SILVIS — Andrew Lehman has his fingers crossed.
The John Deere Classic’s first-year tournament director can do little else with Canadian wildfires thousands of miles away threatening America’s sports landscape this past month as smoke-filled air drifts south.
“There’s nothing we can do to control it,” Mr. Lehman said ahead of the 52nd annual local PGA Tour stop teeing off this week at TPC Deere Run.
“But the PGA Tour does have guidelines that are in place,” in case the problem crops up, he added.
The Tour’s air-quality policy was adopted two years ago after smoke from California wildfires made it difficult to see golf balls in flight at the Barracuda Championship near Lake Tahoe.
A threshold of 300 was established by the Tour on the Air Quality Index (AQI) issued by AirNow.gov.
The website is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control, and tribal, state, and local air quality agencies.
An AQI mark of 301 or higher is the most serious or “hazardous” category on the scale, which measures the concentration of fine particles in the air. The groups most sensitive to these conditions include children 2 years old and younger; older adults; and people with breathing sensitivities ranging from asthma to heart or lung disease.
The five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act are monitored by AirNow to communicate daily air quality through the AQI. The pollutants are ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
The AQI is color-coded from green (for good or 0-50 on the scale) to maroon (hazardous at 301 and higher).
When the AQI is greater than 300 and sustained for one full hour, the PGA Tour’s Chief Referee for a tournament can temporarily suspend play. The referee makes the final determination in consultation with the Tour’s Meteorology team, tournament officials and TV network partners.
“It’s not an absolute stop,” Wade Stettner, the tour’s on-site meteorologist, told the Detroit Free Press last week. “But it’s kind of up to his discretion.”
The Tour also uses AirNow.gov, which accesses official weather stations, as well as its own monitoring devices to determine the AQI.
Last week, the Quad Cities region was deemed “very unhealthy” from Tuesday to Thursday – which is in the 201 to 300 range according to AirNow.gov.
By comparison, the Quad Cities was in the green or “good” part of the AQI scale Sunday, July 2 – or below the 50 mark.
AirNow’s forecast through the Independence Day holiday and midweek is for “moderate” conditions in the 50-100 range in the Quad Cities. The AQI forecast for Thursday-Sunday, July 5-9, during the JDC’s four rounds of play is not yet available.
The weather forecast is for high temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s, with a thunderstorm possible during Sunday’s final round. CBS is televising both weekend rounds to a worldwide audience.
JDC week includes Pro-Am charity events today. July 3, and Wednesday, July 5, at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.
Today’s schedule also includes a last-chance qualifying tournament with the final four spots in the tournament field up for grabs at Milan’s Pinnacle Golf Club.
Wednesday also includes a Youth Day Clinic with pros, and a special appearance by featured Pro-Am player Caitlin Clark, who was named Women’s College Basketball’s National Player of the Year during a national a national championship game appearance for the University of Iowa.
The final two rounds include a post-play “Concert on the Course” series including country music stars Darius Rucker (Saturday) and Blake Shelton (Sunday).
Tickets and information for all events are available at johndeereclassic.com.
More than 100 million people were under air quality alerts nationally last week from the Canadian border to as far south as North Carolina, from the Midwest to the East Coast.
The most sensitive groups were advised to avoid physical activities outdoors. Others were encouraged to avoid strenuous outdoor activities, to keep outdoor activities short or move activities indoors.
The Quad Cities was among the areas under those alerts as more than 500 active wildfires raged across Canada – some reportedly so out of control, the Canadian government has no choice but to leave them burning.
According to the Detroit Free Press, some fans, volunteers and tournament staffers reportedly donned masks for protection from the smoky conditions last Thursday, June 29, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. The AQI that day was measured at 210 – or considered “very unhealthy.”
Earlier in June, the PGA Tour considered temporarily halting the RGB Canadian Open in Toronto.
At the same time, Major League Baseball postponed games in New York City and Philadelphia. With smoke from the wildfires casting an eerie orange haze over New York City that day, the AQI reached an all-time high of 401.
MLB did receive criticism last Tuesday for playing a game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field despite an AQI of 255 – comparatively the worst in the world at the time – while a minor league game was canceled farther east in East Lake, Ohio.
MLB currently does not have a standard policy to postpone games because of poor air quality. Any policy would need to be collectively bargained with the MLB Players Association.
