A bear sighting on Wednesday forced organisers of the Meiji Yasuda Ladies tournament in Japan to cancel the opening day of play – the second time in two months that a bear has disrupted a professional golf event in the country.
The animal was spotted near the 1st tee at the Sendai Classic Golf Club in northern Japan, prompting officials to call off the pro-am competition scheduled for the same day. Later, organisers also scrapped Thursday’s opening round of the JLPGA Tour event.
“On Wednesday, a bear sighting on the course was reported and the pro-am tournament was cancelled to protect the safety of the participants, players and staff,” read a statement on the tournament website.
“To ensure safety and to consider future measures, we have decided to cancel Thursday’s opening day. We will announce details of the tournament from Friday onwards as soon as they have been decided.”
The tournament carries total prize money of 100 million yen ($670,000).
In May, the final round of the Twinfield Ladies on the women’s second-tier Step Up Tour was abandoned after a bear was seen on the course in central Japan.
The following month, a bear wandering onto a runway at a Japanese airport led to a suspension of flights and a full lockdown of the facility.
Human encounters with bears have surged in Japan, with 219 people attacked and six deaths recorded in the 12 months to April 2024. Scientists attribute the rise in encounters to climate change affecting food supply and hibernation patterns, as well as rural depopulation in Japan’s ageing society — factors that are increasingly drawing bears into urban and semi-urban areas.
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Yoshimasa Nakano/Getty Images
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