President Donald Trump held a conference call on Saturday with leaders of many of America’s professional sports organizations, including PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and his LPGA counterpart, Michael Whan.
According to ESPN.com, Trump told the group that he expects the NFL season to start on time in September and he hoped other sports held in stadiums and arenas could be back playing by August or September.
What that means for professional golf is not clear.
With more announcements anticipated, the PGA Tour has canceled tournaments through May 10. The PGA Championship, scheduled for May 14-17, has been postponed, with no new date secured. The next scheduled Tour event is the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, May 21-24.
Prior to August, there are 12 events on the PGA Tour schedule, including two majors—the U.S. Open (June 18-21) and Open Championship (July 16-19). Golf Digest reported that the Open Championship will be canceled, while the USGA has yet to make an announcement about changes to the U.S. Open schedule. The men’s and women’s competition in the Olympics, set for July 30-Aug. 2, have already been eliminated, with the Olympics in Tokyo being pushed to 2021.
The first August event on the PGA Tour is the Wyndham Championship (Aug. 6-9) in Greensboro, N.C.
On Saturday, the PGA Tour referred questions about Trump’s conference call to the White House.
The LPGA has seven events scheduled before August, including the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (June 25-28). The current tournament scheduled to be the first is the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship (June 19-21).
“They want to get back. They’ve got to get back. . . . We want to get back soon, very soon,” Trump said of his conversation with the commissioners in his news briefing Saturday. “We have to open our country again.”
Asked if he had a specific date for fans returning to arenas, Trump said he couldn’t provide one, adding, “I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”