President Donald Trump made a surprise phone call during Sunday’s TaylorMade Driving Relief match and assured American golf fans that he is working hard to get the sport up and running again.
Trump, a widely recognised golf fan, chatted to Mike Tirico from NBC Sports, while Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson were doing battle with Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff at Seminole Golf Club.
Rory (and DJ) win it via shootout
The head of state emphasised that he has been in talks with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and CEO of PGA of America Seth Waugh to force a return for the game, while also getting spectators out on the course again.
‘We are getting it back and it’s going to be fast. We’ll start with small crowds, if any, we want to get it back to where it was. We want big, big stadiums loaded with people.
‘We don’t want to have 15,000 people watching Alabama-LSU, for example. And when you have the Masters we want to have big crowds. Right now that’s not what they are planning but you never know what happens,’ Trump said.
The president reiterated his full confidence that matters will normalise in a short period of time.
‘We are looking at vaccines, we are looking at cures. We are very, very far down the line. I think people are going to be very impressed with what is being developed right now,’ he added.
The PGA Tour looks set to commence with its revised season schedule within about three weeks’ time with the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Despite the expectation that fans won’t be permitted at the first few events, McIlroy and many other stars indicated that they will indeed be competing.
