The 2020 U.S. Amateur begins Monday and will run through next Sunday at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, with up to 800 people descending on a town of about 3,000 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ben Kimball, the director of the championship, is doing his best to make sure it’s safe for the golfers, his staff and the community.

“One of the first steps that we took was working with the state and local officials to make sure that we could conduct the championship in Oregon,” Kimball said.

“We worked very closely with them to make sure that what we were doing was abiding by their health and safety protocols.”

Kimball has been on site in Bandon since July 13. He’s seen a course that he likened to links-style courses in Scotland, with its natural look and wind blowing in off the water. The course is situated directly on the coastline.

Yet while it has elements that may look back to the origins of golf, the influence of the present and COVID-19 is evident.

That meant cutting down the overall field from 312 players to 264. Because Bandon Dunes has two golf courses — albeit not identical — half of the players can start off the first tee on one course, and the other half on the other course. That allows Kimball to space out the field compared with a two-tee start with half the field playing the back nine first. It will be about eight hours of players continuously teeing off each of the two courses.

Additionally, the setup will help space out players in practice facilities and reduce the chances for gatherings to occur around the clubhouse. Using two golf courses isn’t unique for the U.S. Amateur, but doing so this year in addition to creating the smaller field allows the USGA to better address concerns about the pandemic.

“This is a first for us as well.” Kimball said. “But we feel pretty well equipped to handle everything that’s going to come at us.”

No fans will be allowed to attend, as has been the case with PGA events played during the pandemic. A USGA spokesman said they couldn’t sell tickets because they had a fear of turning people away.

Players, however, are allowed to have two guests attend with them.

Among the golfers in the field are Oregon State’s Carson Barry and Spencer Tibbits.

With a field where the ages range from 16 to 66, Kimball said that the USGA tried to call every player individually to make players feel comfortable instead of sending information by email. Those calls discussed pre-arrival testing, which is required for every player. That was important to Coos County officials, making sure anyone entering the state and the small town had a negative test result. Players will be tested again upon arrival.

Kimball anticipated withdrawals, and while he didn’t cite a specific number, he said this year may have more than most years.

“The vast majority of the players understand everything that we’ve laid out,” Kimball said. “It’s challenging for them. It may become a little exhausting at times for them, but they get it.”

Brian Leon, an epidemiologist for Coos Health and Wellness, said he was pleasantly surprised with the USGA’s detailed plan for the event. Even without fans, Leon and Coos County officials had concerns at first about holding the event in the county, which has a population of about 64,000.

Leon and others from the county government met with the USGA multiple times since early June to discuss plans. Leon provided input about different types of COVID-19 testing and reliability, and he said it was clear to him the event could work.

“We barely had any COVID-19 cases,“ Leon said. “We were hoping to keep it that way.”

There won’t be shuttles to bring golfers across the courses. They won’t have live scoreboards either, and players thus might not know how they fit into the rest of the field during their rounds. There are no walking scorers, either. There will be as many disposable items as possible. Hand sanitizer stations will be set up and touchpoints limited.

The USGA had to eliminate its volunteer corps of more than 400 people and instead is running the event only with staff. Kimball said that was done to limit the footprint on the course. He said he structured the tournament around Oregon’s Phase 1 reopening model, even though Coos County is in Phase 2.

“It won’t be a normal U.S. Amateur,” Kimball said. “But who knows what the new normal is moving forward.”