President Donald Trump鈥檚 idea of golf getting back to normal is having thousands of fans who aren鈥檛 wearing masks in attendance and 鈥減ractically standing on top of each other.鈥�
FILE 鈥� In this Jan. 18, 2018, file photo, Dustin Johnson of the United States, left, and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland talk on the 10th fairway during the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship golf tournament in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Dustin Johnson left The Players Championship two months ago and didn鈥檛 play golf again until Sunday. He figured his game needed to be in shape for Rory McIlroy, his partner, in a charity match Sunday at Seminole that will be live golf鈥檚 return to television. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
Trump joined the NBC broadcast Sunday of 鈥淭aylorMade Driving Relief,鈥� a Skins game involving Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff.
It was the first live golf on television since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf and other sports on March 12.
The PGA Tour plans to return on June 11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. The tour has said it will not have fans for at least a month.
鈥淎fter that, hopefully, it will be back,鈥� Trump said in his interview with NBC host Mike Tirico. 鈥淲e 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鈥檛 want them having to wear masks and be doing what we鈥檝e been doing for the last number of months. Because that鈥檚 not getting back to normal.
鈥淲e want to be back to normal where you have the big crowds, and they鈥檙e practically standing on top of each other and they鈥檙e enjoying themselves, not where they鈥檙e worried,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut in the meantime, they do the social distancing, and they practice that. And they鈥檝e been doing really well. The country is ready to start moving forward.鈥�
No fans or media were allowed for the Skins match at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. The same policies will be in place next Sunday at nearby Medalist for a charity match of Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.
Trump said he knows most of the PGA Tour players and has played with many of them. That includes McIlroy three years ago. McIlroy criticized Trump on the McKellar Journal podcast this week for politicizing the pandemic and says he would not play golf with him again.
Tirico raised McIlroy鈥檚 name as being among those who have played with Trump and what they talk about on the golf course. The president didn鈥檛 bite on McIlroy鈥檚 recent comments.
鈥淎 lot of them are very political, actually,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淪ome like my politics very much, and probably some don鈥檛. I guess the ones that don鈥檛, I don鈥檛 get to see as much.鈥