This past weekend we witness Collin Morikawa win the PGA Championship at the tender age of 23 years old. I am sure it will be considered a great achievement by the young gun and in any other time I would have felt the same way; but I do not.
The PGA of America and the PGA Tour chose to play the PGA Championship in, of all places, California. California has been on lock-down since the Wuhan Corona Virus arrived in America. Californians have not been able to go to work, go outside without masking themselves, children have been out of school, restaurants have been closed and some have even gone out of business.
If the virus is so bad that Governor Gavin Newsome must keep the State shutdown; why did the PGA of America think that it was okay to play a golf tournament in such a place?
I sent an email to the PGA of America asking this same question and never got an answer, so they left no option but to speculate as to why they made this decision. Was it television money, advertising, or sponsors? Only the PGA of America and the PGA Tour know the real motive.
The PGA of America could have chosen a better venue or postpone all together due to the pandemic, instead they decided to go with it with complete disregard for the people of California. This is the disconnect of the PGA of America and the PGA Tour. They live in their own little bubble forgetting that many Americans are still without jobs and fighting to stay afloat, while they go around jet setting playing golf.
I understand that this is their job, but they also must be sensible to the situation of ailing Americans, and they are not. They think that by honoring common criminals with tee times or pandering to a sector of the population based on false narratives and innuendos, it takes care of everything.
The United States Golf Association has also decided to hold their annual national tournament in another State that has been ravaged by the pandemic and are facing the same restrictions as those of the people in California.
The USGA is playing the tournament in the State of New York of all places. Thousands of New Yorkers have died due to the pandemic, mostly because of the governor’s failure to act properly, and people have not been able to resume their lives with some type of normalcy. I also contacted the USGA for comment, but they did not answer my email.
What are these people thinking? These professional organizations are completely disconnected from the reality facing America and they have chosen to go on. The PGA Tour wanted to be the “first” sport to come back and they did, but their return has been driven by sponsor’s money and television deals.
As a golf enthusiast and player, I will remember this season as the “Season of Disconnect” by the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour was the first, but their disregard for fellow Americans makes them last in my book.