In the days since the riot that saw people dressed in Trump paraphernalia storm the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, certain Republican politicians have come under fire for potentially inciting violence with repeated misinformation about the legitimacy of the election’s results.
We’ve seen this in Simon & Schuster’s decision not to publish a book by Senator Josh Hawley, but it’s become even more significantly clear in Twitter’s permanent suspension of President Donald Trump’s account amid similar actions by other social media platforms.
Now, it appears that the world of professional golf is distancing itself from the president as well.
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Both before and during his tumultuous presidency, Trump has made it very clear that he’s an avid golfer.
In addition to owning 18 golf courses — including three that Business Insider lists as being under construction — the president has spent at least 400 days during his administration playing the sport, according to NBC News .
That amounts to about a third of his days in office.
With that in mind, it is perhaps less than surprising that his Trump Bedminster property in New Jersey was set to host the 2022 PGA Championship.
AS CNN Business reported , however, the Professional Golfers’ Association of America Board of Directors voted to cancel their arrangement with Trump and host the tournament elsewhere.
As Jim Richerson — the organization’s president — 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 programs, and sustain the longevity of our mission.”
The PGA has yet to announce a replacement venue for the championship, which is supposed to take place in May of 2022.
In response to this announcement, the Trump Organization released the following statement :
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.
However, there doesn’t appear to be any other golfing organization among the top four in the world that wants anything to do with Trump at the moment either.
As ABC News reported , the PGA 2022 Championship was the only upcoming tournament listed on the Trump Organization’s website and neither the United States Golf Association nor the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews — who conduct the U.S. and British Open, respectively — had any events scheduled at a Trump property before the PGA pulled out.
The fallout from Wednesday’s violence at the U.S. Capitol also doesn’t mark the first time Trump’s politics have cost him big with the PGA.
As ABC News reported , there was once supposed to be a World Golf Championship event run by PGA Tour staged at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami, Florida.
However, PGA Tour had the venue for this event moved to Mexico City after Trump made inflammatory remarks about Mexican immigrants while on the campaign trail for the 2016 presidential election.
h/t: ABC News
