PGA Tour cancels Greenbrier Classic after devastating West Virginia floods

Flooding has caused “at least” 26 deaths this week in West Virginia. A golf course and golf tournament obviously do not matter as the region tries to recover from the devastating floods, and so the PGA Tour canceled next week’s Greenbrier Classic, held at the resort near White Sulphur Springs, an area that’s been overrun by the torrential rains.

The National Weather Service called the unrelenting heavy rains a “one-in-a-thousand year event” as the Kanawha, Elk, and Greenbrier Rivers crested across the state. Bubba Watson, who has a home at the Greenbrier resort, first tweeted scenes from a flooded course that was supposed to hold a PGA Tour event in a couple weeks (July 7-10).

Recovery efforts and aid for the people being the priority, the PGA Tour made the announcement on Saturday afternoon that they were canceling the Greenbrier Classic.

“We are heartbroken by the devastation that the residents of West Virginia are experiencing at this time and the reports of lives lost due to the terrible flooding,” said the Tour’s commissioner, Tim Finchem. “Cancelling The Greenbrier Classic is certainly the most prudent course of action as our foremost concern is the well-being of those who are having to live through this tragic situation. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”

Greenbrier resort owner Jim Justice, who brought the PGA Tour to West Virginia, added that he was focused solely on helping the people of his state and not the property or the golf tournament.

This is the third PGA Tour event in the last 20 years canceled by weather, according to Golf Channel’s Justin Ray.