Tuesday saw the introduction of tighter social restrictions in a bid to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and yesterday saw most golf clubs across Ireland keep their gates shut and their flags locked away. And the impact of the coronavirus will be keenly felt at all of the 400+ golf clubs across the island, regardless of size or stature. Philip Reid writes: "It doesn't matter whether a course aspires to playing host to an Irish Open, or is honoured to be selected for a provincial or national interclub competition, or just exist - as most do - to provide for their members, the effect of course closures, as jointly-recommended by the Golfing Union of Ireland and the Irish Ladies Golf Union, has had a telling impact financially already, with no end in sight for any respite."
Elsewhere this morning and Ireland outhalf Jack Carty has spoken to Gerry Thornley about how negative feedback on social media would affect his mental health, and how he learned to ignore the trolls. "I looked for validation for my performance externally rather than internally," he said. "I remember straight after games, I'd be going straight on to my phone and typing my name on to Twitter. Then I'd take what people said on that timeline as whether I had a good or a bad game, and that kind of determined my happiness levels or how I felt for the next three or four days. So I've tried to learn to take the emotion out of how I played." The Connacht 10 is now an ambassador for the mental health awareness project Tackle Your Feelings, and he is lending his support to the #ImTakingControl campaign.
The Tokyo 2020 task force is set to hold its first meeting today, as planning begins in earnest to reschedule the Olympic Games for 2021. The 2020 Games were officially postponed on Tuesday due to the coronavirus pandemic, with IOC president Thomas Bach saying yesterday they could now take place in the spring. Bach is hopeful the task force, called Here We Go, will be able to announce a new date for the Games as soon as possible. Here We Go will hold a conference call with all 33 international Olympic sports federations later today to discuss options.
Elsewhere in her column this morning Joanne O'Riordan has enthused about the benefits of yoga, which she suggests is helping her keep relatively sane during self-isolation. She writes: "I'm not saying yoga is absolutely for everyone. But in two of my greatest times of need, it has definitely gotten me out of a hole. Self-isolation has taught me two things. One, I'm the biggest pain in the ass I have ever met in my whole life; and two, although I'm at my most annoyed when I lose control, laying on a mat, moving my head, shoulders and core around while inhaling and exhaling has calmed me down."
Ireland women's hockey team were due to play their Olympics opener against South Africa exactly four months today - however their Tokyo dreams have been put on ice due to the coronavirus. 28-year-old Chloe Watkins was set to add to her 218 caps in Japan, but she agrees postponing the Games is the right call. Speaking to Mary Hannigan, she said: "It is definitely the correct decision, people's health is the only thing that matters now, so there's a far bigger picture to think of. The biggest relief is that a cancellation has been ruled out, and hopefully that has been firmly taken off the table." And how is she spending all of this unexpected free time? "I've done three jigsaws that were a thousand pieces. I don't think I've done a jigsaw since I was around 10. They're fine until you're not getting anywhere, then you want to throw them across the room."
And the IOC has come under fire after two Turkish boxers and their head coach tested positive for coronavirus on their return home from last week's Olympic boxing tournament in London. Ireland had a team of 13 fighters at the event.
