SHANGHAI — The International Federation of PGA Tours confirmed the inevitable on Wednesday when it canceled the HSBC Champions World Golf Championships event in China.

The tournament was scheduled for Oct 29-Nov 1 at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, China's State Administration of Sports has decided to suspend all international sporting events until next year.

"We have worked extensively with all tours, international officials, the China Golf Association and other local parties to find a solution to host the WGC-HSBC Champions," Ty Votaw, PGA TOUR Executive Vice President, International, said in a statement. "We collectively made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 event."

Two other golf tournaments have been moved out of Asia and to the United States in the past two weeks. The Zozo Championship set for Japan is now scheduled to be played Oct 22-25 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, with Tiger Woods as the defending champion.

It will be called the Zozo Championship at Sherwood, a similar title to the South Korean event moving to Las Vegas the week before. That one will be called the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek. Both tournaments are expected to return to Asia in 2021.

AP - Xinhua