Ryder Cup to be postponed until 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic

July 7 (UPI) -- With coronavirus cases spiking around the country, the PGA of America is electing to postpone the Ryder Cup until 2021.

Sources told ESPN and the Golf Channel on Tuesday that the PGA of America and European Tour are expected to make the announcement Wednesday morning.

The 43rd Ryder Cup matches were originally scheduled to take place Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisc. According to the outlets, the location and time frame of the event will remain the same next year.

As a result of the Ryder Cup's impending postponement, the Presidents Cup -- originally set to run in 2021 from Sept. 30 through Oct. 3 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C. -- will move to 2022. According to ESPN, this year's Ryder Cup will take that window, and the next Ryder Cup -- scheduled from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, 2022, in Rome -- will be pushed back to 2023.

Many top PGA Tour players, including world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, voiced their concerns in recent weeks about holding the Ryder Cup without fans.

"The players are the ones that make the Ryder Cup," McIlroy told reporters in May. "If they are not on board with it and don't want to play, then there is no Ryder Cup. I see it being pushed back until 2021, and honestly, I think that will be the right call."

The Ryder Cup features 12-person teams from the United States and Europe, with Steve Stricker tabbed as the U.S. captain and Padraig Harrington as the European captain.

The last time the event was postponed came in 2001 following the terrorist attacks in New York City on Sept. 11. The Ryder Cup -- which began in 1927 and is played every other year -- was outright canceled in 1939, 1941, 1943 and 1945 due to World War II.