DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) – The chairman of the World Golf Championship held at Donald Trump’s golf resort at Doral says the tournament is moving to Mexico City.
Advertisement
Trump criticized the move, saying, “I hope they have kidnapping insurance”.
According to the Golf Channel, the PGA Tour will release a statement on the matter Wednesday afternoon, and Commissioner Tim Finchem also is expected to discuss the subject at a Memorial news conference.
“They’ve got an obligation to their board and they couldn’t find a sponsor so they had to move”, Buchholz said. A staple of the tour’s early-season Florida swing, the tournament-sponsored by various corporations over the years, but most recently Cadillac-was elevated in 2007 to a World Golf Championship event (the tier below the sport’s four annual majors). Adam Scott won the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March at Doral, where the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper, Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson all have won. But the PGA Tour is set to announce on Wednesday that it will move the tournament in 2017, reportedly due to its inability to find a new corporate sponsor.
The Miami Herald said the PGA Tour had been unable to find a title sponsor for the Doral event after a decision by Cadillac to end its sponsorship.
“They’re taking it – it’s at Doral, it’s at – they use one of my places”.
The PGA said six months ago that it would reevaluate the future of the tournament at Doral because of Trump’s controversial comments about Muslims and other non-native Americans.
Whether this is an attempt to troll the leading Republican presidential nominee or something the PGA Tour has put a great deal of thought into – perhaps both – Trump clearly isn’t happy about the decision. “It is so sad when you look at what’s going on with our country”.
Advertisement
In a statement (via the Golf Channel), Trump called the move “a sad day for Miami”, and accused the PGA Tour of putting profit ahead of American jobs. That would keep it in South Florida on a great course with a top organization to run it. All that’s certain to me about the Mexican venue, Club de Golf Chapultepec, is that it’s been around since 1928 and Ben Crenshaw won the Mexican Open there in 1981. If you’re going to play in Miami, we have massive numbers of rooms, the best location right next to the airport and we have The Blue Monster, which has gotten phenomenal reviews. In one interview, Trump stated he wouldn’t mind, and that he could make more money from the resort without hosting a tournament.
