Players Championship cancelled

The Players' Championship in Florida is cancelled and no further tournaments will be played up until the Valero Texas Open. The announcement came from Tour saying it was " the right thing to do for our players and our fans is to pause."

The Masters is due to begin the week after the Texas Open and there must now be doubt over whether it will take place.

Initially, the Tour had planned to play the remainder of the Players Championship without spectators, however, following pressure from many quarters including players such as Rory McIlroy the officials decided to cancel.

McIlroy had been quite vocal in his criticism. "We need to shut it down," he said. More than anything, everyone needs to get tested.

"For us to keep playing on the PGA Tour, all the Tour players and people who are involved need to get tested and make sure no one has got it."

And some golfer such as C.T. Pan had already voted with their feet.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama had led what some view as the fifth major after day one after he shot a nine-under 63 to equal the course record.

This is the first time the Players' Championship has been cancelled and the Tour went further in announcing further cancellations on the schedule, saying:

"We have also decided to cancel all PGA Tour events - across all of our Tours - in the coming weeks, through to the Valero Texas Open.

"We have pledged from the start to be responsible, thoughtful and transparent with our decision process. We did everything possible to create a safe environment for our players in order to continue the event throughout the weekend, and we were endeavouring to give our fans a much-needed respite from the current climate."

The LPGA has taken similar action cancelling the next three events in including the first major of the year the ANA Inspiration.