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Rory McIlroy has committed to playing the first three events on the PGA Tour following its June 11 resumption.

The world No.1 says he intends to compete at the Charles Schwab Challenge, RBC Heritage and Travelers Championship next month.

McIlroy is taking part in the TaylorMade Driving Relief tournament in Florida on Sunday - a skins competition also featuring Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff - and is keen to get back on the course after a two-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I guess I can't speak for everyone, but for me personally, I just want to get back out and play," McIlroy told the Golf Channel.

"So that's my plan, play the first three. I think it'll be nice to get back out there and play."

The PGA Tour announced its health and safety protocols this week ahead of the June 11 restart.

The plans outline a strict testing regime and measures that will be in place surrounding each tournament, as well as "strong recommendations" for travel and accommodation.

"Obviously we're going to have to take as many precautions as possible to be able to put Tour events on again, but I think the PGA Tour has got a very robust plan in place," McIlroy added.

"If they can execute it the right way, I see no reason why we can't start June 11. And if we do, I'll be ready to go in Fort Worth."

PGA Tour officials are "optimistic" that overseas-based players will be able to return to the United States in time for competition to resume next month, but those doing so will face a 14-day quarantine period on entry to the country.

The Tour has issued a 37-page document to players and officials outlining the extra measures that will be in place when competition returns with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, scheduled to take place behind closed doors from June 11-14.

The plans outline a strict testing regime and measures that will be in place surrounding each tournament, as well as "strong recommendations" for travel and accommodation between.

But those on the Tour who are currently outside the US - a number including the likes of Australian Adam Scott and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood as well as - will face additional hurdles before they can get that far.

"We are working with the Federal government to facilitate the return of players and caddies who are currently residing outside the US and we're optimistic that is going to occur," PGA Tour senior vice president for tournament administration Andy Levinson said on a conference call.

"(A 14-day quarantine) is currently in place and it is likely to continue, and so it is imperative that those constituents that we have need to come back to the US at least two weeks prior to our return to competition."

Fleetwood had already suggested he would not immediately return to the United States as the quarantine restrictions would mean he would need to stay there until the end of the season in September to make it worthwhile, with the 29-year-old not wanting to leave his family for such a long period.

The PGA Tour has outlined plans to test every player and official at each event, approximately 400 tests per week, once competition resumes.

Individuals must fill out a questionnaire, give a thermal reading and undertake a nasal swab or saliva test.

Strict social distancing rules will also be in place, though while the Tour will "strongly recommend" certain hotels and methods of transport, it will not insist on them.

Golfers and caddies returning to the PGA Tour next month will face a battery of tests and safety measures as they adjust to tournament golf in the era of novel coronavirus.

Golf Channel says it has seen the 37-page health and safety document being sent to players as the PGA Tour, shut down since mid-March by the COVID-19 pandemic, prepares for a June 11-14 return at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.

Players can expect a "layered testing approach" according to Golf Channel, which will start at their homes. They will receive a pre-travel screening test and be tested again on arrival at the tournament.

Testing will be required as a condition of competition.

Anyone testing positive will be removed from the competition and self-isolated for at least 10 days. A player who tests positive after making the cut at an event will receive last place earnings.

Players, caddies and tournament officials will be kept inside a tournament bubble at one or two hotels and a charter plane will take them to the next tournament to limit possible exposure.

Everybody must be tested again before boarding the charter.

Golfers are also encouraged to perform many of the tasks left for their caddies, such as selecting and replacing clubs or whatever they need from the bag.

"I don't know what even to expect," Brooks Koepka, winner of four majors, told Golf Channel. "I am assuming no fans, that's been said, but I am kind of in the dark. I don't know too much about it.

"Whatever restrictions they put on, I am going to be in the first three events, so whatever I need to do to play those three events I am going to make sure I do."

In addition to the Charles Schwab Challenge the tournaments set to be held without fans are the RBC Heritage (June 18-21) in Hilton Head, S.C., the Travelers Championship (June 25-28) in Cromwell, Conn., and the Rocket Mortgage Classic (July 2-5) in Detroit.

The first tournament tentatively preparing for spectators is the July 6-12 John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill., followed by the Memorial.

Use of a sponsor's private jets is easing some concerns for Australia's top golfers about returning to play on the PGA Tour next month amid the coronavirus crisis in the US.

The tour plans to resume from its shutdown on June 11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas, making it only the second major sport to restart in the US after UFC returned in Florida at the weekend.

With more than 80,000 deaths and almost 1.4 million cases of covid-19 in the country, as well as state-by-state restrictions on gatherings, there are significant fears about professional golf returning in June.

