Two of professional golf’s most powerful people will be among those tasked with leading the effort to reopen the U.S. economy.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and LPGA commissioner Mike Whan were among the 100-plus advisers named to a new council by President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s press briefing. The advisory council, which includes executives from many major players in business, healthcare, professional sports and elected office, will assist the White House’s coronavirus task force in shaping post-mitigation economic plans.
The group also includes other sports-league commissioners, including the NFL’s Roger Goodell, NBA’s Adam Silver and MLB’s Rob Manfred.
“We have the best people in every profession, including medical and including political,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “We have a political group, too, a lot of great politicians. ... Well, some are great, some aren’t so great, but I put ’em on anyway.”
Other companies represented range from 3M to Yum Brands.
Trump has stressed a need to open the economy back up “pretty quickly,” while maintaining communication and working with governors and other leaders across the country. This council is the latest in that effort to revive a spiraling economy.
According to The Associated Press, the International Monetary Fund projects the global economy to shrink by 3% during 2020, the worst decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for the loss of about 16 million jobs in the U.S. and has shuttered professional sports leagues, including all major golf tours, since mid-March.
Monahan and Whan were among several commissioners who were on a call with Trump in early April in which the president said he hoped fans would be back in stadiums and arenas by August or September.
“I want fans back in the arenas whenever we’re ready and as soon as we can,” Trump said earlier this month. “The fans want to be back. They want to see basketball and baseball and football and hockey. They want to see their sports. They want to go out on the golf courses and breath nice, clean, beautiful fresh air. I can’t tell you a date [when sports will start again], but I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”