The first victim of the crisis was the Scottish Open on the picturesque island of Mull off the coast of western Scotland.

The BDGA's director of tournaments, Andy Lucey told us; "This event as has been postponed due to the threat of foot and mouth. There is no talk of an outright cancellation yet." He continued, "There are no cases on the island at the moment but there are warnings regarding movement."
Tournament director, Guy Bolton, having sought advice from other islanders and the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF), has decided that 50 to 60 people travelling from various parts of the British Isles carries a substantial risk,
especially to an island dependant on sheep farming for much of its income. He told us, "We still however wish to hold a tournament here. We examined several possibilities- firstly, the August Bank holiday, but the midges would be absolutely intolerable and this is
peak tourist time and getting accommodation may be difficult. Secondly, the bracken on the
course will make it unplayable". He continued, "we are currently investigating the potential new date of October 6/7. This is not set in stone yet, but we need to bear in mind that
the later we leave it the worse the weather (2 weeks makes a lot of difference up there)
and also from a daylight point of view."

The tournament on England's south coast at Hayling Island has also been impacted. It was originally in the calendar for the weekend of June 9/10 and has now been switched directly with the event at Quarry Park on July 21/22. Haying Island landowner, Matt Pike is understandably concerned with the threat of foot and mouth. The land is currently okay but depending on the spread of the virus things may still change.

Currently there has been no decision on the British Open, but as the venue is a working farm, we will all need to keep our fingers crossed.

The event at Quarry park was switched with Hayling Island and will take place on June 9/10. Course owner, Derek Robins has sought MAFF advice and as there are no cases in that area yet the event can still go ahead. Players will need to walk through disenfectsd mats before entering the land.

Tournaments that are to be held later on in the season are yet to make a decision. At the moment it is hoped that Edinburgh will go ahead as planned on August 18/19 and that the event at Burnlaw will still go ahead on September 22/23

Due to the postponement of Mull, Essex university was approached to bring the date of their tournament forward from October. The BDGA's tournament director, Andy Lucey told us, "The university has been very cooperative in bringing forward the tournament. A direct swap with Mull was requested but not possible due to other events occuring there over the bank holiday weekend. I would presume. therefore it will take place over weekend May 12/13." He added, "I realise that overall this not a perfect solution but wider events are dictating things here. I read some hysterical e mails about cancelling the tour; why ? we still have a 9 event
year with 7 to go with a couple of minor date changes affecting only 2 of the events.
Obviously however- if the foot and mouth situation worsens we may have to consider further changes." Andy also extended his thanks to all the tournament directors involved for their cooperation and understanding."

Be sure to keep an eye on our tournament diary for ant further changes to the tour.