No fans will be allowed to attend tournaments for at least a month and the tour is expected to reveal details of its safety measures next week.

But reports suggest players, caddies, tournament officials and tour employees will be asked to undergo coronavirus tests before travelling and will be subject to at least two tests on site at each event.

Former world No.1 Jason Day and five-time tour winner Marc Leishman admit they have hesitations but will lean on mutual sponsor NetJets for private planes to travel to and from tournaments.

More than 35 PGA Tour players endorse the private plane company including Day, Leishman and fellow Australian Cameron Smith.

"We're very lucky to be able to fly private, so that's at least one area I don't have to worry about," said Day from Ohio.

Adam Scott, currently in Australia, can use his own plane but may have to quarantine in the US for 14 days before playing his first tournament.

Day has used a private motorhome as accommodation for the majority of his career and says that will come in handy as he ambitiously attempts to play 11 tournaments in 13 weeks of the revised season.

However, Leishman will stay in hotels and says that is a concern given wife Audrey suffered a near fatal illness in 2015 when she suffered toxic shock syndrome and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

"I'm being very careful, particularly with Audrey's history," Leishman told AAP.

"Hotels are a concern but I think the PGA Tour will be taking extra precautions.

"I won't be going to any crowded bars or restaurants, really. I'll be going to the course and then having dinner in my room and that's it."

Paving the way for the tour's return are several smaller events such as a 54-hole charity event in Texas two weeks ago.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will play a made-for-television charity match on May 24 with NFL legends Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, while world No.1 Rory McIlroy will headline a separate exhibition a week earlier.

Several PGA Tour players are also teeing up on a US mini-tour event this week in Arizona.

Tour great Peter Senior believes securing European co-sanctioned events in Australia early next year as part of a newly-revamped Australasian PGA schedule is the sport's best chance of rekindling its golden years.

The PGA Tour of Australasia on Sunday announced a dramatically-altered tournament plan with a wrap-around calendar - a six-month season running between October and March that could include new or revived events.

It's a change from a calendar-year tour with a big break in the middle, and a return to a "summer of golf" format that harks back to the golden years when Greg Norman was in his pomp in the 1980s and 90s.

The change was forced by the coronavirus crisis, allowing officials to push big tournaments into early 2021 if need be, but tour tournaments director Nick Dastey says it's here to stay and believes it will prove popular.

Only the Australian PGA Championship - to be played from December 3-6 at Brisbane's Royal Queensland - and the Vic Open are currently co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

But with the coronavirus hitting Europe hard and Australian golf administrators pushing for change, Senior can sense an opportunity to inject some pedigree into the domestic season.

One option could be to shift the marquee Australian Open at Melbourne's Kingston Heath from its expected late November timeslot - directly following the US Masters - to January-February as a drawcard for foreign stars and link it with events like the popular Vic Open.

"It looks like we may be opening up a lot earlier so there is an opportunity if the European Tour is willing to play two or three tournaments in January and February," Senior said.

"Scheduling is always the hardest thing but that's our best bet; the European Tour doesn't really start until March ... there's heaps of opportunity there if we're able to grasp it."

A multiple winner of the Australian PGA, Open and Masters, Senior fondly recalls the "golden years" when the country's best players would commit to their home swing.

"(Greg) Norman was a big input in those, being world number one for seven years and I can remember playing the last round at the Masters at Huntingdale with Greg," he said.

"They had to close the gates; 45,000 people there and on the first tee there's 12 deep on both sides."

Senior acknowledged that the scheduling might made it tougher for American-based players to return for Australian tournaments early in the year as the US PGA Tour also uses a "wrap-around" season format and has some big events at that time.

That could leave what Senior described as the "next wave" of Australian talent to fly the flag.

Lucas Herbert, a Dubai Desert Classic winner before golf's shutdown earlier this year, is one of those players, as is the exciting Min Woo Lee.

"The talk on tour (in Europe) is that guys would love to come play in Australia, but it's so far to come for just one event," he said.

"So if guys could come out for two, three or four weeks you'd attract talent and wouldn't need to pay players anyway."

The coronavirus relief golf match featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning has been set for May 24 in Florida.

The sanctioned PGA Tour event, dubbed The Match: Champions for Charity will take place at Medallist Golf Club in Hobe Sound.

A charitable donation of $US10 million will be made to benefit COVID-19 relief.

WarnerMedia is banking on a matchup featuring two of the most famous golfers of their era alongside two of the greatest NFL quarterbacks competing on the nation's Memorial Day holiday weekend to be a welcome sight for sports-starved fans.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unimaginable tragedy and heartbreak," Jeff Zucker, chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports, said in a news release.

