World Golf Championship event was due to take place from October 28-31 but won't go ahead in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic; PGA Tour elevates Bermuda Championship - due to take place the same week - to full-field status.
Tuesday 31 August 2021 17:38, UK
The WGC-HSBC Champions in China has been cancelled for the second season running due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The event, co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the PGA Tour, had been due to take place at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai from October 28-31 but will no longer go ahead because of Covid-19 health concerns and travel restrictions.
The Bermuda Championship, originally scheduled to be an opposite-field event on the PGA Tour the same week as the WGC-HSBC Champions, has been given elevated status to offer an increased prize purse and a full allocation of FedExCup points.
"Following discussions with HSBC, we can confirm the cancellation of the 2021 WGC-HSBC Champions," PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told the media ahead of the Tour Championship.
"Although it's unfortunate to have to do so, we must ensure that we abide by the epidemic prevention policies of different markets which may cause inconvenience to the players and make tournament operations very challenging. Therefore, after careful consideration we had to make this difficult decision to cancel the event."
Rory McIlroy remains defending champion after his play-off victory against Xander Schauffele - the previous year's champion - in 2019, while Justin Rose and Hideki Matsuyama are among the recent winners of the event.
The decision to cancel means the PGA Tour's "Asia Swing" has now been reduced to a single event on Asian soil, following the CJ Cup moving from South Korea to Las Vegas for the second year running, with the Zozo Championship still scheduled to take place in Japan from October 21-24.
"Our plan is to play the 2021 Zozo Championship as scheduled in October at Accordia Golf's Narashino Country Club outside Tokyo," Monahan added. "Zozo has been a great partner and we have been in regular contact with the government and local authorities about the plans to successfully stage this event this fall.
"The successful and safe golf competitions at the Tokyo Olympic games helped provide some confidence going forward there."
The European Challenge Tour had already cancelled two China-based tournaments in October, the Hainan Open and the Foshan Open, while the LPGA Tour announced last week that the Buick LPGA Shanghai would also not take place in 2021.
