LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — USAF President Mike Wan said he’s feeling a sense of “déjà vu” as the second straight US Open takes place amid the push and pull of the sport between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
“I thought last Monday was the longest day of golf, but it turns out that last Tuesday was the longest day of golf,” Wan said of the day the tour announced its alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and DP World Tour.
Wan said he was surprised by the sudden deal, but not that there was a conversation going on between the two parties.
Wan said USAF’s first reaction to the news was fear of its impact on the events of this week’s tournament. But much like last year’s US Open, when suspensions and controversial LIV starts were the talk early in the week, Whan expects those topics to fade Thursday.
“I’m fairly sure now – after having this deja vu – that the same thing will happen this week that happened last year,” Wan said. “Once the balls are in the air, the athletes relive the narrative. I’m pretty sure when we recap 2023 we’ll be talking about what happened on the golf course and not what happened off the golf course.”
However, Whan said that while he had no idea or information about the details of the alliance, he did admit that the USGA was interested in what the final product and its impact would be.
“Exactly what happens in the future of men’s professional golf, we will definitely pay attention,” Wan said. “But I’m not really sure if it’s going to change the USGA, the US Open or our championships.”
When asked if the USGA has been in talks with the PIF about potential partnerships or investments in the organization and if that might be possible in the future, Whan said he didn’t know.
“The Saudi Investment Fund and Saudi Golf have been involved in the game as long as you are an LPGA commissioner, then this is the role,” Wan said. “It doesn’t sound as new to me as it might to some of my other fans.”
However, Whan rejected the idea that the USGA has some responsibility to move away from private financial funds like PIF while also alluding to the fact that the USGA is not looking for influential partners.
“We don’t really have any existing partners who would like to change our decision-making process, and I don’t know if they do either,” Wan said. “I think it’s possible that if we’re approached, we’re quite full from a partnership perspective right now. … We’re probably not as attractive to outsiders as some other entities might be.”
The USGA may not be looking for partners like the PIF, but as Whan has said in the past, it is seeking to align with other governing bodies in the sport like the Masters, R&A and PGA Tour, which are made of the players the USGA targets when it comes to the typical domestic base – which is Possible golf retreat they announced earlier this year.
The proposed rule changes involved a lot of opposition from players and equipment manufacturers, and Wan said he knew it would be a difficult process. He said the feedback received so far has been instrumental in determining where this project, proposed to come into force in 2026, will go.
“I think I can speak for the R&A when I say that both the R&A and the USGA believe that doing nothing is a bad idea for the future and long-term health of the game,” Whan said. “It’s unlikely that the long-term solution is to do nothing.”
USGA CEO Fred Birbal added, “Our intent is pure. It’s not malicious.” “We are not trying to do anything to harm anyone. We are thinking about all the good this good game has done for us, and we are thinking about what our responsibility is to make sure this game is still going strong and healthy 50 years from now for our kids.”