More SDA Pro Doubles Events Canceled As Baltimore Cup and Graham Company Cup Pull The Plug by Rob Dinerman Dateline January 9, 2020
--- A 2019-20 SDA North American pro doubles tour that has already been
plagued by cancellations, eleventh-hour prize money reductions and a
series of retirements, defaults and injuries to key players took yet
another hit when it was announced today that the Baltimore Cup (which
for years has been hosted by the Baltimore Country Club) and the Graham
Company Cup (which for even longer has been held at the Germantown
Cricket Club in suburban Philadelphia) were both canceling their
tournaments, which had been scheduled to take place in February and
March respectively. Less than an hour before today’s noon entry
deadline for the Baltimore event, Graham Bassett, the SDA Tour
Director, informed the tour's playing group of the cancellations,
citing fundraising difficulties that the Baltimore host club Committee
had encountered and a management shake-up that has arisen at Germantown.
This double-whammy occurs less than two months after the
Tournament Committee of the Jim Bentley Cup in Toronto decided to
withdraw their event from the official SDA schedule and instead hold it
as a private invitational in the wake of a disagreement that arose
regarding the quality of the team entries.
The SDA tour schedule resumes tonight with the MFS Pro-Am tournament at the University Club of Boston.
