Emergency 9: THE NORTHERN TRUST, Round 1

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics will open next year in the same time slot scheduled for this year’s games. Tokyo organizers said Monday the opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021 — almost exactly one year after the games were due to start this year. “The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games,” Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said. “This will only accelerate our progress.” Last week, the IOC and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s games were scheduled to open on July 24 and close on Aug. 9. But the near exact one-year delay will see the rescheduled closing ceremony on Aug. 8. There had been talk of switching the Olympics to spring, a move that would coincide with the blooming of Japan’s famous cherry blossoms. But it would also clash with European soccer and North American sports leagues. Mori said a spring Olympics was considered but holding the games later gives more space to complete the many qualifying events that have been postponed by the virus outbreak. “We wanted to have more room for the athletes to qualify,” Mori said. After holding out for weeks, local organizers and the IOC last week postponed the Tokyo Games under pressure from athletes, national Olympic bodies and sports federations. It’s the first postponement in Olympic history, though there were several cancellations during wartime. The Paralympics were rescheduled to Aug. 24-Sept. 5. The new Olympic dates would conflict with the scheduled world championships in track and swimming, but those events are now expected to also be pushed back. “The IOC has had close discussions with the relevant international federations,” organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said. “I believe the IFs have accepted the games being held in the summer.” Muto said the decision was made Monday and the IOC said it was supported by all the international sports federations and was based on three main considerations: to protect the health of athletes, to safeguard the interests of the athletes and Olympic sport, and the international sports calendar. “These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the IOC said. “The new dates … also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes and the IFs.” Both Mori and Muto have said the cost of rescheduling the Olympics will be “massive” — local reports estimate billions of dollars — with most of the expenses borne by Japanese taxpayers. Muto promised transparency in calculating the costs, and testing times deciding how they are divided up. “Since it (the Olympics) were scheduled for this summer, all the venues had given up hosting any other events during this time, so how do we approach that?” Muto asked. “In addition, there will need to be guarantees when we book the new dates, and there is a possibility this will incur rent payments. So there will be costs incurred and we will need to consider them one by one. I think that will be the tougher process.” Katsuhiro Miyamoto, an emeritus professor of sports economics at Kansai University, puts the costs as high as $4 billion. That would cover the price of maintaining stadiums, refitting them, paying rentals, penalties and other expenses. Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. However, an audit bureau of the Japanese government says the costs are twice that much. All of the spending is public money except $5.6 billion from a privately funded operating budget. The Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee is contributing $1.3 billion, according to organizing committee documents. The IOC’s contribution goes into the operating budget. IOC President Thomas Bach has repeatedly called the Tokyo Olympics the best prepared in history. However, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso also termed them “cursed.” Aso competed in shooting in the 1976 Olympics, and was born in 1940. The Olympics planned for 1940 in Tokyo were canceled because of World War II.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Three weeks ago, Darren Clarke was asked by The R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers to hit the opening tee shot early Thursday morning at The Open Championship. There was no hesitation in the Northern Irishman’s response. “A definite yes,â€� Clarke said. It won’t be a ceremonial tee shot – after all, Clarke is in the 156-man field thanks to his Open win in 2011. His shot off the 421-yard par-4 first at 6:35 a.m. local time will count. But there is no more fitting player in the field to start play in the first Open held in Northern Ireland since 1951, when Royal Portrush last played host. Clarke is a resident of Portrush and his win in 2011 was the first for a Northern Irishman since Portrush native Fred Daly won the Claret Jug in 1947. He calls Royal Portrush the “best golf course in the world.â€� RELATED: Tee times | Featured Groups | Experts roundtable | Five things to know: Royal Portrush Clarke’s Open win, which came on the heels of consecutive U.S. Open wins by Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell (2010) and Rory McIlroy (2011), were instrumental in helping to convince The R&A to return the Open to Royal Portrush. McIlroy, in fact, won all four of his majors before the official announcement was made by The R&A in October 2015. Clark also credited Irishman Padraig Harrington’s three major wins – including back-to-back Open wins in 2007-08 – as key to the resurgence of Irish golf. “It was Padraig started it before that, when he won all his majors,â€� said the 50-year-old Clarke, the oldest of the six players in the field born on the island of Ireland. Harrington, McDowell, McIlroy, Shane Lowry and amateur James Sugrue – who joins Clarke in the opening threesome with American Charley Hoffman – are the others. Of course, the political climate also has improved since the Good Friday agreement in 1998 led to an end of the Troubles that had plagued Northern Ireland since the late 1960s (although small-scale violence still flares up). Clarke recalled the time in 1986 – he was still in his late teens – when he worked at a club. He was filling up small bottles with mixers when the club received a bomb scare. Clarke and all the others in the club hurriedly left the building. Thirty minutes later, the bomb went off. “The place was flattened,â€� Clarke said. “That was life in Northern Ireland,â€� he added. “Bombs were going off quite frequently. And a lot of people, unfortunately, paid a heavy penalty for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that was our life back there at that stage.â€� Thirty-three years later, he’s now the unofficial ambassador of this Open Championship. Many players getting their first look at Royal Portrush have sought his advice. Adam Scott, still seeking his first Open win after so many near-misses, played three practice rounds with Clarke. “He’s gone out of his way to spend way too much time with me,” Scott told Sports Betting News. ”I love watching how he plays the links he grew up on, to see what he thinks and how he navigates. He’s been incredibly helpful. It’s nice to have a good level of comfort to go play the tournament.” Clarke was asked about all the advice he’s been dispensing. “Probably told them too much, really,â€� he smiled. But just like the invitation to hit the first tee shot, Clarke doesn’t hesitate when asked how to navigate Royal Portrush. He noted the importance of finding the right angles and being committed to shots, pointing out the areas from which to attack. He keeps stressing the need to hit fairways. “If you’re not in the fairways,â€� he said, “you’re going to struggle to get around.â€� And if the winds don’t kick up as much as they usually do, he warned players to expect more challenging pin placements. “The thing about Royal Portrush, it’s a fair golf course,â€� he said. “If you play well around Portrush, you should have the opportunity to score well. If you’re missing too many shots, you’re not going to get around Portrush. That’s the way it is.â€� On Thursday at 6:35 a.m. – the sun will have already been up for approximately 90 minutes – Clarke will get things started in earnest. The gallery, even at that early time, should be substantial. The Open was sold out 11 months ago. Golf fans in Northern Ireland have waited 68 years for this championship. Clarke, so proud that his country is once again the host, will be emotional. But he won’t be misty-eyed. After all, he has a job to do. “I just hope I manage to get one going straight down the fairway,â€� he said.

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