US Open without qualifying now will be played without fans

DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer Now it comes down to the Masters to determine if any of golf's majors will have fans this year. A week before the PGA Championship begins without spectators, the U.S. Open announced Wednesday it would not have fans Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot in New York because of health and safety concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic. "We will miss the excitement of the fans and what their presence brings to the championship," said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA. This already was shaping up to be a different U.S. Open. It has been scheduled to end on Father's Day every year since 1975, and that was disrupted by the pandemic. The U.S. Open moved from June 18-21 to the third week in September as the golf schedule was entirely reconfigured to account for a three-month shutdown