President Donald Trump called into NBC’s broadcast of the TaylorMade Driving Relief skins golf match and said he wants to see sports return to normal, including large crowds and fans not wearing masks.
Trump called into the broadcast on Sunday and spoke with NBC’s Mike Tirico. The golf clash — played between Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff — was played at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. No fans were allowed to attend the event due to coronavirus pandemic safety guidelines.
The PGA Tour suspended play March 13 due to the pandemic but plans to return June 11. The PGA Tour plans to hold its first four tournaments without fans when the season resumes.
“After that, hopefully, it will be back,” Trump told NBC. “We really want to see it back to normal so when we have all these thousands, tens of thousands of people going to your majors and going to golf tournaments.
“We want them to be having that same experience. We don’t want them having to wear masks and be doing what we’ve been doing for the last number of months. Because that’s not getting back to normal.”
Sunday’s skins event occurred on the same day NASCAR resumed its season. Kevin Harvick won The Real Heroes 400 Sunday at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C. No fans were allowed in the grandstands.
“We want to be back to normal where you have the big crowds, and they’re practically standing on top of each other and they’re enjoying themselves, not where they’re worried,” Trump said. “But in the meantime, they do the social distancing and they practice that. And they’ve been doing really well.
“The country is ready to start moving forward.”
Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning will team up to face Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson in another golf event before the PGA Tour season resumes. The Match: Champions for Charity will take place Sunday at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. No fans will be allowed to attend the event.
Sunday’s TaylorMade Driving Relief clash raised more than $5 million for COVID-19 relief efforts.
“This is the beginning of live events,” Trump said. “We want to get sports back. We miss sports. We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country. That’s what we’re doing. We’re getting it back.”
