Trump National stripped of 2022 US PGA Championship

The 2022 PGA Championship will no longer take place at Donald Trump’s golf course in New Jersey, after organisers said it would be “detrimental” to the organisation’s brand.

The decision came after supporters of the President attacked the US Capitol Building on Wednesday 6 January, which led to five deaths and sixty police officers being injured. Trump was accused of inciting the riot, and was impeached by the House of Representatives on that basis last week.

The Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster had been due to host the PGA Championship in 2022, but the PGA of America Board of Directors voted to terminate the agreement on 10 January after the Capitol Hill riot.

It was a decision made to ensure that PGA of America and the PGA Professionals can continue to lead and grow our great game for decades to come

– Jim Richerson

Jim Richerson, president of the PGA of America, did not explicitly reference events in Washington in a statement announcing the move.

However, he said: “It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand, it would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver our many programmes and sustain the longevity of our mission.

“Our board has thus made the decision to exercise our right to terminate the contract to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster. It was a decision made to ensure that PGA of America and the PGA Professionals can continue to lead and grow our great game for decades to come.”

Sam Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, said: “We find ourselves in a political situation not of our making.

“We’re fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.”

It was not immediately clear whether the PGA of America has found a replacement venue.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organisation said it was disappointed with the decision: “This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement.

“As an organisation 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.”

The R&A has ruled out the Trump-owned Scottish course hosting the Open

This is the second time in six years that the PGA has moved an event away from a course owned by President Trump. The 2015 Grand Slam of Golf was due to be held at the Trump National in Los Angeles, but it was cancelled after then-candidate Trump made controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants.

In similar news, the R&A has ruled out the Trump-owned Scottish course hosting the Open golf championship. Its chief executive Martin Slumbers said: “We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future.

“We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.”

The relationship between Trump and golf is an interesting one. The president is an avid golfer, owning or operating 17 courses around the world, with three more expected to open soon in Dubai and Indonesia. It’s estimated that he made about 300 daytime visits to golf clubs during his presidency, and he has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a quarter of decorated golfers: Tiger Woods, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam. And it should be noted that the president liked to get involved with sporting politics during his tenure – when sports became a site of national conversation about inequality, Trump was keen to offer his opinions.

I offer this context because it gives a sense of how much this will hurt. Unless the government votes to ban Trump from running again, he’s likely to give it another go in 2024. But there’s nothing he can do to bring back this tournament and the glory it would have offered him. Jack Nicklaus famously said that Trump “loves the game of golf more than he loves money”, so hitting him with this cancellation will sting.

In a 2011 Sports Illustrated interview, Trump explained that what he wanted most was to host a major championship: “I might be an old man being wheeled around or even dead, but it’ll happen.” The nature of Trump’s political popularity is well-documented, but the world of golf has generally been very warm to the president. For the sport to turn its back on Trump now is indicative of how much support he has lost, and this will be one of the public statements that actually hurts.