For the first time in over 50 years the PGA World Golf Championship won’t be held at the Doral golf resort in Miami.
About six months ago the PGA announced that it would be reevaluating its relationship with Donald Trump, who bought Doral back in 2012, following controversial comments that he made about Muslims and Mexican immigrants. However, as Miami’s WSVN reported, the association has explained the move by saying it couldn’t find a title sponsor.
Cadillac was the tournament’s most recent sponsor, but chose not to continue into this year. Trump announced the news in an interview on Tuesday with Fox News’s Sean Hannity by saying, “They’re moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance.”
Doral has hosted the tour every year since 1962. According to the New York Times, the tour had signed a contract with the golf course that went through 2023, but with a provision that stated a new sponsor has the authority to move it elsewhere. “They’ve got an obligation to their board and they couldn’t find a sponsor, so they had to move. They don’t have a choice,” tournament chairman Butch Buchholz told the Miami Herald in explaining the association’s decision.
In a statement to WSVN, Trump said that the PGA is “no different than Nabisco, Carrier, and so many other American companies” that have moved their business from the U.S. to Mexico. He added, “This decision only further embodies the very reason I am running for President of the United States.”
