Mike Whan didn’t wait to be asked before addressing the “elephant in the room.”
The USGA’s CEO said his immediate reaction to last week’s bombshell announcement about a proposed merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was of concern about the impact to the storylines at this week’s U.S. Open. Whan made the comments during his annual pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.
With the USGA focused primarily on golf in the United States, Whan wasn’t privy to any of the conversations going on between the entities — nor did he expect to be. He was caught off guard by the suddenness of the announcement just like everyone else.
“All of us got together on Wednesday and said, ‘Gosh, all these stories we wanted to tell, maybe it’s going to be harder to tell because media will be focused elsewhere.”
Then he remembered all of the talk about LIV Golf before last year’s U.S. Open, and that it did not detract from the drama of Matt Fitzpatrick’s victory at Brookline in Boston.
“I’m fairly certain now having lived through this deja-vu that the same thing will happen this week that happened last week, which is once the balls go in the air the athletes take the narrative back,” Whan said. “And if you asked anybody to describe what was the 2022 U.S. Open all about, I don’t think anybody would talk to you about the weekend before.
“I am pretty sure when we recap 2023 we’re going to be talking about what happened on the golf course and not what happened off the golf course.”
As a U.S.-focused entity, the USGA is somewhat agnostic to the politics on the global stage of golf. The association took the stance amid the LIV debate last year that as the U.S. Open, anyone who qualifies for the tournament gets to play in the tournament.
Whan wouldn’t venture to guess how the proposed merger will play out, and doesn’t think it will impact the USGA or its tournaments. He also believes the game of golf is in its strongest position ever.
“I’m sure I’m not on the top-5 list of, ‘Let me make sure you understand every detail,’ but I’ve had conversations with many from the PGA Tour,” Whan said. “I think I’m getting my head around it, but there’s a lot to learn, and I’m sure they would agree that there’s a lot to learn.
“I’m going to reserve judgment in terms of let’s see where this goes.”
–Field Level Media