Is Donald Trump facing a golf ban? PGA of America says 2022 championship won't be played at his Bedminster club
President Donald Trump has been facing backlash from all quarters since the violence that broke out at Capitol Hill on January 6, in which five people lost their lives. While voices across the political spectrum have been raised for his impeachment in whatever little days he has in office, social media giants like Twitter and Facebook have banned him from their platforms and a few academic institutions have rescinded honorary degrees they gave the president in the past.
It has now been reported that Trump is in danger of facing a similar situation in the arena of golf, his favorite sport which he has been playing since his college days.
Trump detrimental to PGA brand, says golf body president
The PGA of America came up with a statement on Monday, January 11, in which it was said that its board of directors voted on Sunday, January 10, to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey.
Jim Richerson, the president of PGA of America said in a video that conducting the PGA championship at Trump Bedminster would be “detrimental” for the PGA America brand. With this move, the PGA America ended its ties with the outgoing president.
“It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand and would put at risk the PGA's ability to deliver our many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission,” Richerson said.
He added: “Our board has thus made the decision to exercise to terminate the contract to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster. It was a decision made to ensure that the PGA of America and PGA professionals can continue to lead and grow our game for decades to come”.
Breach of contract, says Trump Organization
The Trump Organization, which owns or operates 17 golf courses worldwide with three more expected to be open in Dubai and Indonesia, was not happy with the PGA of America’s decision and called it a breach of a binding contract. We have had a beautiful partnership with the PGA of America and are incredibly disappointed with their decision. This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement."
"As an organization, we have invested many, many millions of dollars in the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster. We will continue to promote the game of golf on every level and remain focused on operating the finest golf courses anywhere in the world,” a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told ABC.
This is not the first time, however, that a major golf organization has distanced itself from Trump. In 2016, the PGA Tour’s WGC-Cadillac Championship moved away from Trump National Doral, Florida, and became the WGC-Mexico Championship after the tycoon-politician made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants while campaigning for the election that year.
The year before, too, the PGA of America’s Grand Slam of Golf scrapped its event at Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles, over some of his disparaging remarks on immigration.
Golfweek piece shreds Trump
Meanwhile, Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch penned a blistering piece published on Saturday, January 9, saying the PGA had been debating for some time the need to move the major tournament and once Trump’s tenure concludes, it will announce that it will be played elsewhere.
“The odds that ’22's PGA Championship will happen as scheduled in New Jersey are about as good as the chances of you or I winning it. Seth Waugh, the PGA of America’s CEO, was a banker and has an alert eye for high-risk exposure. He knows that Trumpism is likely to be an equally incendiary force in the ’22 midterm elections and that any affiliation is poisonous."
"Waugh will be forced to move the event and face down a small but vocal faction of his membership who remain true believers. Moving its major from Trump National has been debated internally at the PGA for more than two years, but executives have been reluctant to antagonize a famously vindictive man who controls the Internal Revenue Service. Such concerns melt away in 10 days, if not sooner,” he said.
Washington Post sports columnist Barry Svrulga also wrote a piece the same day saying golf should also part ways with Trump. Like him, Lynch said professional golf, including some of its top celebrities like Tiger Woods, Nancy Lopez and others, has irked many fans by getting close to Trump. The January 6 events, according to Lynch, “ought to make him a pariah everywhere. Including in golf.”
“Reputations too have been left bruised in the eyes of many golf fans. Like those of Jack Nicklaus and Nancy Lopez, both of whom have long been celebrated for their character and rectitude. Both supported Trump in the waning days of the election campaign, despite clear signs he would not accept any result he didn’t like. ...
“Arguably even more sullied are the reputations of Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam, who attended the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the man who just one day earlier had incited the mob that killed a police officer,” he added.
Lynch concluded his column with these hard-hitting words: “This game should not be the familiar bosom to which he can safely retreat while fending off indictments. He is finally and deservedly being expelled from civic life. He needs to be driven from golf, too.”
Before taking over the office after winning the 2016 presidential election, Trump promised his supporters that he was not going to have time to play golf and will be working for them. But he did not keep his words and according to Trump Golf Count, the president has made almost 300 daytime visits to golf clubs during his presidency and teed it up on at least 150 occasions.
He was blasted by his opponents for playing the game even when the US was struggling to contain the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 374,000 lives in the country.