As the rest of the world is on lockdown and the sporting world has come to a full close due to the coronavirus pandemic, a third level women's golf tour in the USA are still playing, helped by a law declaring Arizona courses as essential businesses. The winner's prize for this tournament includes toilet roll.
The Cactus Tour was created for professional women golfers as a place to play outside of the LPGA and The Symetra Tour.
Over the last 14 years it has evolved into not only a venue to improve your game but as a place to prepare for events during the off-season for all professional and highly skilled amateur women golfers. The tour now draws women golf professionals from all major world tours to those first-year professionals, as well as amateurs that want to test their skills against the best. The golfers involved in this tournament travel from around the world to participate.
The Cactus Tour will stage its 12th 54-hole event of the year, and third since major US sports league went silent, starting Tuesday (March 30) at Sun City Country Club in Arizona. This tournament is going ahead with the precautions and guidelines to help stop the spread of the coronavirus with players only in pairs to help follow social distancing rules.
Last weeks top prize was $2,800 with a bonus prize of toilet roll - a commodity that is not easy to come by during these times. The winner Sarah Burnham explained to Straits Times;
"They gave some toilet paper," she told the Detroit News. "He was like, 'Here's a little extra prize for the winner.'"
"We practised all the social distancing guidelines and stuff like that," Burnham said. "It's not like a huge group."
Two weeks before that, it was two-time major winner Anna Nordqvist of Sweden who won a US$2,000 top prize at Phoenix, beating compatriot Lisa Pettersson on the second playoff hole.
Cactus Tour owner Mike Brown said,
"I couldn't be more pleased with the feedback from the girls, which is all I care about," Brown told Golfweek.
To follow the Cactus tour this week, be sure to follow them at the Cactus tour twitter page.