The PGA Tour has confirmed the Bermuda Championship has again been given elevated status after the cancellation of the WGC-HSBC Champions event.

It is the second successive year that the event — co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and scheduled to take place at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, from October 28 to 31 — has been cancelled, with organisers citing Covid-19 pandemic health concerns and travel restrictions.

As a result, the Bermuda Championship, hosted at Port Royal Golf Course and again scheduled to be held the same week as the WGC-HSBC Champions, has been given elevated status, including an increase on last year’s $4 million prize purse and full allocation of FedEx Cup points.

Last year’s championship was also elevated to a full FedEx Cup point event status, with winner Brian Gay, of the United States, earning a 2021 Masters invitation.

“Following discussions with HSBC, we can confirm the cancellation of the 2021 WGC-HSBC Champions,” said Jay Monahan, PGA Tour commissioner, ahead of the Tour Championship, which starts tomorrow.

“Although it's unfortunate to have to do so, we must ensure that we abide by the epidemic prevention policies of different markets which may cause inconvenience to the players and make tournament operations very challenging.

“Therefore, after careful consideration we had to make this difficult decision to cancel the event.”

The decision to cancel also means the PGA Tour's “Asia Swing” has now been reduced to a single event in the wake of the CJ Cup moving from South Korea to Las Vegas for the second year running, with the Zozo Championship still scheduled to take place in Japan from October 21 to 24.

“Our plan is to play the 2021 Zozo Championship as scheduled in October at Accordia Golf's Narashino Country Club outside Tokyo,” Monahan added.

“Zozo has been a great partner and we have been in regular contact with the government and local authorities about the plans to successfully stage this event this fall.

“The successful and safe golf competitions at the Tokyo Olympic Games helped provide some confidence going forward there.”

The European Challenge Tour had already cancelled two Chinese-based tournaments in October — the Hainan Open and Foshan Open — while the LPGA Tour announced last week that the Buick LPGA Shanghai would also not take place in 2021.