The British Open has been cancelled for the first time since World War II due to the coronavirus.

The 149th Open was scheduled to take place at Royal St George’s Golf Club in Kent in July. But with the pandemic ripping the 2020 sporting schedule to shreds, the event has became the first of the sport’s four majors to be cancelled this year.

Golf’s oldest major will now be hosted at the same Sandwich venue in July 2021. St Andrews will still host the 150th British Open, but a year later than scheduled in 2022.

Three US-based major golf championships announced rescheduled 2020 dates in the wake of the British Open being called off until 2021.

The PGA Championship is now scheduled to be played August 6-9 at Harding Park in San Francisco. It was postponed from May.

The US Open was rescheduled from June to September 17-20 with the Ryder Cup to be contested one week later at Whistling Straits as scheduled. The Masters, which was to have been played this week at Augusta National, has been rescheduled for November 12-15.

World Cup called off

The shooting World Cup, scheduled to be held in two parts in New Delhi in May, was on Monday cancelled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The World Cup, originally scheduled to be held from March 15-26, was postponed to May.

“Due to Covid-19 pandemic the New Delhi Organising Committee has been forced to cancel rifle/pistol and shotgun World Cups. Both of these were due to take place in New Delhi,” ISSF said .

After the postponement last month, it was decided to hold the tournament in two parts — rifle and pistol competitions from May 5-13, while shotgun competitions were set from June 2-9, later changed to May 20 to 29.