The PGA is seemingly using a golf tournament that has been held in Florida since 1962 as a means of snubbing Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Six months ago the PGA said it would reevaluate where to host its annual World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship due to Mr. Trump’s comments on illegal immigration and Islamic terrorism. The organization will now move the event from the Trump National Doral course just outside Miami to Mexico City.
Butch Buchholz, the man who managed the WGC-Cadillac Championship, told the Miami Herald Tuesday night that PGA was unable to find a title sponsor to replace Cadillac. The tournament will now move to the Club de Golf Chapultepec in 2017 and will be sponsored by the Grupo Salinas conglomerate, the Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday.
Mr. Trump displayed his displeasure with the decision during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night.
“I mean, I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico as an example,” he said. “They’re taking it — it’s at Doral, it’s at — they used one of my places. They’re moving their tournament, it’s the Cadillac World Golf Championship. And Cadillac’s been a great sponsor, but they’re moving it to Mexico. They’re moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance. But they’re moving it to Mexico City. And I’m saying, you know, what’s going on here? It is so sad when you look at what’s going on with our country.”
The presumed GOP presidential nominee also released a statement Wednesday, calling it “a sad day for Miami, the United States and the game of golf.”
“No different than Nabisco, Carrier and so many other American companies, the PGA Tour has put profit ahead of thousands of American jobs, millions of dollars in revenue for local communities and charities and the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of fans who make the tournament an annual tradition,” the statement read. “This decision only further embodies the very reason I am running for president of the United States.”
The WGC-Cadillac Championship pits 50 of the world’s greatest golfers against each other. Past winners include Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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