While golf remains his top priority, former US Open champion Graeme McDowell is making tough business decisions as the owner of two restaurants in the US.
The Northern Irishman, who was set for the WGC Matchplay after turning his career around over the past year, has concern over the viability of not only his business but the impact of his 70-strong staffing contingent.
‘I feel like what we are going through right now is going to change the world as we know it in a lot of ways,’ the 40-year-old said.
‘Thoughts are with our staff and trying to help them through this tough time.’
McDowell has two ‘Nona Blue’ restaurants – one in Orlando and the other in Ponte Vedra Beach. Both have ‘closed’ signs over their front doors …
‘We had to take the tough decision to close the doors on both restaurants,’ he said. ‘We are trying our best to compensate our staff in the short term as best we can. I think we are pretty much paid up through to the end of this month and I think all insurance and benefits for all our staff are paid up through the end of next month. But cash flow becomes an issue, I mean how long can we sustain this?’
McDowell said the pandemic has tuned him into the enormity of the financial impact on society.
‘We have two pretty successful restaurant businesses going and all of a sudden we are closing our doors and barely have enough money to keep them alive for the next two or three months. You take a successful operation and something like this happens and basically you are thinking about whether we will be able to come out the other end successfully and that’s scary.
‘It’s scary to see how quickly something like this can impact on businesses all around the world and you realise how fragile the situation is and how big the impact is.
‘It’s tough times for everyone right now and we’re trusting the powers that be to make the right decisions all over America and all over the world,’ he added.
