The United States Golf Association’s offices of the Far Hills, N.J. were a very different place four months ago. On Tuesday, February 4, executives held conference calls and did interviews after the USGA and the R&A jointly announced that golf has a distance problem. The game’s two governing bodies were going to start looking at ways to fix it. It was a big day for the sport.
Tuesday, June 2, sitting in his sister’s house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Mike Davis, the executive director of the USGA, said the distance-related projects and studies are on hold. No one is overly concerned about golf balls flying too far right now or that courses are getting too long. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the USGA to close its doors, like other non-essential businesses, and its employees are working remotely.
“As I look back to mid-March, now, I’m incredibly impressed with how well our organization has actually run and how good the communication is, both internally and externally,” Davis said during a recording of Golfweek’s Forward Press podcast. “Obviously, we’re all disheartened with what has been going on with COVID and how it has affected people. People have lost their lives; people have gotten sick. It’s affected not only the national but the global economy. And then the current civil unrest going on. There’s a lot of things to be upset (about), to be worried and to be out of your element about.”
In light of those things, golf tournaments might seem like a big priority, but it’s Davis’ job to think about our national championships and the health of the sport.
Working remotely, he and the USGA have been forced to make some tough decisions, not the least of which was eliminating the qualifying events for this year’s “Big Four” – the U.S Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur.
“It was agonizing,” Davis said. “Particularly, the final decision to say, ‘We are going to play four championships out of 14 this year, and oh yeah, by the way, they are not going to have qualifying.’ For us, qualifying is the cornerstone of our championships.”
Golf courses are now open in all 50 states, but what made holding the 650 qualifying events around the country impossible was that different states and regions are in different phases of re-opening.
“As an example, we didn’t want to conduct a U.S. Amateur qualifier in Georiga, while the one in New York can’t be conducted,” Davis said. “We just did not think that was the right thing to do.”
The USGA plans to look at previously-held events and recreate the composition of those tournaments using its invitations. So, for example, the U.S. Open will not have a field comprised of the 144 highest-ranked players in the world. Along with the 50 golfers already exempt into the U.S. Open, there will be a mix of American pros, international pros, elite amateurs and collegiate golfers. It’s not a perfect system, and Davis acknowledges that, but right now, it is the best way to create a U.S. Open-style field safely.
Davis also confirmed Golfweek’s previous reporting that the USGA considered moving the event to December and holding it at a West Coast venue. He added that the USGA also thought about holding the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open on back-to-back weeks in December at different sites, but Winged Foot is the only course that will host the event in 2020.
Based on what local and state officials recommend and what health officials say, the USGA will hold one of three U.S. Opens. One with fans, one with a limited number of fans or one with no fans or spectators.
“Right now, at the beginning of June, I think it is almost a guarantee that this will not be a normal-sized U.S. Open,” Davis said.
Venue capacities differ, but the U.S. Open often attracts crowds of between 30,000 and 40,000 people.
As a 501c(3) non-profit organization, Davis said the USGA usually brings in $230-$250 million a year, with the U.S. Open accounting for about 75 percent of that total. Massive crowds buy a lot of t-shirts, hats, food and drinks. Corporate villages also bring in a lot of money for the USGA during U.S. Open week, as does its television deal with Fox Sports. The TV money will still be collected, but other revenue sources during U.S. Open week are going to dry up in 2020.
If there is a silver lining to the financial story, it is that the USGA has event cancellation insurance. According to Davis, it has also made investments in the past that will allow it to continue its programs in the future. Budgets have been tightened, but the USGA has not laid off any of its employees.
Davis sounds and appears optimistic but rooted in reality. He knows there are things that the USGA can control and things it can’t, so like other sports leagues and teams, all the USGA can do right now is plan, wait and hope.
Golf lovers are waiting and hoping too.
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