The Australian Senior Amateur Championships have regrettably been cancelled for 2020.

The men’s national title was to be contested at Perth’s Lake Karrinyup in mid-October, with the women’s in Launceston a few weeks later.

It had, until recently, been Golf Australia’s intention to postpone both events until early December and run them concurrently in Tasmania.

But with the end of the year fast approaching and some state and territory borders remaining closed because of Covid-19 regulations, Golf Australia operations general manager Therese Magdulski said the difficult decision to cancel both championships was the only alternative.

“It’s unfortunate these championships won’t run, but the health and safety of players and officials has been our top priority throughout,” she said.

“It was not only a matter of providing a safe environment at the championships themselves, but also the logistics involved with having everyone involved travel safely and without burden, and delivering a national championship to a high standard .

“We are left with no safe and logical course of action left other than to cancel, which is obviously a last resort.”

The 2021 edition of the tournament will feature a new structure, with a minimum field size of 156 players.

The format will be stroke play over 54 holes, with age brackets for both men and women.