"We're hopeful this event and platform will help raise meaningful funding for COVID-19 relief, while also providing a source of brief distraction and entertainment for all sports fans."

The competition, which is being held two weeks before the PGA Tour plans to resume its season, will feature 15-times major champion Woods and Manning up against five-times major winner Mickelson and Brady in Team Match Play.

The golfers will play fourballs on the front nine and a modified alternate shot format on the back nine, where each competitor tees off and then the team plays alternate shot from the selected drive.

Medallist Golf Club is the home course to 15-times major champion Woods, who last competed in February and then withdrew from a number of tournaments with a back injury before the PGA Tour decided to cancel a slew of events because of the coronavirus.

Mickelson finished third in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February and missed the cut in his next two starts.

Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March after 20 years with the New England Patriots during which he won an NFL-record six Super Bowl titles.

Manning, who played for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, retired in 2016 as the NFL's all-time leader in passing touchdowns and yards and is the only five-times winner of the league's Most Valuable Player award.

Jason Day says he would love to face off against Adam Scott at the Australian Open but the late-season Masters could complicate Australia's top male golfers returning this year.

Day and countrymen Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith have been urged by former tour pro Mike Clayton to help Australian tournaments in a time of need by returning to play this summer without the need for a big appearance money cheque.

With less likelihood of getting major foreign stars here than usual, the presence of Australia's big guns would be a huge boost.

But that will prove difficult with the US PGA Tour and organisers of the majors rescheduling events postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The British Open was cancelled while the US PGA Championship will be played in August, the US Open in September and the Masters in November.

The Australian Open at Melbourne's Kingston Heath and Australian PGA Championship in Queensland are likely to be held in the weeks after the Masters.

Former world No.1 Day says that is a big obstacle for the Australian Open.

"With regards to Mike Clayton's comments, I understand where he is coming from because some of the Aussie guys get paid to go down there," Day told AAP from Ohio.

"But I have to play my minimum 20 (US Tour) events to fulfil contracts and if I play the Masters at Augusta and still have to three events to play, it may put Australian Open in jeopardy."

Day has faced criticism for playing just three Australian Opens as a professional but welcomed the possibility of a showdown with Scott if able to return.

The two major winners have not been in contention at the same Open since the 2013 edition at Royal Sydney and Scott said last week he "absolutely" still hoped to play in Australia this summer.

Five-time US PGA Tour winner Leishman says he will definitely chase a maiden Australian Open victory if Australian travel restrictions allow.

But he insists it won't be about the money.

"Mike is entitled to his opinion and I respect it," Leishman told AAP from his Virginia Beach home.

"I can't talk for the other guys but I don't play in Australia for the money. We play for so much here in the US that the Australian tournaments are not about appearance money.

"I want to be home. I love Australia. I love Kingston Heath and playing in Australia in front of our crowds.

"If I can get back without having to undergo a two-week quarantine, I'll be playing the Australian Open."

Former US Tour player-turned commentator Paul Gow said appearances fees were essential to modern golf tournaments.

"I don't have a problem with appearance money because our Aussie players earn every cent and some of them even put the money back into charities," Gow told AAP.

"About half of the money Adam has received in appearance fees in Australia during the past few years has been put straight back into the Adam Scott Foundation, which aims to fund kids between high school and university.

"The foundation currently has 16 kids in Australian universities on scholarships.

"The work that's involved, it's an entire week of playing golf, functions, speeches and golf clinics.

"It's more than just turning up and we are sucking so much out of the orange," Gow said.

"Our players winning in the US, particularly the majors, and getting media coverage grows the game far more than coming down to Australia."

Mike Clayton has challenged the likes of Jason Day and Adam Scott to rush home after the Masters to give Australian golf a boost in the post-coronavirus era.

Former professional-turned course designer Clayton said it was crucial the Australian swing had the support of its biggest names in a crowded market once competition resumes later this year.

That will prove difficult though, with November's pushed-back Masters potentially colliding with the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship, which are likely to be played in the following weeks.

Quarantine periods for domestic and international travellers could still be in play then, complicating matters for Australian golf administrators currently running through the many scenarios they may be faced with later this year.

The Australian Open's anticipated return to Melbourne's Kingston Heath could be delayed to allow some breathing room and Clayton hopes Day, Scott and fellow US PGA Tour performers Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith recognise what their presence could do for Australian golf.

"The thing we ought to be able to do this year for the Australian Open is to impress upon our best players in America how important it is to come here and play without demanding a fortune in appearance money, if anything," he told Golf Australia's Inside the Ropes podcast.

