. Ticket refunds are available by contacting the Open office at (337) 593-8000.