Vic Open golf cancelled for 2021 due to COVID restrictions

Scheduled for February 2021, the premier event on the Golf Victoria calendar for both amateurs and professionals - the Vic Open - has been forced to cancel due to safety and COVID-19 associated border closures and international travel restrictions.

This follows last week’s cancellation of the summer’s other premier golf events -- the Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and the Women’s Australian Open.

The three organisations involved -- Golf Australia, the PGA of Australia and the ALPG – hoped to find an arrangement to preserve the Vic Open, but they confirmed today that this was not possible, for similar reasons to the withdrawal of the other big events.

The men’s Vic Open dates to 1957, and the last year in which it was not played is 2008. The women’s Vic Open began in 1988, went into abeyance in 1992 and resumed in 2012 when the groundbreaking mixed concept was launched, including men and women in the same event at the same venue.

The concept has won worldwide applause in the golf fraternity and the Vic Open’s prizemoney grew from $150,000 in 2012 to $3 million this year at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula, with equal prizemoney for men and women.

Golf Australia Chief Executive, James Sutherland notes “these are disappointing decisions to make, no doubt. We’re very proud of how far the Vic Open came since the mixed concept was put together, and we’re more than aware of how popular this event has become. We’ve tried to make it happen, but the call had to be made.”

The major issues in the decision to cancel included provision of a safe environment for the players during a pandemic, and lack of certainty on quarantine and border issues, leaving the officials with no chance of drawing the type of international field that the event deserved.

Sutherland added "we’ve taken advice from the relevant domestic government authorities and looked at the contingencies including the creation of a ‘bubble’, but they are not viable. It left us in a position where our field strength would have been severely compromised.

“We’re disappointed for golf fans and for all the hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers who have helped make the Vic Open so successful, and we’re disappointed for the players who lose an opportunity to ply their trade.

“However, we will view it as temporary and what we need to do now is to focus on the future of all our events and work towards getting them back better than ever for the summer of 2021/22 and beyond.”

Image: 2020 champions Min Woo Lee and Hee Young Park. Credit: Golf Australia.