"For the amazing living those four of five guys have made out of the game, this is one time we need them to come back and support the Australian Open and PGA without having to write a big cheque for them to turn up."

Injuries have restricted former world No.1 Day's Australian appearances during his career but Scott and Leishman have both indicated their intent to play in Australia this year and Smith has been a regular on home soil since bursting onto the scene in 2015.

Scott has already thrown his weight around, broadcasting a nine-hole round at boutique Sunshine Coast club Maleny last Friday on Instagram that was viewed by thousands.

Clayton said the pandemic-enforced shut down should be viewed as a chance to strengthen tournament golf in Australia.

"It looks like the European Tour is going to be somewhat hurt out of this, so it's a chance to reset the game outside the United States and try and create one great tour," he said.

"Which is really almost what we've got now with South Africa, the Middle East, Asia, (and European-sanctioned) Australian PGA and Vic Open events."

Clayton also urged powerbrokers to take lessons from the popular Vic Open, which features both a men's and women's field.

"In terms of giving the fans what they want, the Vic Open is the model for that," he said.

"It's not the best title in the country - you'd rather win the PGA or Open - but it's the best tournament I think."

Adam Scott's breezy nine holes around Maleny's green hills did wonders for Sunshine Coast golf tourism and also kept the world No.6 sharp as he eyes a delayed Masters charge in November.

The 2013 Masters champion and former world No.1 made what he described as "his first contribution" to Instagram by broadcasting his round at Maleny Golf Club live on Friday morning.

Thousands watched as Scott and good mate Wayne Perske - the club's pro-manager and former Japan Tour winner - went head-to-head in a battle that was split when Perske missed a putt on the 18th green.

Queenslander Scott has been residing in his Sunshine Coast getaway home during the coronavirus lockdown, which he says has forced him off the circuit for longer than ever before in a 20-year career.

Scott won the Australian PGA on the Gold Coast in December before breaking a four-year US PGA Tour title drought with victory at the Genesis Invitational in February.

But the 39-year-old said the sudden halt could be a blessing, even if it did deny him the chance of arriving for April's Masters in hot form.

"That's a good thing for a bloke my age; it might keep me fresh for a few more years," he said post-round.

"I do miss the competition but I'm very much enjoying the break ... spending some time with the family.

"As players we all want the opportunity to go and play the Masters no matter when it is, so hopefully we do get to go back there in November."

Perske said Scott's cameo had "put the club on the map".

Scott didn't need much convincing though, saying it was easy to fall in love with the course, which like others in Queensland has been allowed to stay open thanks to strict distancing rules during the pandemic.

"It's unique, that's for sure and there's something charming about that," he said.

"The passion that the membership has, there's a real heartbeat to this club and seeing that ... was really endearing to me."

No player will lose their PGA Tour card this year because of the interrrupted season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result the Korn Ferry Tour players will have to wait a year before fully joining the big leagues.

The PGA Tour sent a memo to players on Thursday outlining the changes as they try to figure what's equitable in a season that will be without 13 previously scheduled events.

The Tour said players exempt for this season will keep the same status for the 2020-21 season that is scheduled to start in September unless they earn a higher ranking after this shortened season.

That could help someone like Harris English, who started the season with conditional status from finishing between Nos. 126 and 150 the previous season. He has posted five top 10s and is No. 24 in the FedEx Cup, making his a lock to have a full card for next season.

As for the developmental Korn Ferry Tour, no one will graduate to the PGA Tour after the season. The tour was working on rewarding the top 10 players, such as allowing them in opposite-field field events for next season.

All of this is contingent on golf resuming June 11-14 at Colonial, the restart of a season that would include only one major championship.

The PGA Championship is tentatively set for August 9-12 in San Francisco. The US Open was pushed back to September, the Masters was moved to November and the British Open was cancelled.

That means six majors will be played next season.

This season still offers a $US15 million prize to the winner of the FedEx Cup. The two playoff events outside Boston and Chicago would award triple points instead of quadruple points.

In other changes:

- The field for the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua will include everyone who wins a PGA Tour event in 2020, along with players who reach the Tour Championship. That means whoever finished in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup gets into at least three majors in 2021, along with a trip to Maui.

- The tournament in the Dominican Republic originally was cancelled and then moved to September, the same week as the Ryder Cup. Because it is not opposite a World Golf Championship, the winner will receive full FedEx Cup points and a trip to the 2021 Masters.

- For the rest of this season, Monday qualifiers that can be held will only provide two spots instead of four.